After a great first impression of Marlins Park I decided to visit again to see how the fanbase has improved (if possible) and to see how the stadium has been holding up in its first year. I went to see the Dodgers/Marlins game since I had never watched the Dodgers in person. For those that don’t know, the Marlins’ new stadium is smack dab in the middle of Little Havana, a popular Hispanic community within the outskirts of Downtown Miami. After years of a depleted fanbase, Miami decided to revamp the image of the Marlins with new colors, a new destination, and a new park. While the team hasn’t been doing so hot, the amount of visitors has definitely improved.
Part of the new appeal is the new park itself, which is gorgeous and practically the first true blue ballpark built for an MLB team in Florida. Before the Marlins played in a football stadium, while the Rays play inside a regurgitated industrial refrigerator. It has a retractable roof (in case Florida weather misbehaves), a more personal feel with lesser seats and more space while being nice and close to the field---which has larger dimensions than most modern ballparks. There is a big Miami vibe in this place, starting with the statue that is God-awful but very Miamiesque and continuing with the Hispanic food courts and nightclub sequel to a South Beach staple. So if the game is a blowout, fork over a few extra bucks and hang out in a pool with beautiful women. Or you can wait until after the game, then fork over extra bucks to do the same thing.
Marlins Park is essentially a good mix of old-school ballpark and a modern South Florida twist. The area housing the park is inside a Hispanic neighborhood, which means before reaching the park you’ll be strolling down neighborhoods, local businesses, and thousands of locals that span multiple generations. Parking here is much easier than most spots as it features parking garages that sprinkle the backend of the stadium. The building itself looks clustered but never looks claustrophobic as it doesn’t take up as much room as your usual stadium/arena. Getting inside is also a cinch as there are multiple ways of getting inside. And once you are inside, the rest is history.
For 30 bucks I was able to get a seat on the third base side and wind up just a dirty dozen feet away from the field itself. There is a lot of open room within the ballpark that makes for great ventilation and more of a spacious feeling. The first floor features most of your food places, including the Taste of Miami section that features food popular in the South Florida area. For the record, there are over 100 different menu items available amongst all the foodie locations in the park, so this review is just me scratching the surface barely. I skipped the usual pizza, hot dogs, burgers, and popcorn and decided to give the Taste of Miami a shot. Wound up with a cheese empanada (Venezuelan style) and a Cuban sandwich. Both good foods, but after some research I’ve learned that there’s still a lot to see in terms of food.
The biggest issue I have with Marlins Park is the same I have with Tropicana Field---the ambiance is totally dead. While most of this can be attributed to its depleted fanbase, which I will get to later, the lack of a true DJ or a decent organist doesn’t help at all. The organist sometimes goes quiet for entire innings, and does not hold a candle to the organist for the Cubs, Red Sox, and Dodgers. Honestly, can you not play anything other than “Rich Girl?” At least spice it up with some variety. And then there’s the DJ, who barely plays anything between innings, rarely offers a theme song for all the players, and just doesn’t musically enhance the ballpark. Not sure if you remember, but Miami has taken over the musical scene in recent times with its blend of dance/techno/hip-hop. But you wouldn’t see it here in the ballpark because they rarely utilize the crisp speakers.
It can get downright quiet in this park, and that’s with 28,000 people in the park. It was quite sad when the loudest reception came from seeing LeBron James win the Gold for the Americans. This was well-deserved, but the fans rarely cheered over a strikeout, over a good play, over anything. Yes there was a no-hitter being thrown for 3/4ths of the game, but Wade LeBlanc had 7 innings of 6-hit ball with 4 Ks and had 5 left on base. Barely any reception when he left. Not much momentum or fan pressure here, not yet anyway. The loudest fans in my area were actually Dodgers fans, while everyone else did little other than roll their eyes. I can promise you he couldn’t do that in San Francisco or in Philadelphia without getting some resistance.
All in all, Marlins Park is gorgeous beyond any means, and the pictures I have thrown in here don’t do it justice. The biggest challenge that the Marlins organization will face in the future is its constant attempts to have new fans. Unlike football and baseball, which are very bandwagon-heavy sports, baseball has a strictly traditional core of fans. In the NFL, people from all over the world are Packers fans. In basketball, the fanbase of the Heat has essentially tripled since LeBron joined. The Giants when they won the Super Bowl managed to also receive support from Jets fans and Colts fans simply because of the Patriots being in the other end. Baseball doesn’t work that way. Mets fans do not become Yankee fans all of a sudden. Phillies fandom gets passed down from generation to generation almost in a religious stature. And try finding a more knowledgeable grouping of fans than those of the St. Louis Cardinals. To be honest the only baseball teams with consistent bandwagon jumpers are the Yankees and Rangers---we all hate the Red Sox now. And now we have Florida---which is a melting pot of people not just from around the world, but also from the very same country.
We get retired, snowbird, and second-life (Those that want to leave their original life in search of something better) people from the Northeast, we get people from out West, and don’t get me started on the New Yorkers, which is its own group of people. Did you know that Tampa and Clearwater, two places right next to each other, have massive fanbases of totally different teams and neither of them are the TAMPA BAY Rays? Clearwater is pretty much Philly Nation to the nth degree, while expect Tampa and its surrounding legions to be Yankees all the way. Some can argue that this may affect the future of the Rays as they desperately try to gain new fans but with no support. Here’s how bad it’s gotten: a Rays radio broadcast was being blocked because the Buccaneers had a preseason game going on at the same time. Yes, the same Buccaneer team that’s been in the playoffs just twice in the last 8 years. And its preseason. No wonder the Rays will be leaving Florida in the next decade.
Miami suffers this same fate. The Marlins already have enough problems competing against the beaches, clusters of dedicated fan of other teams, nightlife, and slews of other entertainment options within the South Florida borders. Football is already on a nasty downward spiral, hockey in Miami has never been big, while Heat basketball only thrives because of their winning ways, being one of the few NBA franchises that can consistently compete, and because of its thriving connection to the South Beach life. Marlins have so much going against them that it’s going to remain a challenge to develop the success of your larger-market teams like the Giants, Phillies, Yankees, Cubs, and Rangers.
So in order for Marlins Park to truly succeed, it needs to be more like Miami. It’s not enough with its location and colors, you need to turn that ballpark into more of a party. You need more live Hispanic music, more ambiance, more noise, better production value from the people in charge of spicing up the game, more mayhem. Miami can turn any shack into a party with the right folks involved. Marlins Park is no different. It has the look, space, and potential to truly be a staple to the South Beach lifestyle. But until more effort is placed within inning one through nine, the Marlins will continually struggle to entice fans and visitors. There are few things in life livelier than a Hispanic baseball game---I once went to a World Baseball Classic match between the Dominican Republic and Australia. Let’s just say the party got so wild, the cops inside the stadium were dancing.
Miami Marlins, you have a beautiful new park. Now, utilize it to its full potential.
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