A Florida Marlins Home Game

This Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the Florida Marlins/Philadelphia Phillies game played at 3:55 in the afternoon. After gathering up some peeps, we make the hour drive down to Dolphin Stadium for the important NL East matchup.

Now, the game was great, with the Marlins winning 9-4 behind 3 homers, while Pat Burrell of the Phillies, and formerly of the "U", hitting two of his own. Kevin Gregg entered in the 9th in a non-save situation and needed a close play at second by Hanley Ramirez with the bases loaded to end the game, cutting the Phillies lead over the Marlins to 1 1/2 games (it is now only 1/2 game). Our seats were upper level but right behind home plate, with the sun on our backs. Believe me, you want the sun at your back and not in your face for a July afternoon home game at Dolphin Stadium, otherwise you just absolutely melt.

Plus, just going to a game is very relaxing. You have the sun, the game, keeping score, peanuts, hot dogs and of course, beer.

But besides the game, I wanted to enlighten all of you about the Florida Marlin experience that is Dolphin Stadium, that was Pro Player Stadium, that was Joe Robbie Stadium. I will do this while simultaneously answering the question, "Why doesn't anyone go to the Marlins games, they are a good team?".

Under absolutely no worries whatsoever about finding tickets for the game, we stroll up to the ticket window and notice that the ticket prices are astronomical for a team that is having problems drawing fans. At the lower level behind home plate the tickets are $58 and $48 for each baseline to the bases. That in and of itself isn't awful for tickets, but they are when you can't fill the seats. At the back of the lower level, the "club" sections, the prices are $71 for right behind home plate and $66 for the baselines, again ending at the bases. As the base lines extend the prices are $39. If you prefer to sit in the outfield, the left field seats are $46 while right field is a bargain at $15 and $26. Although these prices aren't awful for some seats, the sight lines are ridiculously bad as the stadium is constructed for football, and thus all the baseline seats face the "football field", not angled toward the pitcher and/or batter's box. This is why we chose the upper deck with its view of the entire field. In addition, there are no kids prices for tickets whatsoever. Not that I had any kids with me, but just an observation that the Marlins might want to rectify in an attempt to win younger fans and fill the seats. Problem #1 - Ticket Prices.

Now the attendance for this game was 25,650, which is way above the Marlins' 15,493 average, but a good 1/3 to 1/2 of the fans were visibly cheering for the Phillies. Problem #2 - No Home Field Advantage (or too many visiting team fans).

As I make the ride up the escalator to the 400 level of seats, we notice that almost all of the concessions stands are closed/not open/dark. The team and/or stadium, knowing their likely attendance, just closes portions of the concession stands. Concessions did not turn out to be a problem for us whatsoever, as the concession stands right outside of the entrance to our seats was open, and nobody seemed to have a problem with lines. However, this is a symptom of a big problem. The team cannot even draw enough fans to keep the concessionaires working. Because of this, those fans in the sections with the closed concessions had to walk a ways to simply get food and drink, thus missing more of the game. Problem #3 - Inconveniencing Fans.

When we did make our way to the concessions stands, we noticed that some of the bars on the exterior of the concourse were open in addition to the main stands built into the interior of the concourse. While at the main concessions you could order anything, at the exterior bars you could only order beer, a few liquor drinks and peanuts. Think of them as an express lane, but with tip jars. Now, since we made several trips to the concession stands we noticed something peculiar. All of the ladies working the windows at the main concession were black, while those that worked the stand-alone bar were not. I am not drawing any definitive conclusions here since this observation was based upon a very limited sample size (the one primary concession stand and one stand-alone bar that I visited), but after discussing the observation with a couple of people, I determined that I was not the only person who noticed this peculiarity. It turns out the situation was very noticeable.

Now, I have not seen or reviewed the concessions contract, nor do I know whether the concessionaires that I saw worked for a different company from those manning the bar, so this may just be a coincidence. Nevertheless, it was very noticeable. If this situation is pervasive, then it could be a big problem for a team, and a sport, that seems to be losing black fans, be they African-American or Latin-American blacks. Problem #4 - Subconscious Racism?

Add these 4 problems to the list of the general problems which include the fact that the stadium is in the middle of absolute nowhere, with nothing bordering the stadium to accentuate the game day experience (i.e. bars, restaurants, stores), the temperature, the fact that you can never tell what the weather at the stadium is going to be and generally unrecognizable players from year-to-year (hopefully changing with the Hanley Ramirez contract extension), and you can understand why nobody at all attends the Marlins games. And yes, these pictures were taken from Saturday's game.
Nevertheless, a day at the park is still a great experience, and I might even watch another game this year.

Spearing Some Marlins

As the calendar turns to March, those of us in South Florida automatically start to think about baseball. Spring training abounds, and northern baseball fans make their yearly pilgrimage to my town in order to watch their favorite team, escape the horrid winter weather, and take my parking spots at my regular pubs. Ahhh baseball. Since it is now March, it seems a perfect time to write my first, and quite possibly only, preseason preview. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Florida Marlins.

In some respects, the Florida Marlins are a model franchise. They compete for a World Series championship at least once a decade, have not lost a playoff series in their admittedly short history and their management has an incredible eye at identifying young talent. However, something seems to be missing (well, more than one thing for sure). That something is recognizable and identifiable players around whom the team is defined. That trend continues this year. Outside of Hanley Ramirez, I would doubt that any non-season ticket holder could name 5 Marlins. WAIT - they have season ticket holders?! Who knew?!

In 1997, the Marlins won their first World Series in franchise history, after making their debut in 1992. That team had not only good players, but also very recognizable players: Gary Sheffield, Devon White, Moises Alou, Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, Charles Johnson. What happened? After determining that winning a World Series did not necessarily equate with greater profits, the owner/management dismantled the team. At least they waited an entire week before releasing Alou. ONE WEEK!!!

The fan base was outraged, but in retrospect, the team did great. They packaged known talent for unknown prospects, almost all of whom seemingly hit the big time. Then, in 2003, only six years after winning their first World Series, the Marlins won their second, with an assist by two guys named Bartman and Baker. (Bartman got the blame, but Baker was the real goat in that series, by the way). That team also had stars: Josh Beckett, Pudge Rodriguez, Mike Lowell, and the emerging Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera. Then, as if on cue, the team was dismantled again, although this time much slower and subtler (if that is even a word).

As a quick aside, what teams outside of the traditional powers, wouldn't love to win a World Series every 6 to 10 years and then rebuild in between, so long as the fans new that the rebuilding would be successful and culminate in an actual chance to go and win the World Series after a few years. It could be worse, the Marlins could be the Cubs, and not win anything in, well, let's just call it 100 years. Back to the column.

Having traded Beckett and Lowell to the Red Sox, the Marlins received Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez, an emerging perennial All-Star and a pitcher who has already thrown a no-hitter. In 2006, the team had 6 rookies with at least 20 Home Runs. The team seemed on cue for another run in either 2008 or 2009 (preferably 2009 just to keep the every six years string going). They had known quantities ready for 2009, Cabrera, Ramirez and the ever popular D-Train. Then, something happened on the way to their appointed date with destiny. The Marlins traded Willis and Cabrera to the Detroit Tigers for a package of about 6 players.

Now, by all accounts the package received by the Marlins is loaded with prospects, included some very live arms, and at least one potentially potent bat. (Don't ask who - if I told you the names you could then be able to name 5 Marlins - besides, the actual prospects are irrelevant for the purposes of this column). From reading and listening to those who follow minor league baseball, the Marlins may have acquitted themselves very well in this trade, especially since it appears that the league has figured out Dontrelle Willis, whose numbers have declined in the past few seasons. But even though the Marlins may ultimately win the numbers game with this trade, the Marlins are still missing any names or personalities that will draw fans to the ballpark.

And that my friends, is the problem with the Marlins. There is absolutely no reason to watch this team. Do they have talent? Absolutely. Are a lot of the players on this team going to have long established careers in the majors? Yes. Do fans want to watch Dan Uggla flawlessly turn a double play or Miguel Olivo continue to be a league leader in hitting when swinging at the first pitch or even Jeremy Hermida play two amazing games followed by eight games in which he looks completely lost at the plate and in the field? NO!!!

What this team needs is someone for whom to root and cheer, a reason for the kids to become excited about the team and a reason for baseball fans to be excited about the possibilities, even if those possibilities are literally the proverbial "next year". They need a player that can singlehandedly be responsible for a sellout - thereby giving exposure to the guys like Uggla, Olivo, Mike Jacobs, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller and the almost immortal Rick VandenHurk (OK - so now you know 5 other players).

Perhaps the Marlins already have that player in Hanley Ramirez. If you are a baseball fan, he is an absolute must see. He still needs some work on defense, but he puts on a show every single night. However, given the recent history, most Marlins fans are resigned to the fact that he is going to be traded in the next couple of years in a salary-cutting deal that probably will bring several really good prospects. Since the fans already believe that Ramirez will not be around for any length of time, no need to invest any emotional capital in him now, right? (Or actual dollars - unless you want to go ahead and buy that future throwback Ramirez Marlins jersey).

Without a reason to watch this team, and without hope for any postseason titles, the Marlins fans need something to get them through baseball season. Which is why I am going to watch Pudge, D-Train and Cabrera on the Tigers. If that doesn't work, perhaps Joe Girardi can keep the players motivated - once all the prospects blossom and are traded to the Yankees. Until then, here's hoping that Anibal Sanchez's next no-hitter is pitched on the road, so perhaps some people can actually see it live and in person. Until the team's strategy changes, expect to see many more of last year's Marlins-Nationals games, where only 700 people attend.