All 4 major sports team are represented in South Florida. In Football they have the Miami Dolphins, hockey has the Florida Panthers, the Miami Heat for basketball, and Major League Baseball has the Florida Marlins.
Since baseball season is upon us, I thought I would take a look at the Florida Marlins. 1990 was the year that the powers that be in Major League Baseball decided that they wanted to have two new teams in the National League. The idea was to put one of these two expansion teams in the state of Florida. Orlando, Tampa Bay (who later got a team of their own), and Miami all were in a bidding war. Wayne Huizenga, a local businessman from Miami, won the rights to the team and based that team in Miami. After handing over million dollars for the ball club, Huizenga became the new owner of the Florida Marlins – it was June 1991.
In 1993, Major League Baseball welcomed the Florida Marlins to their family. It didn’t take the team too long to make an impact as this young team won the wild card spot and earned their first of two World Series championships in 1997- becoming the fastest expansion team at the time to win a championship. History repeated itself a few years later in 2003 – the Marlins, who once again captured the Wild Card spot, went on to win their second World Series and the in the process setting another record as being a two time champion in any of the four major sports who won their championship coming from a wild card spot.
It hasn’t always been a bed of roses for the team from South Florida. For instance, their inaugural season ranks among their worst on record. One of the league’s worst winning percentages was .395 – which the Marlins accomplished in their inaugural season, but that was better than their second year winning percentage as the Marlins managed a measly .333. To give a sense of where they once were to what they were doing when they won both their championships, the winning percentage was just above .500 – with their 1997 being their best season to date, with a .568 winning percentage.
Getting people in the seats has always been a problem facing the Florida Marlins. The Florida Marlins, since 1998, has ranked among MLB’s lowest in attendance. A second MLB title wasn’t enough to put fans in the seats, as in 2003 the Marlins was second worse in getting people in the door. The owners of the team hope to change this up in 2012 when the Marlins begin that season in a new home.
There have been some well known ball players that came through the Marlins organization. Kevin Brown, for one, had a career year back in 1996, coming in second in the CY Young race (an individual award for pitchers). One of the game’s best hitters, Miguel Cabrera started also started his career with the Marlins, going through the farm system. He played five seasons with the ‘fish’ and hit 138 homeruns.
After close to 20 years, the Marlins will be relocating in 2012. Since their inception back in 1993, they have played at the same park where the Dolphins play (the park has had many names in that time span). The site of the old Orange Bowl is where the Marlins will call home starting in the 2012 baseball season. A retractable roof will be awaiting the estimated 37,000 fans that will be able to view – the new stadium will be the sixth in MLB to have such a roof. The Marlins will not only have a new home, but will have a new name. The new name of the organization will be the Miami Marlins, as part of the relocation agreement.
Hopefully, with their new home and a new name, the team will look more like they did back in the 1997, 2003 seasons.
A past writer for different travel websites, Richard Gonzalez now lives in Ft. Lauderdale and enjoys sharing his experiences for Miami Deals throughout the south Florida area. Most of his deals come from Coupons Ft Lauderdale.
Article from articlesbase.com
www.AmeliaVega.net Amelia Vega hace el primer lanzamiento en el juego de los Florida Marlins ………..Amelia Vega throws the First Pitch at the game for the Florida Marlins at the Sun Life Stadium
