Everybody's Doin the Fish. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Baseball season is thankfully upon us once again.
The good news? Jason Stark and Peter Gammons are picking the Yankees to win it all.
The bad news? The Florida Marlins. Although, I stand by the value received in most all of the trades in this offseason's firesale, the fans in South Florida are likely going to stay away from Dolphins Stadium in droves, making Jeffrey Loria's threats to move seem legitimate. Loria is a New York resident, that doesn't seem to care much about where the Marlins are located, which is unfortunate.
Many people blame the Marlins fans for being ungrateful for the success that the team has had in its 13 seasons (if the Red Sox won World Series as often as the Marlins do, they would have won about 13 since 1918), but I think the Marlins fans get a raw deal. While I'm not absolving Marlins fans of all blame, there are a number of mitigating factors here.
1) Dolphins Stadium is a truly horrible place to watch a game. 20 rows up behind the plate is generally worse than 35 rows up at most stadiums (at least the ones I've been to). A lot of the seats don't point towards the infield. People love to point out that the stadium was built with baseball in mind, but it was designed and built before the Marlins franchise even existed, and it's named Dolphins Stadium for crissakes. (side note: It should be named Joe Robbie Stadium)
Furthermore, it is far from Miami, sitting on the county line between Broward and Dade counties, over 10 miles away from downtown. I'm not sure how many other baseball parks aren't located in the city (as long as we're honest that the Angels are in Anaheim and not LA). Sure the Marlins draw fans from Broward and Palm Beach counties to the North, but I don't know about having your median fan's trip to the ballpark be over a half hour by car with no good public transportation options.
People go to baseball games after work during the week. Basketball and hockey follow a similar model. Football stadiums can be outside of a city because the games are on Sunday, people tailgate before the games, and generally make an all-day affair of it. After all, there are only 8 a season (excluding playoffs, which the Dolphins have done ever since Dave Wannestadt had the reigns for a while). Excluding Detroit, I have trouble even thinking of any basketball and hockey arenas outside of the city (although the Florida Panthers play far outside of Miami in Sunrise, FL...but to be honest hockey is a much more "suburban" sport than either baseball or basketball)
2) On Marlins attendance:
1993: 3 MM fans, 5th in the NL
1994: (strike year) attendance was good before strike (6th in the NL)
1995: attendance down 9,000 fans a game (around a 25% decrease from the 93 numbers...8th in the NL)
1996: attendance down another 2,500 a game (around a 10% decrease from the previous season...10th in the NL)
1997: 2.4 MM fans, 5th in the NL. first season over .500, while the Braves won at least 90 games every full season during this span. Winning drives attendance. They go on to win the World Series.
1998: (firesale) Marlins finish 54-108 (52 games out of 1st, 11 games out of second to last) attendance nosedives: 1.7 MM, 13th in NL
1999: 64-98. 1.37 MM fans 15th in NL for attendance.
2000: 1.21 MM fans. 15th in the NL in attendance. 14.5 games out of second place for the Wildcard. My friends and I go to games for $2, and often get shown on the Jumbotron multiple times during the game. Not many people at all.
2001: 1.26 MM fans, 29/30 in MLB
2002: 813k fans, 29/30 in MLB. This was their second consecutive year finishing soundly in 4th place, and no real big moves were made in between 2001 and 2002. Rock bottom for attendance.
2003: 1.3 MM fans (around a 60% increase), 28/30 in MLB. win the WS
2004: 1.7 MM fans (around a 30% increase), 26/30 in MLB
2005: 1.8 MM fans, 28/30 in MLB
2006: (firesale)
The Marlins show a definite correlation between winning and attendance going up. The problem is, eventually the team is sold wholesale and attendance dwindles.
Everytime things are going well for the Marlins, bad things happen. Whether it be the strike or the firesales. I can say that the mood in South Florida in 1998 was just like it was in 1995. Everyone wanted nothing to do with baseball, because they knew they were getting a raw deal. Since 2003, Marlins fans have endured threats of moving the team if a stadium didn't get built, causing much speculation about another firesale, which eventually happened in this offseason.
We had to endure John Henry promising to build a stadium with his own money, only to jump ship when the opportunity to buy the Red Sox emerged (he had never sold his stake in the Yankees while being a Marlins owner, but took care of that when he bought the Red Sox). Then the team was quizzically "assigned" to New York resident Jeffrey Loria, who has bemoaned (or had underlings who bemoaned) no public financing of a stadium since he came to town.
3) winning championships:
It's 2006, and the only remnants from the 2003 World Championship team are Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera, the rotation's 4th starter and a midyear rookie replacement. In 2000, the only remnants from the 1997 World Championship team
were Luis Castillo, Cliff Floyd, Mark Kotsay, and Alex Fernandez, the latter of whom pitched as many games between 1998 and 2000 (inclusive) as he had in 1997. The other three combined played fewer than 162 games for the Marlins in 1997.
Marlins fans realize that the team they're seeing on the field is NOT the team that won the championship.
So I root for the Marlins to do well this year, because I believe they have a lot of young talent, and it would be a shame for Texans or Nevadans to reap the rewards of South Florida enduring its 2003 Championship team dismantled. Larry Beinfest is probably MLB's most underrated GM.
Marlins: If you win, they will come.
The worst news? I've already got fires to put out with my fantasy team. I drafted Zack Greinke in the last or second-to-last round, only to discover that he had left Royals spring training and is on the 60-day DL for personal reasons, a medical condition scientifically referred to as Raulmondesiitis.
The good news? Jason Stark and Peter Gammons are picking the Yankees to win it all.
The bad news? The Florida Marlins. Although, I stand by the value received in most all of the trades in this offseason's firesale, the fans in South Florida are likely going to stay away from Dolphins Stadium in droves, making Jeffrey Loria's threats to move seem legitimate. Loria is a New York resident, that doesn't seem to care much about where the Marlins are located, which is unfortunate.
Many people blame the Marlins fans for being ungrateful for the success that the team has had in its 13 seasons (if the Red Sox won World Series as often as the Marlins do, they would have won about 13 since 1918), but I think the Marlins fans get a raw deal. While I'm not absolving Marlins fans of all blame, there are a number of mitigating factors here.
1) Dolphins Stadium is a truly horrible place to watch a game. 20 rows up behind the plate is generally worse than 35 rows up at most stadiums (at least the ones I've been to). A lot of the seats don't point towards the infield. People love to point out that the stadium was built with baseball in mind, but it was designed and built before the Marlins franchise even existed, and it's named Dolphins Stadium for crissakes. (side note: It should be named Joe Robbie Stadium)
Furthermore, it is far from Miami, sitting on the county line between Broward and Dade counties, over 10 miles away from downtown. I'm not sure how many other baseball parks aren't located in the city (as long as we're honest that the Angels are in Anaheim and not LA). Sure the Marlins draw fans from Broward and Palm Beach counties to the North, but I don't know about having your median fan's trip to the ballpark be over a half hour by car with no good public transportation options.
People go to baseball games after work during the week. Basketball and hockey follow a similar model. Football stadiums can be outside of a city because the games are on Sunday, people tailgate before the games, and generally make an all-day affair of it. After all, there are only 8 a season (excluding playoffs, which the Dolphins have done ever since Dave Wannestadt had the reigns for a while). Excluding Detroit, I have trouble even thinking of any basketball and hockey arenas outside of the city (although the Florida Panthers play far outside of Miami in Sunrise, FL...but to be honest hockey is a much more "suburban" sport than either baseball or basketball)
2) On Marlins attendance:
1993: 3 MM fans, 5th in the NL
1994: (strike year) attendance was good before strike (6th in the NL)
1995: attendance down 9,000 fans a game (around a 25% decrease from the 93 numbers...8th in the NL)
1996: attendance down another 2,500 a game (around a 10% decrease from the previous season...10th in the NL)
1997: 2.4 MM fans, 5th in the NL. first season over .500, while the Braves won at least 90 games every full season during this span. Winning drives attendance. They go on to win the World Series.
1998: (firesale) Marlins finish 54-108 (52 games out of 1st, 11 games out of second to last) attendance nosedives: 1.7 MM, 13th in NL
1999: 64-98. 1.37 MM fans 15th in NL for attendance.
2000: 1.21 MM fans. 15th in the NL in attendance. 14.5 games out of second place for the Wildcard. My friends and I go to games for $2, and often get shown on the Jumbotron multiple times during the game. Not many people at all.
2001: 1.26 MM fans, 29/30 in MLB
2002: 813k fans, 29/30 in MLB. This was their second consecutive year finishing soundly in 4th place, and no real big moves were made in between 2001 and 2002. Rock bottom for attendance.
2003: 1.3 MM fans (around a 60% increase), 28/30 in MLB. win the WS
2004: 1.7 MM fans (around a 30% increase), 26/30 in MLB
2005: 1.8 MM fans, 28/30 in MLB
2006: (firesale)
The Marlins show a definite correlation between winning and attendance going up. The problem is, eventually the team is sold wholesale and attendance dwindles.
Everytime things are going well for the Marlins, bad things happen. Whether it be the strike or the firesales. I can say that the mood in South Florida in 1998 was just like it was in 1995. Everyone wanted nothing to do with baseball, because they knew they were getting a raw deal. Since 2003, Marlins fans have endured threats of moving the team if a stadium didn't get built, causing much speculation about another firesale, which eventually happened in this offseason.
We had to endure John Henry promising to build a stadium with his own money, only to jump ship when the opportunity to buy the Red Sox emerged (he had never sold his stake in the Yankees while being a Marlins owner, but took care of that when he bought the Red Sox). Then the team was quizzically "assigned" to New York resident Jeffrey Loria, who has bemoaned (or had underlings who bemoaned) no public financing of a stadium since he came to town.
3) winning championships:
It's 2006, and the only remnants from the 2003 World Championship team are Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera, the rotation's 4th starter and a midyear rookie replacement. In 2000, the only remnants from the 1997 World Championship team
were Luis Castillo, Cliff Floyd, Mark Kotsay, and Alex Fernandez, the latter of whom pitched as many games between 1998 and 2000 (inclusive) as he had in 1997. The other three combined played fewer than 162 games for the Marlins in 1997.
Marlins fans realize that the team they're seeing on the field is NOT the team that won the championship.
So I root for the Marlins to do well this year, because I believe they have a lot of young talent, and it would be a shame for Texans or Nevadans to reap the rewards of South Florida enduring its 2003 Championship team dismantled. Larry Beinfest is probably MLB's most underrated GM.
Marlins: If you win, they will come.
The worst news? I've already got fires to put out with my fantasy team. I drafted Zack Greinke in the last or second-to-last round, only to discover that he had left Royals spring training and is on the 60-day DL for personal reasons, a medical condition scientifically referred to as Raulmondesiitis.
posted by bub at 2:02 AM
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