Posts

Showing posts from May, 2013

There's no place like domes

Image
So, that quick overnighter to Miami this past weekend got my ballpark tour, phase B, underway. It brought me up to 41 ballparks and left me with two to go. It was a drizzly weekend down there, which led to the roof of Marlins Park being shut. That got me thinking about domes, and wondering how many of these 41 ballparks had lids. Since many of the domes are retractable, it became a trickier question, as I've seen some of them closed and some of them open. The quick answer is that I've been to eight domed ballparks, with all but two capped for at least part of the game. If knowing when a roof would be open or shut were possible, seeing a game with the ballpark in each configuration might be a goal. That didn't really strike me until Miami, since I really liked the look of the place from both outside and inside, and wanted to see it wide open. Anyway, as far as domes go, here's a quick rundown of what I both saw and missed. -First, I never made it to the Astrodome,

Marlins Park

Image
And here I am at Marlins Park. My stadium tour for 2013 gets underway in Florida! I met my first objective during the last weekend of last season, getting to my 29th and 30th teams' home ballparks. Since I started this adventure two decades ago, many teams have built new ballparks, however, meaning I can't yet say that I've seen them all. So, here I am, seeing another Marlins game. I saw them three years ago, when they were playing in a football stadium. Now they are in a ballpark, the newest one in the majors. A quick overnighter, it's still nice to be down this way. It really is a beautiful ballpark, different in appearance from many of the other new ones, including some of the domed ones I've seen in recent years, and there's nothing retro about it. Add to that some nice and reasonable food items, and I'm all set. The game itself? Well the starting pitching matchup didn't get me excited. The team neutral gear is of course on, tho, and now for the