Marlin fans... don't get worked up over the stadium name

The Marlins new ballpark is coming along around the site of the old Orange Bowl.
What's it going to be called?

According to Big League Stew, one of my favorite reads on line, some Marlin fans are worried about the name sounding too corporate. Or perhaps even worse taking on a name that would make everyone think of a foreign conglomerate.

Let me say something very clear here, Marlins fans.
WHO CARES?

Listen to me and listen well. (I think that was grammatically correct.)

Would you rather have a stadium that SOUNDED great or that was a great place to see a ballgame?

The worst era of baseball stadiums gave us some of the best names for parks in history.
And the current crop of stadiums have decidedly mediocre or cold and corporate sounding names.

Let me show you what I mean.

Take Philadelphia for example.

The Phillies used to play in Veterans Stadium.

That is a great name for a sporting venue. Honoring the military, it had a nice rhythm to its name and a cool nickname as well.

"The Vet."

And it was an awful cookie cutter park. It was dark and ugly and unappealing.

But it had a cool name. MUCH cooler than Citizens Bank Ballpark.
Which is a better place to play?

Two of the greatest stadium names EVER were Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati and Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.


Both were perfectly tailored to their cities. The Ohio River was the lifeblood of Cincinnati and its stadium name reflected that.

Pittsburgh was formed at the meeting points of the Ohio Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, and the stadium name paid tribute to all three.

Look at the two pictures above. Quickly... which one is which? Chances are you have to look at the surroundings of the stadium to figure out which one is in Pittsburgh and which one is in Cincinnati instead of looking at the stadium itself.

The names didn't make the stadium.

Jack Murphy helped bring big league sports to San Diego and the stadium honored him... and was a dull dull dull stadium.

Compare that to the corporate named PetCo Park, which is a fabulous stadium in the heart of the city.

It is a stadium that would make Jack Murphy proud.



I would say few ballpark names were better than Candlestick Park.

It had geographic relevance. It was descriptive of where in San Francisco it was located.

Calling it a Park instead of a Stadium was a nice touch. And it had a wonderful nickname, "The Stick."

And as someone who went to many games there, I can tell you "The Stick" sucked. It was cold. It was ugly. It was poorly designed for baseball and equally ill fitting for football. It was freezing in August and there was one road leading in and out which meant traffic jams even if the game had a tiny crowd.

Compare that to the coldly corporate sounding AT&T Park. Its name reflects corporate take overs as it was originally Pacific Bell Park, then SBC Park and finally the Death Star's stadium.

And it is the most beautiful, most fan friendly and unique new ballpark in the country with fascinating features and the greatest new tradition in baseball: The boats in McCovey Cove.


It's not all in the name, Marlins fans.
You guys are finally getting a baseball only stadium and who knows? Miami might become a destination spot for free agents. Fans can come out to the game and not be baked or rained upon. And the core of players are talented. It might be a glorious time for a franchise that has a World Series title in each of the last two decades.

So who cares if it is called Blackwater Stadium?

It's a potentially great new place where all new memories of terrific and possibly sustained Marlins teams can grow.

Names are irrelevant.

Take a look at the current Marlins stadium. I think it changed names twice since I started writing this blog post.

I honestly thought it was still called Dolphin Stadium.

Evidently it is called Sun Life Stadium... not to be confused with Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium and Land Shark Stadium.

If the new park changes its name as often as the old one did, it won't matter. The PARK will be where you will be happy, no matter what it is called.

Reds fans... do you miss Riverfront?

Another season is winding down in Cincinnati and like every season since 2001, it will end with the Reds losing more than they won.

Since 2003, they only even mildly contended in one season:
2006.

Then they were 12 games over .500 in June and in first place tied with the Cardinals on August 24th. They went 13-21 after that and finished 80-82, while the 83-78 Cardinals won the World Series.

Most years are like this year... some home runs, some hope but in the end 162 games of "Oh yeah... the Reds."

Now why did I just pick 2003?
Becayse that's when they moved into the new Great American Ballpark.

I haven't been to it, but it looks beautiful.
Unlike a lot of the new parks, it has characteristics that separate it and distinguishes it. It incorporates the Ohio River into the background the way Pittsburgh's PNC Park uses the Three Rivers and AT&T Park in San Francisco uses the Bay.

And those riverboat smoke stacks are cool too.

But there are no new memories being made on the field.

So I pose the question:

Are you nostalgic for Riverfront Stadium?

I'm actually being dead serious with that question.

I say that because I wrote a piece about the Metrodome that got me some angry responses, mainly because I mentioned I never stepped foot in the place.

Well I DID go to Riverfront as this picture shows (that's me pointing) and while the structure itself was a cookie cutter park like Veterans Stadium and Three Rivers Stadium... somehow the experience was better.

Maybe it was the wide concourses, or the river views or the fact that the game my dad and I saw had a big crowd that was buzzing even though their Reds were not playing well.

Or maybe it was the memories.
They flashed on the scoreboard clips of past Reds greats and famous moments.

Clips of the Big Red Machine, of Pete Rose's hit, of the Nasty Boys.

I was too young to remember the 1975 and 1976 World Series.
But I vividly remember Morgan, Rose, Foster, Griffey et al.
Granted my clearest memory of Johnny Bench was on The Baseball Bunch, but I digress.

I remember Tom Seaver and later Dave Parker as Reds.
I remember the rise of Eric Davis and Barry Larkin and Pete Rose breaking Cobb's record.

And obviously I remember the Nasty Boys and the 1990 World Series, possibly the most underrated upset ever.

And those are the memories of a kid growing up in the suburbs of Boston withoutt ESPN or MLB.tv to watch out of market games.

I can't imagine how vivid the memories would be for someone in Ohio or Northern Kentucky.

Yeah it was uglier than the new park... but I am sure there is a billionaire somewhere living in a mansion, waxing nostalgically for the small house where he lived while he built his fortune.

That's Riverfront.

You've GOT to love Riverfront.
It's part of the opening of WKRP for Pete (Rose's) sake!

I'll throw it out to the fans.

What's the great memory, if any of The Great American Ballpark? Can you name one, Slyde at Red Reporter?

Hey Chris Sabo's Goggles, when you heard they were going to tear down Riverfront, were you at all sad?

Did you, Red Hot Mama, ever think "Man, this just isn't as good as Riverfront?"

Or Crosley Field Terrace, are you of the mindset that just says "I'm not living in the past. I want NEW memories is a kick ass ballpark!?"

Either way, Reds fans are the sleeping giant in baseball.
Put a consistent winner (the way the Cardinals played this decade) and they will be baseball crazed.

They have the park... all they need is the players.
That should be easy.