Opened: 2012
Capacity: 37,000
What the authors say: “Marlins Ballpark really needs its lid. The 8,300-ton steel sunroof safeguards the game against both the famous Florida humidity and the frequent afternoon thunder showers that deterred many locals from attending games at the Marlins’ former home.”
Learned from the book:
• If ever a team needed a new park, it was the Marlins, who were playing in a cavernous football stadium with no dome, and therefore no air conditioning or protection from the frequent showers.
• The Marlins expect to have the roof closed for about 70 of their 81 home games given Miami’s steamy summer temperatures and rainfall averages.
• Because of all the glass, the park lets in more light than some of the other retractable domed stadiums.
• Rather than go retro, Marlins Ballpark is pure modern south Florida, with glass, steel, and white stucco.
• Picking up on its Atlantic seaboard locale, the park has two massive fish tanks embedded into the wall behind home plate.
• The authors call the location in Little Havana “a major upgrade” from the gritty neighborhood where the Marlins used to play, plus the new surroundings offer many places to buy Cuban sandwiches.
• Home runs are celebrated with a large Florida-themed mechanized sculpture that is among many efforts to make this one of the artsiest parks in baseball.
