MLB: The Defunct Saga - Bibliography Added

[SFGiants58]

Following the Expos comfortable settlement into DC, the Florida Marlins seemed prime to relocate. While they had won two World Series, the team was still playing in a multipurpose park (Joe Robbie Stadium) that was ill-suited for Florida's summer weather and away from downtown Miami. Both John Henry and Jeffrey Loria tried to come to a deal with the Florida legislature to get public money for a new venue with a better location (such as Wayne Huizenga's land near Joe Robbie Stadium, a spot adjacent to the Orange Bowl, a venue near the Miami River/SW 2^nd Avenue, and a place at downtown Bicentennial Park). These measures had come to a standstill by 2005. By that time, Loria was reporting losses of around $80-$100 million over his four years of owning the team (a fairly cooked book, if you ask me) and selling off much of the 2003 championship team. Starting in 2005 and continuing into 2007, the Marlins began looking into new homes.¹

 

Loria and David Samson started visiting relocation destinations. These included spots that missed out on the Expos:

• Portland, Las Vegas, New Jersey, and Norfolk

...joined by a few new spots:

• Charlotte, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio ²

Since I've already done concepts for the first three in the Expos series, I'll link them here (Las Vegas Lizards, New Jersey Stallions, Portland Stags, and Norfolk Destroyers). Ultimately, these new threats (with special emphasis placed upon San Antonio) and pressure from MLB forced the Miami-Dade County Commission into action. They approved a plan for a funding split, with $347 million coming from Miami-Dade County, $127 million from the city of Miami ($23 million, plus the demolition of the Orange Bowl and constructing parking lots), and $125 million from the Marlins. While the figures vary depending on sources (with initial projects of the plan saying that the Marlins would pay $150 million), this deal would keep the Marlins in South Florida with a retractable-roof venue.³

 

TL;DR: Miami as the man in white, the rival cities as the man in black, and Loria/Samson as the lady in the leopard print outfit.

 

 

Of course, following an SEC investigation, a lawsuit calling for a referendum, the loss of key political supporters in the mayor's office, and the revelation of the final cost of the venue ($2.4 billion over 40 years), and it plays a bit more like this .gif.⁴

 

 

This won't get me many fans here, but I don't think it would have been bad for MLB and the County Commissioners to let the Marlins leave. It would have saved the team the headache of building Marlins Park with public money, probably would have gotten Loria out of baseball sooner, and sent a message to take care of Tampa Bay's problems posthaste (MLB not wanting to lose Florida). While I have long defended the idea that MLB could work in Miami, the 1993 expansion franchise has had awful luck in regards to ownership, venues, and marketing. Perhaps contracting the Florida two may have helped as well, before Miami-Dade sunk so much cash into Marlins Park. Ah well, when I do my "ideal MLB team list," I doubt there will be Florida team in the mix.

 

First up, a little move to the site of a previous botched relocation.

 

¹ Joe Frisaro, “Loria Addresses the Future of the Marlins,” MLB.com, December 5, 2005, https://web.archive.org/web/20070330181732/http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051205&content_id=1276636&vkey=news_fla&fext=.jsp&c_id=fla; Bart Hubbuch, “Trouble in Paradise Devil Rays, Marlins Are Struggling,” The Florida Times-Union, March 5, 2006; Eric Okurowski, “StadiumPage.Com - Miami River Concept,” Stadium Page, 2012, http://www.stadiumpage.com/concepts/MiamiRiver_R.html; Eric Okurowski, “StadiumPage.Com - Miami Bicentennial Park Concept,” Stadium Page, 2012, http://www.stadiumpage.com/concepts/MiamiBicentennial_R.html; Eric Okurowski, “StadiumPage.Com - Orange Bowl Site Concepts,” Stadium Page, 2012, http://www.stadiumpage.com/concepts/miami_ob_R.html; Patrick Reusse, “Marlins Will Be a Blight on Selig’s Baseball Legacy - The World Baseball Classic Is Supposed to Build the Game Internationally. The Destruction of Miami’s Franchise Doesn’t Exactly Fit with That.,” Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities, December 10, 2005, sec. Sports; Sarah Talalay, “Fed-up Fans Fire Back - Ticket-Holders Take Exception to Trades, Relocation Threats,” Sun Sentinel, December 14, 2005, sec. Sports. 

 

² Mark Anderson, “Las Vegas among Seven Cities Believed to Be Eyeing Marlins,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, December 1, 2005, sec. Sports; Roger Chesley, “Looking for Big League Love in All the Wrong Places,” The Virginian-Pilot, January 21, 2006, sec. Local; John Hunt, “Florida Marlins’ Relocation Tour Comes to Portland for ‘Exploring,’” The Oregonian, January 11, 2006, sec. Sports; John Hunt, “Can You Say Portland Twins, A’s or Marlins?,” The Oregonian, September 14, 2003, sec. Sports; Barry Jackson, “Oklahoma City Move Is in the Talking Stage,” The Miami Herald, February 17, 2006, sec. Sports; Barry Jackson, “Marlins Get a Serious Suitor,” The Miami Herald, March 9, 2006, sec. Front; Harry Minium, “Team President: Marlins Have the Go-Ahead to Eye Norfolk,” The Virginian-Pilot, February 10, 2006, sec. Local; Linda Robertson, “Bad Marriage Brings Fire Sale, Suitors,” The Miami Herald, December 8, 2005, sec. Sports; Andrew Shain, “Marlins Say Move to City Possible - Mayor Says He Doubts Charlotte Is Ready, Won’t Lobby for It,” Charlotte Observer, April 4, 2006, sec. Metro.
 

³ Charlie Nobles, “Marlins’ Ballpark Plan Approved | MLB.Com: News,” MLB.com, February 21, 2008, http://web.archive.org/web/20140610035611/http://miami.marlins.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080221&content_id=2383792&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb; Zachary D. Rymer, “Marlins Park a Perfect Example of How Not to Build a Publicly-Funded Stadium,” Bleacher Report, accessed September 25, 2019, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1504922-marlins-park-a-perfect-example-of-how-not-to-build-a-publicly-funded-stadium. 

 

⁴ Rymer, “Marlins Park a Perfect Example of How Not to Build a Publicly-Funded Stadium.”

[Dalcowboyfan92]

Oh boy, now it's time for the Marlins Conundrum.

 

At least in this universe, they'll never build that giant, cavernous excuse for a baseball stadium; that's something, right?

[anonymous.]

On 9/5/2019 at 8:26 PM, SFGiants58 said:

 

 

 

Wow. These are just incredible. In my totally unbiased opinion, blue and gold is the best color combination in sports, and you absolutely nail it here. My only (minor) pet peeve is the use of the fleur-de-lis as a diacritic.

[teeray01]

Any new concepts coming up?

[bcon_731]

alternate timeline, Expos modern day 2019 World Series contenders 

[Joke Insurance]

On 10/22/2019 at 3:09 PM, bcon_731 said:

alternate timeline, Expos modern day 2019 World Series contenders 

 

Montreal Expos (Washington Nationals) vs. Virginia Fury (Houston Astros)

[bcon_731]

3 hours ago, Joke Insurance said:

 

Montreal Expos (Washington Nationals) vs. Virginia Fury (Houston Astros)

 

https://giphy.com/gifs/S3Ot3hZ5bcy8o/html5

 

[SFGiants58]

 

Well, I owe you guys an explanation. I've been in grad school (quarter system), busy like all hell. My work just took over my life, along with socializing and other pursuits (e.g., video editing for funsies - I forgot how much fun it was - and going down some enjoyable, both hilarious and analytical and downright repulsive rabbit holes). I was also feeling a little bit of burnout, since I had hit a bit of designer's and writer's block with the concepts and narrative. The conduct of the posters on this thread also got on my nerves a little. It just stopped being fun, with a compulsion to reply to every post no matter how inane. If we want this series to continue, I have a few ground rules.

1. No quoting a long post with lots of images just to add one line of commentary. Violators will be reported.
2. No big requests of a bunch of unused names/relocations that didn't happen. If I found it, I'll do it.
3. Don't feel afraid to offer me more extensive C+C. Just saying "this is so cool!" doesn't help me at all.

Anyway, I've been updating the Owgust renderings, per the suggestions of @Gothamite. The bat is now behind him, looking more like a natural left-handed batter.

 

 

One of my "Braves as Brewers concepts" got an adjustment - a gold-paneled cap, alongside the deletion of the all-navy cap  (@MJD7 was right about the athletic gold bill).

 

 

 

 

 

I've even got a new prototype variation - Packers/if the A's stayed in KC or Philly style!

 

 

New concepts will resume very soon - I'm going to be uploading them in batches, to avoid the long waits between works. It's been a long quarter, so I'll be glad to get back in action with my fun project!

[Whittier S]

Welcome back, and all points understood. I have to say, I'm not feeling that red swoosh on the Brewers' blue/gold unis. It's not just that it's the only place the color appears, but I guess owing to its size and juxtaposition to the yellow, my eyes didn't even know quite how to read it at first. It look closer to brown.

[Gothamite]

Dude, you don’t need to apologize for anything.  We appreciate that this isn’t your job.

 

And you know how I love those Owgusts....

[coco1997]

Great to have this series back in action after so long! I love the different variations on Owgust and the Brewers unis—If I may make one suggestion, I’d add a white (or red?) outline to the “M” on the gold front paneled cap to match the script on the gold jersey.

[MJD7]

Glad to have you back, as has been said already though, you don’t have to apologize, you don’t owe us anything! This should be enjoyable for you to do, and that ought to be the #1 priority.

 

As for the updates - I like them! The athletic gold bill is definitely an improvement for this iteration of the Brewers. While I wouldn’t endorse it for the real-life club, but with this set it just works. I second @coco1997’s recommendation of adding a white outline to the gold-paneled cap. Looking forward to what you have next! 

[seancarter]

like series could you do concept of Nashville Stars they're proposed mlb team 

[Topherlee2]

We all understand what you're coming from. It's better to going forward with a fully recharged battery than just going at it with barely any effort. Can't wait to see what comes next!

[teeray01]

I have to apologize myself.  I believe I may have been part of the problem.  Anyway, I'm glad you will be continuing.  You are very talented and I enjoy your work.

[KittSmith_95]

Hey man, never get mad you put this on hold. We all get busy with life, and like you said, this isn't your job (albeit somebody should hire you for this, somewhere IMO). 

[thunderblade2]

Hey there, my apologies for bringing up an old thread, but this thread is really awesome! I do appreciate how much effort these uniform/logo ideas for MLB teams in a situation where "what-if x team that was threatening to relocate did in fact move?".

 

I have uniform requests, both involving the Athletics. The Oakland Athletics almost relocated to San Jose in the 2010s...but what if they actually did and San Francisco didn't block them from relocating there? Source: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/7555964/oakland-athletics-owner-wait-san-jose-ruling-excruciating

 

This is assuming the San Francisco Giants did in fact relocate to Tampa Bay after the 1992: What if the Athletics were lulled into moving across the bay to their old Interleague rivals' home to play in Pac Bell Park/AT&T Park/Oracle Park and became the San Francisco Athletics?

[bcon_731]

Would you ever explore different sports but similar stories? This thread is pretty amazing

[coco1997]

@SFGiants58 has to come back...

 

[LMU]

13 hours ago, thunderblade2 said:

Hey there, my apologies for bringing up an old thread, but this thread is really awesome! I do appreciate how much effort these uniform/logo ideas for MLB teams in a situation where "what-if x team that was threatening to relocate did in fact move?".

 

I have uniform requests, both involving the Athletics. The Oakland Athletics almost relocated to San Jose in the 2010s...but what if they actually did and San Francisco didn't block them from relocating there? Source: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/7555964/oakland-athletics-owner-wait-san-jose-ruling-excruciating

 

This is assuming the San Francisco Giants did in fact relocate to Tampa Bay after the 1992: What if the Athletics were lulled into moving across the bay to their old Interleague rivals' home to play in Pac Bell Park/AT&T Park/Oracle Park and became the San Francisco Athletics?

 

4 hours ago, bcon_731 said:

Would you ever explore different sports but similar stories? This thread is pretty amazing

 

2 hours ago, coco1997 said:

@SFGiants58 has to come back...

 

 

 

As stated in the Concept Forum guidelines:

:

  

On 4/23/2018 at 2:08 PM, LMU said:

• Concept threads may only be bumped by original posters who are posting revisions or adding new concepts to a series.
  • OPs may not bump inactive threads in an effort to obtain more comments.
  • Commentors may not bump inactive threads to ask questions about the status of the concept/series (eg. "Is this dead?")
  • Commentors may not bump inactive threads in an attempt to get the OP to post more artwork.
     
• Do not post any requests for particular teams in someone's concept series thread or post requests for additional concepts in the thread of an individual concept.