Marlins new Ballpark

[dgthree]

I agree, tpoh. I'm sick of the faux-retro parks that mimic Camden Yards. Some are OK and fit in with their surroundings, some are just contrived messes (Enron Field anyone?) I welcome a park that actually looks like it was designed in the 21st century.

What do the Orange Bowl letters spell? Or are they just randomly laid out?

I know I wrote a lot, but depending where you are standing they can say Orange Bowl, Welcome, Game, Won, Game Won... Supposedly the Game Won ones will stay lit and the rest dim after a win.

Still at FIU or did you head home to RI DG3?

'

I assume its my man Chris? I am in RI temporarily, but I will be back by end of june/july most likely to make the final move.

[tubby34]

I agree, tpoh. I'm sick of the faux-retro parks that mimic Camden Yards. Some are OK and fit in with their surroundings, some are just contrived messes (Enron Field anyone?) I welcome a park that actually looks like it was designed in the 21st century.

What do the Orange Bowl letters spell? Or are they just randomly laid out?

I know I wrote a lot, but depending where you are standing they can say Orange Bowl, Welcome, Game, Won, Game Won... Supposedly the Game Won ones will stay lit and the rest dim after a win.

Still at FIU or did you head home to RI DG3?

'

I assume its my man Chris? I am in RI temporarily, but I will be back by end of june/july most likely to make the final move.

Yep, it's chris. Whats going on, long time no see. Meant to say UM though, lol.

[dgthree]

I agree, tpoh. I'm sick of the faux-retro parks that mimic Camden Yards. Some are OK and fit in with their surroundings, some are just contrived messes (Enron Field anyone?) I welcome a park that actually looks like it was designed in the 21st century.

What do the Orange Bowl letters spell? Or are they just randomly laid out?

I know I wrote a lot, but depending where you are standing they can say Orange Bowl, Welcome, Game, Won, Game Won... Supposedly the Game Won ones will stay lit and the rest dim after a win.

Still at FIU or did you head home to RI DG3?

'

I assume its my man Chris? I am in RI temporarily, but I will be back by end of june/july most likely to make the final move.

Yep, it's chris. Whats going on, long time no see. Meant to say UM though, lol.

Didn't want to call you out, but you did it yourself.

[BallWonk]

This is so awesome on so many levels that it's hard to believe that Loria is involved. Plus, added bonus for MLB: If the Fish install this thing, or anything remotely like the conceptual video, there will be no need to ever put a franchise in Vegas.

Yes, it's tacky. But so was every distinctive element of any ballpark that anyone now considers "classic" at the time it was first introduced. Only time can tell whether any given example of tacky will stay tack or move up into the realms of camp or even classic. My only concern for this thing would be the size and number of moving parts; maintenance looks like a beast, and anything this bold has got to work all the time.

[powersurge]

This is so awesome on so many levels that it's hard to believe that Loria is involved. Plus, added bonus for MLB: If the Fish install this thing, or anything remotely like the conceptual video, there will be no need to ever put a franchise in Vegas.

Yes, it's tacky. But so was every distinctive element of any ballpark that anyone now considers "classic" at the time it was first introduced. Only time can tell whether any given example of tacky will stay tack or move up into the realms of camp or even classic. My only concern for this thing would be the size and number of moving parts; maintenance looks like a beast, and anything this bold has got to work all the time.

While I definitely agree that many of the other "classic" distinctive elements in other ballparks were probably deemed tacky at some point in time I think this is much worse. It just doesn't seem to fit with baseball one bit. At least an exploding scoreboard or rising big apple makes some sense if you think of it; fireworks are appropriate for use in any celebration and the big apple makes sense because the city's nickname. But a trippy, Pop art inspired beach sequence rising from a pool doesn't seem to make any sense. I'm well aware of the connection that Pop Art plays in the Miami area. Pop Art was even bigger in NYC, but its not like they have a Keith Herring inspired dog with an apple in his mouth rising from beyond the walls at CitiField, know what I mean?

Maybe the real thing will look much better then the artist's rendition and I can eat my words. But I sure don't think so.

[dgthree]

Is it worth having the Grooms work as long as the other pieces are there? I think it is possible to deal with the Grooms HR celebration work just so that the Orange Bowl letters and the living pillars are part of the stadium.

also: added some of the art on the other page to the first post because I think people might be skipping around

[koizim]

Jeez, that home run celebration thing looks like a really bad acid trip. Also, I definitely wouldn't say that it fits in with the whole "Miami/Art Deco" theme. Art Deco emphasized streamlined forms, whereas that moving mural thingy is just tacky. Now, if this were Orlando...

[BallWonk]

While I definitely agree that many of the other "classic" distinctive elements in other ballparks were probably deemed tacky at some point in time I think this is much worse. It just doesn't seem to fit with baseball one bit. At least an exploding scoreboard or rising big apple makes some sense if you think of it; fireworks are appropriate for use in any celebration and the big apple makes sense because the city's nickname. But a trippy, Pop art inspired beach sequence rising from a pool doesn't seem to make any sense. I'm well aware of the connection that Pop Art plays in the Miami area. Pop Art was even bigger in NYC, but its not like they have a Keith Herring inspired dog with an apple in his mouth rising from beyond the walls at CitiField, know what I mean?

You make good points, but I think your perspective also contains a bit of retconning. The giant apple makes no more sense for baseball than does Miami's proposed bad coke trip ballpark feature. It relates to the city, not the sport, but we accept it now as emblematic of a team and therefore sport-appropriate just because it's been around long enough that we're used to it. As for the pop art/NYC thing, Miami has been defined by a pastel and highly commercial post-deco aesthetic for nigh on 70 years now. Yes, pop art was bigger in NYC, but it was never the dominant or defining aspect of the New York art scene, and it wasn't even much of a big deal for very long. We're talking maybe 15 years, in which the New York pop art movement produced more magazine stories about itself than actual works of art that anyone would recognize. I'm as big a fan of Roy Lichtenstein and late Warhol as you'll find, but even at their heights, even in New York, they were still kind of niche.

Similar can be said of the exploding scoreboard. Fireworks are now ubiquitous in ballparks, so we easily think that baseball = fireworks after home runs. But when they debuted, fireworks in America were used almost exclusively to celebrate patriotic holidays and civic events. Fireworks in the middle of a ballgame made no more intuitive sense then than would, say, displaying a giant wreath would today. Wreaths are also signs of celebration, and are increasingly used for a number of holidays other than Christmas, but a home run wreath would be really offputting to most fans, as were fireworks when they were first used. After 40 years of home run wreaths, though, we'd all associate them with baseball.

And I think of local fans of the original Senators here in Washington. A few folks remember fondly the odd outfield wall at Griffith Stadium, with the center field notched inward to exclose a neighboring property's back yard. Through the mists of memory and tradition, that is regarded as one of the great ballpark quirks of all time. But if a ballpark were designed thusly today, we would all (correctly!) criticize it for cheapness and tackiness. It's not good baseball design; it's an intrusion of non-baseball business failures into the ballpark.

So the bottom line remains that where ballpark features are concerned, classic = tacky + time. No more, no less.

[powersurge]

While I definitely agree that many of the other "classic" distinctive elements in other ballparks were probably deemed tacky at some point in time I think this is much worse. It just doesn't seem to fit with baseball one bit. At least an exploding scoreboard or rising big apple makes some sense if you think of it; fireworks are appropriate for use in any celebration and the big apple makes sense because the city's nickname. But a trippy, Pop art inspired beach sequence rising from a pool doesn't seem to make any sense. I'm well aware of the connection that Pop Art plays in the Miami area. Pop Art was even bigger in NYC, but its not like they have a Keith Herring inspired dog with an apple in his mouth rising from beyond the walls at CitiField, know what I mean?

You make good points, but I think your perspective also contains a bit of retconning. The giant apple makes no more sense for baseball than does Miami's proposed bad coke trip ballpark feature. It relates to the city, not the sport, but we accept it now as emblematic of a team and therefore sport-appropriate just because it's been around long enough that we're used to it. As for the pop art/NYC thing, Miami has been defined by a pastel and highly commercial post-deco aesthetic for nigh on 70 years now. Yes, pop art was bigger in NYC, but it was never the dominant or defining aspect of the New York art scene, and it wasn't even much of a big deal for very long. We're talking maybe 15 years, in which the New York pop art movement produced more magazine stories about itself than actual works of art that anyone would recognize. I'm as big a fan of Roy Lichtenstein and late Warhol as you'll find, but even at their heights, even in New York, they were still kind of niche.

Similar can be said of the exploding scoreboard. Fireworks are now ubiquitous in ballparks, so we easily think that baseball = fireworks after home runs. But when they debuted, fireworks in America were used almost exclusively to celebrate patriotic holidays and civic events. Fireworks in the middle of a ballgame made no more intuitive sense then than would, say, displaying a giant wreath would today. Wreaths are also signs of celebration, and are increasingly used for a number of holidays other than Christmas, but a home run wreath would be really offputting to most fans, as were fireworks when they were first used. After 40 years of home run wreaths, though, we'd all associate them with baseball.

And I think of local fans of the original Senators here in Washington. A few folks remember fondly the odd outfield wall at Griffith Stadium, with the center field notched inward to exclose a neighboring property's back yard. Through the mists of memory and tradition, that is regarded as one of the great ballpark quirks of all time. But if a ballpark were designed thusly today, we would all (correctly!) criticize it for cheapness and tackiness. It's not good baseball design; it's an intrusion of non-baseball business failures into the ballpark.

So the bottom line remains that where ballpark features are concerned, classic = tacky + time. No more, no less.

Almost makes you wonder if tacky is a good thing afterall because it at least leaves the possibility for something becoming classic down the road after many years pass. interesting.

I agree with you regarding the baseball park quirks comment. It seems like more and more modern stadiums try really hard to create very contrived preconceived ballpark quirks to give the allusion of a classic historical park when unfortunately it comes across as forced and artificial. Take the hill in Minuit Maid Park. Why the hell is it there? makes no sense. Or these "homerun porches" that are popping up everywhere.

"Hey look, we extended a small row of 20 seats 15ft over the field....WOW! thats one classic ballpark quirk! You can sure feel the history here" *sarcasm*

[STL FANATIC]

The thing is, the Marlins could do something really cool with fish leaping out of the water to celebrate a home run. It'd still have that possibility to become classic. But instead, they have this goofy looking thing pop up, then three fish do about 2/3 of a jump, then it goes back down.

Make the fish jump out of the water and all the way back in. Play some cool music. And lose the tacky background. That would be wonderful.

[The_Admiral]

Play some cool music.

UNDER THE SEA!!!

[BigMac12]

Play some cool music.

UNDER THE SEA!!!

Anyone who plays the original "Kingdom Hearts" knows Under the Sea can be torture.

That home run thing looks interesting.

[bboy_555]

The outside of that ballpark looks amazing but the homerun feature is definately a bad idea.