Having already added free-agent starting pitchers Kevin Brown and Al Leiter in December 1995, the Marlins went on a shopping spree during the 1996-1997 offseason, signing free agents Moises Alou, Bobby Bonilla, John Cangelosi, Dennis Cook, Jim Eisenreich, and Alex Fernandez. He'd get them there by out-Steinbrenner-ing George Steinbrenner. Huizenga had an odd plan to stoke The Want: he'd win a World Series and then hit fans up for the ballpark money while they were enjoying the afterglow. "Unless a new stadium is built, where luxury suite and all other revenue go directly to the team, which will enable the team to compete for the best players," Huizenga said later, the Marlins would not be successful. This would engender sympathy or a popular uprising …or something you know how it is with the sort of half thought-out plans that tend to trickle down from the owner's box. You wanted us to build it, with "it" in this case being a new, baseball-only stadium for his team.Īs a spectacularly rich guy who wanted a ballpark but didn't want to pay for it, it was very important for Huizenga to poor-mouth the Marlins. This was 15 years after Huizenga had served as just one example of what Obama might have meant: Not only did you not build that, you didn't want to build it. If we can take a step back for a moment, you might remember a 2012 campaign speech by President Obama around the theme of " You didn't build that" which sparked a momentary backlash. Huizenga, though, had very good reasons not to go fumbling awkwardly around in his pants. The Marlins might not have had big-market revenues despite playing in one of the country's larger metropolitan areas, but their bottom line would have improved significantly had Huizenga moved some revenues from one of his pockets to another. ![]() Of course, since Huizenga owned both team and ballpark and therefore could negotiate with himself, money that might have been applied to the Marlins' bottom line went to the separate corporation that owned the stadium. It was a terrible venue for baseball, but Huizenga disliked it for other reasons: Those sweet ballpark bucks weren't going to the team. The Marlins played at Joe Robbie (aka Pro Player) Stadium, which Huizenga also owned. Wayne Huizenga, who had made his fortune hauling garbage and then expanded into businesses from Blockbuster Video to the Miami Dolphins and Florida Panthers. The 1997 season would be the Marlins' fifth since joining the National League in the 1993 expansion. Read More: LaMarr Hoyt Falls In The War On Drugs ![]() Your faith in the discernment of the average Miamian might be restored somewhat by the fact that despite a few ownership changes and myriad managers-depending on how you count interims and repeats, Don Mattingly will be the 14th in 24 years-the Marlins have never regained that trust. As much as I say it's just business, even for me, once in a while, it's personal.This week in 1997, the Florida Marlins were in the process of destroying that belief as it pertains to their team. At the end of the day, you can't control your legacy. I had a moment of selfishness that upon reflection - I realized was the wrong approach. It should've been good enough and I thought it was good enough until I heard that the fish tanks (at Marlins Park) were removed. ![]() There wouldn't be memories of families to go and have an experience. "In a very small way, there wouldn't be baseball in Miami if it wasn't for Jeffrey Loria and myself in a small part. "It should've been good enough to me that Marlins Park is there and there is a baseball team in Miami," Samson said. ![]() However, earlier this week, photos surfaced confirming that the fish tanks had been removed.ĭuring Friday's installment of "Nothing Personal with David Samson," David Samson, who was the Marlins team president when Marlins Park was built, looked back at his personal memories about Marlins Park and had thoughts about his own legacy. One of those details was having fish tanks behind home plate. When Marlins Park was being built, Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and the front office decided to add some unique local flair to the stadium.
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