A Big Welcome Back to the Majors

The lively home run sculpture that used to celebrate home runs inside the park
is now a fixture near the third base entrance.

I have found the best place to park when I go to see the Miami Marlins. It's at the second house on a road across 7th Street from the stadium. It's easy to get to from the expressway, it's close to where police officers stop traffic to let you cross the road, and it has a secret back exit that helps you avoid the snarled traffic after the game.

The folks that own the house have a big yard and bigger hearts. We've shared some good memories in our brief exchanges of car keys and cash over the years. It was a sad day when I told them on September 9, 2019, that I wouldn't be a regular customer in 2020, because it was time for me to tighten my belt and cut back on my baseball trips.

Little did I realize that it would be 20 months before I would see them again. But today, as I rounded the corner to their street, we were all smiles when they recognized me behind the wheel, even though I was driving a completely different rented car. It was good to be back.

My big sister, Gale, at the new team shop near the third base exit.
She was the Marlins' honorary bat girl nine years ago this month.

I’ve been to several minor league and spring training games since then, but tonight is my first Marlins game, and first major league game, in 623 days. There have been a several changes at the stadium, including a change from Marlins Park to loanDepot Park in the team’s first naming rights deal.

The Marlins players themselves have a new look this weekend wearing bold red jerseys in a tribute to the Havana Sugar Kings, a triple-A team that played in the International League from 1956 to 1960. The Sugar Kings won the minor league championship in 1959, a year of political turmoil between Cuba and the U.S., but they were forced to leave Cuba, and played as the Jersey City Jerseys in 1961. The franchise was sold after a year to become the Jacksonville Suns. 

The Havana Sugar Kings tribute cap with "MM" for Miami Marlins. At right,
all fans received a bobble head figure of Jorge Alfaro, the Marlins catcher, as El Oso.

The Mets moved the team to Portsmouth, Va., in 1969, and they continue to play today as the Norfolk Tides for the Baltimore Orioles. Meanwhile, Triple-A baseball returned to Jacksonville this year when the Marlins promoted the Jumbo Shrimp from double-A.

Walkoff celebration, after Garrett Cooper's home run.

Tonight’s game was a pitchers’ duel between Pablo Lopez and a platoon of Mets relievers. Lopez threw seven scoreless innings and the Mets kept the Marlins from scoring until the bottom of the seventh. The game was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth with 2 out when Garrett Cooper, on a full count pitch, homered to center field for a big walkoff win. Final: Miami 3, New York Mets 1.