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Baseball owes Miami one.
That's the simplest reason why the new Florida Marlins stadium will land an All-Star game soon, and most likely in 2015.
Nothing official has been said about any of this, but then Commissioner Bud Selig works best through the game's buddy system, with winks and handshakes and leisurely bartering.
Kansas City, for instance, was awarded the All-Star game for next summer, which ticked off some Boston people who wanted it for the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park. Step back a bit, though, and you'll find Selig telling voters in the K.C. market a couple of years ago that they would be rewarded for approving renovations to the Royals stadium, which is exactly what happened.
Now Marlins President David Samson is talking in terms both confident and specific about 2015 in Miami.
"We'd like to host in 2015, at the commissioner's discretion," Samson said. "We've made it known. The people are behind us, the politicians are behind us and baseball is behind us. It looks like a marriage that will work."
Notice that he's not whining about the way Major League Baseball took the 2000 All-Star assignment away from the franchise after it had already been awarded to Miami and gave it to Atlanta instead. (Wayne Huizenga's unseemly fire sale of the 1997 World Series team demanded some type of punishment.)
Samson's not trumpeting, either, the fact that Florida and Tampa Bay are the only current major league franchises never to serve as All-Star hosts. (Arizona comes off the list Tuesday night, while the Washington Nationals got the game in their previous incarnation as the Montreal Expos.)
No, this fast and furious salesman, the point man on construction and season-ticket splash at the new stadium, seems content to go slow on the All-Star game and let the process work itself out.
Have the Marlins even staked a claim on 2015 by making an official bid for the game?
"No," said Samson, "it's not time yet. We'll do that around 2013, absolutely."
Clearly there are unspoken rules to be followed, and an ongoing dialogue with Selig, who came to Miami in 2007 when the Marlins stadium deal was foundering to the point that even the site was in serious dispute. A new retractable-roof facility would be necessary to keep the Marlins in South Florida, that was the commissioner's bottom line in support of team owner Jeffrey Loria, and Samson made the same point by visiting San Antonio for preliminary talks about relocating the franchise.
All that brinkmanship is in the past, and in its place is a soothing sense of belonging. The Marlins, in last place or not, are finally building toward something solid. It might be tough cooking up another World Series right away at the new ballpark, which is due to open in April, but the finals of the 2013 World Baseball Classic, a springtime exhibition, seem a solid target.
Normally you might expect Samson to try to jump to the front of the line on the All-Star game, too, trying for a 2013 showcase event in the stadium's second year. That sort of bold move, however, doesn't fit neatly onto Bud's assembly line. The unofficial word, as leaked by the New York Post and others, is that the New York Mets and CitiField are the choice for 2013, followed by an American League toggle to Minnesota's new stadium in 2014 and then back to the NL and the Miami Marlins, rebranded and rebooted for a fresh start at their downtown location.
There's an argument to be made for the Nationals, too, who also want the 2015 All-Star game to shine the light on their new stadium, opened three years ago.
There is no strain in Samson's voice, however, when he's asked about potential rivals. Baseball owes Miami one, the way that no other sport does.
A couple of NFL Pro Bowls already have been played in Miami, in addition to the 1990 NBA All-Star game at the old Miami Arena and the 2003 NHL All-Star game in Sunrise.
"2015 is the year that certainly would work," said Samson, "and we're very much looking forward to it."
So we wait, perhaps a few more years, for the official word.
Give me Mike Stanton against the field in the 2015 Home Run Derby, meanwhile. The only way any of this could be better is if the young slugger still is with the Marlins by then, and muscling up on his statistics.
It's just one dream on top of another with this team. Some of them are bound to come true.
That's the simplest reason why the new Florida Marlins stadium will land an All-Star game soon, and most likely in 2015.
Nothing official has been said about any of this, but then Commissioner Bud Selig works best through the game's buddy system, with winks and handshakes and leisurely bartering.
Kansas City, for instance, was awarded the All-Star game for next summer, which ticked off some Boston people who wanted it for the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park. Step back a bit, though, and you'll find Selig telling voters in the K.C. market a couple of years ago that they would be rewarded for approving renovations to the Royals stadium, which is exactly what happened.
Now Marlins President David Samson is talking in terms both confident and specific about 2015 in Miami.
"We'd like to host in 2015, at the commissioner's discretion," Samson said. "We've made it known. The people are behind us, the politicians are behind us and baseball is behind us. It looks like a marriage that will work."
Notice that he's not whining about the way Major League Baseball took the 2000 All-Star assignment away from the franchise after it had already been awarded to Miami and gave it to Atlanta instead. (Wayne Huizenga's unseemly fire sale of the 1997 World Series team demanded some type of punishment.)
Samson's not trumpeting, either, the fact that Florida and Tampa Bay are the only current major league franchises never to serve as All-Star hosts. (Arizona comes off the list Tuesday night, while the Washington Nationals got the game in their previous incarnation as the Montreal Expos.)
No, this fast and furious salesman, the point man on construction and season-ticket splash at the new stadium, seems content to go slow on the All-Star game and let the process work itself out.
Have the Marlins even staked a claim on 2015 by making an official bid for the game?
"No," said Samson, "it's not time yet. We'll do that around 2013, absolutely."
Clearly there are unspoken rules to be followed, and an ongoing dialogue with Selig, who came to Miami in 2007 when the Marlins stadium deal was foundering to the point that even the site was in serious dispute. A new retractable-roof facility would be necessary to keep the Marlins in South Florida, that was the commissioner's bottom line in support of team owner Jeffrey Loria, and Samson made the same point by visiting San Antonio for preliminary talks about relocating the franchise.
All that brinkmanship is in the past, and in its place is a soothing sense of belonging. The Marlins, in last place or not, are finally building toward something solid. It might be tough cooking up another World Series right away at the new ballpark, which is due to open in April, but the finals of the 2013 World Baseball Classic, a springtime exhibition, seem a solid target.
Normally you might expect Samson to try to jump to the front of the line on the All-Star game, too, trying for a 2013 showcase event in the stadium's second year. That sort of bold move, however, doesn't fit neatly onto Bud's assembly line. The unofficial word, as leaked by the New York Post and others, is that the New York Mets and CitiField are the choice for 2013, followed by an American League toggle to Minnesota's new stadium in 2014 and then back to the NL and the Miami Marlins, rebranded and rebooted for a fresh start at their downtown location.
There's an argument to be made for the Nationals, too, who also want the 2015 All-Star game to shine the light on their new stadium, opened three years ago.
There is no strain in Samson's voice, however, when he's asked about potential rivals. Baseball owes Miami one, the way that no other sport does.
A couple of NFL Pro Bowls already have been played in Miami, in addition to the 1990 NBA All-Star game at the old Miami Arena and the 2003 NHL All-Star game in Sunrise.
"2015 is the year that certainly would work," said Samson, "and we're very much looking forward to it."
So we wait, perhaps a few more years, for the official word.
Give me Mike Stanton against the field in the 2015 Home Run Derby, meanwhile. The only way any of this could be better is if the young slugger still is with the Marlins by then, and muscling up on his statistics.
It's just one dream on top of another with this team. Some of them are bound to come true.
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