Dan LeBatard Says Goodbye to Joe Robbie Stadium

[Namaste]

My first game at that stadium was 1993. Me, my Dad and my brother.

I remember a lot of grown men wearing a LOT of pins. I remember thinking, damn this is really cool we have our very own baseball team.

I remember a guy who was decked out from head to toe in Marlins gear yelling, "nice back of the head!" to people who were blocking his view in the 2nd inning. We all LOL'd.

1993 seems like another world to me.

Today I'm going to take my 3 year old and my 5 year old (my 3 year olds first baseball game). I'll probably get emotional when we leave. After all, I've seen four World Series games there and I had the pleasure of being there when Conine threw JT Snow out.

My emotions will be made up of the great memories of the players I watched and the people I watched them with. My two boys will probably ask me why I'm wiping my eyes. I'll tell them that it's allergies.


But fucking good riddance to a stadium that's always had the personality of a door knob.

[Beef]

Ohhhh, first baseball game! If you see him, tell him I hope he enjoys it. When he asks who I am, tell him that it's allergies.

[Ramp]

gettin a little dusty in here!

[MiamiHomer]

pumped it's the last game it that shit hole

This sums up how I feel about it.

[emkayseven]

It's hard to pick a favorite JRS memory for me. I went so many times with my parents and they're all fantastic memories. Going to FanFest every year with them when I was a kid was awesome and my mom would always wait in line to get Opening Day tickets while my dad and I walked around. In 2002 I ran into Samson and asked him why there were only like 10 promotional days on the calendar. In 1999 I ran into John Henry (who was pushing a giant Gatorade tub full of ice and bottled water) and asked him if we'd ever get a new ballpark.

I went to the first ever playoff game in 97 but I was 10 and as big of a baseball fan as I was, I was so young and it was so long ago that I don't remember much. Also because I had school the next day I left early. But I remember exactly where my seats were and all the pre game festivities.

As far as favorite purely baseball moment it has to be the clinching game of the 03 NLDS. I was sitting in club level above left field and watched the throw to home plate from a vantage point I'll never forget. Afterwards I had beer dropped on me and my favorite hat from above.

In 2007 McLevin and Drucker and I got that super cheap season ticket package for weekday games. Our seats were literally the row underneath the jumbotron on the 3rd base line. There were air vents back there and it never rained on us. We called it the Ghetto Skybox. There wasn't another person for at least 20-30 rows around us. Some of my favorite memories are from those games.

There are the memories of the kids club days when I threw in the bullpen with Vic Darensbourg and took grounders on the field. There's the first time I had Saratoga chips, which I'm so sad to leave behind. There's my 10th birthday party there, and the 2 hour rain delay that caused me and my friends to play a game of baseball in the concourse.

Just a load of incredible memories I'll always remember. You never forget your first love.

[Party]

[Namaste]

Ghetto Skybox

[Bobbob1313]

Game 4 of the world series in 03: We struck out at buying tickets online, so I resigned myself to not going, which probably should have been just as well, as i went to the NLCS game where Dontrelle got rocked and I didn't need to be responsible for two losses.

I got home from school that day and my mom told me she had two tickets, and that we were going. So many awesome moments from that. We were sitting upper deck, dead center, so we couldn't see a good portion of the outfield. We didn't see Cabrera's home run go out. But we did see what we all thought was the last pitch of the greatest pitcher alive.

And I could see Gonzalez hit the ball. And I could see everybody react. That was an amazing, amazing moment.

And I remember my mom's drunk coworkers getting a "Fuck You Jeter" chant going down the ramp from the upper deck.

[McLevin]

hey mk7...

CHUUUUUUUUURCH

CHUUUUUUUUURCH

YOU SUCK

[emkayseven]

Didn't know you still checked this place out (btw I'll call you back soon)

That was a great memory as was the subsequent BROWWWWWWWN game which was my last game at JRS

[jOOj]

I once told Shawn Green that he was worse than Eric Owens.

[Beef]

There was this fat hispanic guy at one game I was at that spent all 9 innings yelling
HEEY GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEN

HEEEY GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEN

you suck


it was funny because of his accent

[jOOj]

I felt bad since I actually liked Shawn Green but he was not on our team. Then there's the classic "HEY LOOPAH YOU'RE AWESOME!!!" followed by a whispered "he sucks."

[Namaste]

I got home from school that day and my mom told me she had two tickets, and that we were going. So many awesome moments from that. We were sitting upper deck, dead center, so we couldn't see a good portion of the outfield. We didn't see Cabrera's home run go out. But we did see what we all thought was the last pitch of the greatest pitcher alive.

And I could see Gonzalez hit the ball. And I could see everybody react. That was an amazing, amazing moment.

Bobo, I was in dead center too with my brother. Last row all the way up. When the F-14's flew over pre-game I felt like I could reach out and touch one of them.

I saw Cab's HR land in the RF seats because I was on my way back from a beer run.

I booed Clemens when he came off the mound because I really felt that he'd be back. I swear.

Great game. Did you see me?

[Bobbob1313]

Bobo, I was in dead center too with my brother. Last row all the way up. When the F-14's flew over pre-game I felt like I could reach out and touch one of them.

I saw Cab's HR land in the RF seats because I was on my way back from a beer run.

I booed Clemens when he came off the mound because I really felt that he'd be back. I swear.

Great game. Did you see me?

I remember you!

We were near where the flags are now.