Jeter Wants Home Run Sculpture Gone

[rmc523]

I know it was rumored a while back, but Jeter wants the home run sculpture gone, and apparently Carlos Gimenez agrees and they're looking into ways to remove it. If they do, what will go in its' place? Nothing? Guess it's not like there's going to be anyone around to set it off anyway.....

https://miami.curbed.com/2018/1/17/1...carlos-gimenez

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...194897929.html

Derek Jeter may get an assist from Miami-Dade in ridding Marlins Park of its kitschy home run sculpture, which the new owner and the county’s mayor both want removed.

“I just don’t think they’re all that crazy about it,” Mayor Carlos Gimenez said after meeting with Jeter and other front-office executives at the county-owned ballpark on Tuesday afternoon. “I’m not a fan. We’re looking at it. …We’ll see if anything can be done.”

Until Tuesday, Miami-Dade was on record saying that the sculpture could not be removed. The stadium itself is county property, and so is the sculpture — purchased as part of an Art in Public Places program that requires builders of county-owned buildings to install art works for the public. When word of Jeter’s reported distaste for the 72-foot sculpture leaked in August, the county’s cultural chief, Michael Spring, said “Homer” was “not moveable” and was “permanently installed” after being designed “specifically” for Marlins Park.

Spring had a different message Tuesday when he accompanied Gimenez to Marlins Park with the mayor’s chief of staff, Alex Ferro.

“Anything is possible,” said Spring, one of Gimenez’s top deputies and an admirer of the sculpture. “But it is pretty complicated. And I wanted the mayor and the Marlins to understand how complicated it really was. We got a good look at it today, and they saw how big it was. There’s hydraulics, there’s plumbing, there’s electricity.

“But anything is possible. We built it,” Spring said. “We can move it.”

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2018/01/16/...run-sculpture/

[Nick]

Kinda appropriate since the first thing they did was trade away 96 home runs.

[fish16]

Kinda appropriate since the first thing they did was trade away 96 home runs.

you're really hung up on these 96 hr's.

[Nick]

It's a lot.

[fish16]

It's a lot.

i can independently confirm that 96 hr's is indeed a lot.

[rmc523]

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/m...219183640.html

According to this article, it seems like they're pretty determined to move the sculpture to the northeast corner of the exterior of the ballpark. They're going to replace it with a new standing room only section, and from the description, sounds like 3 tiers:

The Marlins front office sees the sculpture relocation as a key element to a major refresh of Marlins Park, with a new standing-room area where “Homer” stands now that would target a younger crowd with tickets priced below the current minimum cost of $12.

“A lower price point for single-game buyers really attracts [the] millennial market,” said Chip Bowers, president of business operations for the Marlins. “We want to come up with a seating plan that appeals to a different demographic.”

He described “Homer’s” current home being transformed into a three-tier structure, with the lowest floor reserved for large groups. The upper two levels would offer all ticket holders a place to stand and watch the game on one side and admire the sights outside the park through the retractable glass walls on the other.

“What we think is so great about Marlins Park is you have a beautiful ballpark with an unbelievable view of the downtown Miami skyline,” Bowers said. With “Homer” in place, he said, the plan can’t move forward. “It’s the only place you can do this.”

With that in mind, I did a rendering of what I think it could look like:

[fish16]

I love the increased use of teal for the team but im not sure how good it looks with the dark blue seats and other dark blue parts of the stadium. I think id leave it as the dark blue color but just increase the use of teal in the uniforms, logos, and stuff like that. I really hope they go back to a more modern and updated version of those team unis they used during the throwback weekend. I love that logo though with the throwback feel with a more modern M or miami instead of F for florida. Ive gotta think thats where we're heading with the team the next few years.

Also love the publix park aspect. Dont understand why we arent trying to partner with them much more often. People would love a pub sub stand in the ballpark.

I think the biggest change to the park outside of the sculpture coming down is going to be in the LF and RF areas. I think we will leave the seats before the foul pole on each side the same but i think the biggest change we can make to the atmosphere in the stadium would be to take out some seats in the OF and put more bars/restaurants/standing room only type thing like the braves and rockies have.

[rmc523]

I love the increased use of teal for the team but im not sure how good it looks with the dark blue seats and other dark blue parts of the stadium. I think id leave it as the dark blue color but just increase the use of teal in the uniforms, logos, and stuff like that. I really hope they go back to a more modern and updated version of those team unis they used during the throwback weekend. I love that logo though with the throwback feel with a more modern M or miami instead of F for florida. Ive gotta think thats where we're heading with the team the next few years.

Also love the publix park aspect. Dont understand why we arent trying to partner with them much more often. People would love a pub sub stand in the ballpark.

I think the biggest change to the park outside of the sculpture coming down is going to be in the LF and RF areas. I think we will leave the seats before the foul pole on each side the same but i think the biggest change we can make to the atmosphere in the stadium would be to take out some seats in the OF and put more bars/restaurants/standing room only type thing like the braves and rockies have.

Yeah, they may go to a darker blue, I just thought I'd try the teal. The blue they used in the WBC was pretty good too.

Yeah, the Publix Park thing was just for fun, as I know we've talked about it in the past - seems like it could be an obvious and easy link-up, obviously if they'd (Publix) want to.

The home run sculpture is becoming more standing room only areas - you want to make the rest of the outfield that too?

[Madman81]

the original photo is JJ pitching in the first game, right? i think that's the only time the stadium has been full for the marlins.

[rmc523]

the original photo is JJ pitching in the first game, right? i think that's the only time the stadium has been full for the marlins.

yup, that's correct. I did my best to modify the outfield walls to reflect the current arrangement, though, vs the 2012 setup.

[fish16]

the original photo is JJ pitching in the first game, right? i think that's the only time the stadium has been full for the marlins.

was the stadium full for those yankee games in august?

[rmc523]

was the stadium full for those yankee games in august?

No

8/21 was 26,275
8/22 was 25,547

[fish16]

No

8/21 was 26,275
8/22 was 25,547

Crazy how that seems like a sell out compared to the atmosphere we usually see on tv. I hope they get rid of some seats and build more standing room only stuff/restaurants/things like that. 30,000 is more than enough seats.

[rmc523]

Crazy how that seems like a sell out compared to the atmosphere we usually see on tv. I hope they get rid of some seats and build more standing room only stuff/restaurants/things like that. 30,000 is more than enough seats.

Well, it did sound like they're going to reconfigure the lower seating area near the dugouts (I forgot about that in my rendering) to have fewer, but bigger seats, at least if those reports of moving ticket holders was accurate.

- - - - - - - - - -

Right after I posted that, I found this:

They've already started removing seats - these ones down the first baseline in the corners. Looks to be in the upper part of the section.

https://twitter.com/MarlinsPark/stat...59533136670720

Are we able to embed tweets here?

[fish16]

Thats interesting. Im looking forward to seeing the changes they decide to make for the beginning of next year and then more likely more significant changes after next year.