Thursday, May 6, 2021

The Miami, Baltimore Baseball Connection

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH 

During the course of the 2021Miami Marlins Season, there will be times when I talk about connections that I have with the Marlins and certain opponents. 

This is an opportunity to go down memory lane and provide interesting information.

During my first trip to loanDepot Park, I enjoyed the last time I saw the Marlins when they faced the San Francisco Giants in their 2003 Championship Season.

Today, I want to talk about the Marlins history with the Baltimore Orioles.

On April 21, 2021, I covered the Marlins 3-0 triumph over Baltimore as Trevor Rogers looked fantastic by going seven innings, yielding four hits, only one walk and struck out eight. The victory gave Rogers a 1-1 record.

Rogers also had a sacrifice bunt that caught the Orioles sleeping defensively. His bunt enabled catcher Sandy Leon to move to third base. Leon singled to get on base.

Miguel Rojas drew a walk and Jesus Aguilar doubled to deep center field driving in Rojas and Leon. Aguilar would drive in two RBI on the afternoon. Outfielder Jazz Chisholm and Leon each had two hits.

Dylan Floro and Yimi Garcia each pitched a scoreless inning. Garcia picked up his third save of the season.

Bruce Zimmermann gave up three runs in 4.2 innings and dropped to 1-1 for Baltimore.

Due to COVID-19, the game’s paid attendance was 4,028. 

In terms of length of the game, it was played in 2:42 minutes. Nobody could complain about the pace or length of this game.

The teams split in their two game series 1-1. 

After the Marlins win, Miami now leads the all-time series 27-9.

Before I arrived to the game, I decided to drive to the Baltimore Orioles former Spring Training Stadium, which is now called the Miami Stadium Apartments. 

From loanDepot Park, it’s a 2.2 mile trek and is 11 minutes away.

For a one bedroom, one bedroom and one bathroom it costs $1001.00. A two bedroom, two bathroom will cost $1,174.00.

Who knows what the Orioles were paying in rent when they played their Spring Training Games from 1959-1990. 

Baltimore also had a Florida State League from 1971-1981 called the Miami Orioles.

When I was in the apartment complex, I did decide to drive around and take these pictures. It was neat to think about what was and see what is. 

The top players who played at Miami Stadium include: Storm Davis, Mike Flanagan, Dennis Martinez, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken Jr, John Shelby, Wayne Krenchicki, Orlando Pena, Sammy Stewart, Nate Snell, Bryn Smith, Vic Rodriguez, Mike Young and John Flinn.

Ripken Jr is in the Baseball Hall of Fame while Shelby is a two-time World Series Champion. 

Ripken won his lone World Series in 1983 and holds the MLB record for consecutive games played with 2,632. He’s a 19-time All-Star.

Murray won a World Series in 1983 and is an eight-time All-Star, who amassed 504 home runs with 1,917 RBI.

When the Orioles left Miami, they remained connected to South Florida.

They would make Fort Lauderdale Stadium their Spring Training Home from 1996-2009 then proceeded to move to Sarasota’s Ed Smith Stadium where they have been since 2010.

But the memories are very fresh in my head and always will be.

For what it’s worth, former Miami Dolphins Coach Don Shula used to be the head coach of the Baltimore Colts. We all know how that turned out. 

Shula won two Super Bowls with the Dolphins and is the All-Time winning coach with 347. 

He is the only undefeated coach in NFL History guiding the Dolphins to an improbable 17-0 record in 1973 and a Super Bowl Championship.

The Miami, Baltimore Baseball Connection is alive and well with some nice football history as well.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth, plus subscribe for free: South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel.

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