E-Mail This Article to a Friend A world title has certainly helped fill Pro Player Stadium, but things are still fishy with the Marlins BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Two years ago nearly to the day, we took an evening off from our South Florida vacation and went to "work": attending a Florida Marlins game in suburban Miami. For a baseball fan, it was a mind-numbing experience. Back then, the team was coming off a 2001 season in which it had finished 76-86 while averaging just 15,765 patrons in cavernous Pro Player Stadium, but the worst was still to come. When I visited, in late April 2002, there were fewer than 5000 people in the stands for a picture-perfect Thursday-evening game against Montreal. It was downright embarrassing to witness baseball being treated so shabbily in a supposed professional-baseball city — and one that had won a World Series just five years earlier.

Fast-forward to 2004. The Florida Marlins baseball club is again the against-all-odds world champion, and on a beautiful late-April Saturday night, 41,226 fans pass through the turnstiles to witness the upcoming contest with the Braves. The contrast between my two visits is striking. Cars are lined up on the freeway leading up to the stadium, and I am forced to park in one of the outlying lots that was only a rumor two years ago. The lines at the ticket window are 10 people long, and SOLD OUT signs are posted for most sections. Empty orange seats are visible only in the upper deck, and the place is raucous and vibrant. Is this the same spot that averaged just over 10,000 people per game a mere two seasons ago?

Yep, it is, and while one could offer many different explanations for why people are suddenly coming out to the ballpark to support their team, one thing is indisputable: there is a whole slew of bandwagon-jumpers around here. Since these kinds of folks tend to be fickle, the franchise had better remain successful if it has any hope of keeping fans interested and the team viable. After all, even last year’s club — which shook off a slow start and streaked to the wild-card slot — averaged just 16,290 spectators and overall drew 1.3 million to the park. That latter figure was nearly one million fans fewer than the league average, and this was a team that went 72-42 from May 22 onward to its post-season berth.

As was the case two years ago, the Marlins organization is still pleading with the state for funds to build a new retractable-roof stadium. Why? Because Pro Player Stadium is primarily a football stadium, and the team gets only gate receipts to fund the organization; agreements made during prior regimes dictated that concessions and parking revenue belong to the stadium owners. That is a big reason why the Marlins — at least since former owner H. Wayne Huizenga dismantled the 1997 championship team that off-season — have always had one of the majors’ smallest payrolls.

Talking to some folks around the park, some controversial issues keep popping up regarding a new stadium. Many question the need for a retractable roof, since South Florida rarely gets prolonged showers, and those that do swing through are usually of the early- or late-afternoon variety. Figuring that adding a roof to the stadium routinely adds another $50 million to the tab, one would speculate this feature should realistically be considered "optional." Another topic is the location of the new ballpark. The latest discussions focus on construction adjacent to the Orange Bowl football stadium, which is not in one of the nicest sections of town. Some even feel that perhaps Miami proper isn’t the best place for the team at all, and that one of the counties north of the city would be more appropriate and offer better options for access and convenience. Finally, there is the whole chicken-and-egg theory regarding attendance: area fans say they would come out in bigger numbers if they had a baseball-only stadium, but who can blame ownership if they retort that fans need to come out and support the team now to justify the cost and commitment of maintaining a team in South Florida?

Pro Player Stadium is not a horrendous place to watch baseball, and the large Latino population is helping to contradict the popular opinion that this area is mainly a Miami Dolphins hotbed. With the majority of tickets very reasonable and affordable (most infield tickets are $28 or less, and some upper-deck seating goes for $6 to $12) and parking just $10, the team has made it easy for families to take in a game without breaking the bank (unlike you-know-where). Indeed, there seems to be a solid foundation of loyal fans that delights in wearing its world-championship paraphernalia to the park on a nightly basis, and management has done its part by (for the most part) keeping the 2003 championship squad intact while honing its home-grown talent and eschewing high-priced free agents.

But hard-core baseball aficionados will be horrified at some aspects of the "baseball experience" at Florida’s home park. Some of these are so patently absurd that it seems there’s no way that this organization and its population deserve a world title — much less two in their brief 11-year history.

Call me a baseball snob if you like, but I’m a bit perplexed by the presence of the following:

• Cheerleaders. Would I make up something so easily checked? Yes, the Marlins employ cheerleaders, who rightfully spend the majority of their time near the bullpens down the foul lines. Between innings, however, they throw out T-shirts to the crowd, lead the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch, and conduct a choreographed dance routine atop the dugouts to Jimmy Buffett’s "Fins." Everybody here knows the drill and is caught up in the action. The evening’s other songs include "YMCA" and "The Chicken Dance," plus a "Minnie the Moocher" sing-along. Don’t ask me why.

• A speedboat on wheels. I don’t know why a speedboat on wheels drives around the stadium at one point, and furthermore, I certainly cannot surmise why the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ mascot, "Raymond," joined the Marlins’ furry creature, "Billy," on this intrepid voyage. Seacrest out!

• Additional inane promotions. AMOR-FM (107.5) sends its hand-held cameras around the park during breaks, encouraging people to kiss so that others in the stands can view the affectionate spectacle on the JumboTron. They are also plenty of opportunities for the unaffectionate yahoos in the stands to get their dubious mugs on the big screen, just as the FleetCenter idiotically broadcasts random spectators during B’s and C’s games.

• Bloated grounds crew. Does a stadium located in a tropical climate really need nearly 20 grounds-crew members to sweep the infield twice a game? Is this like winning a free ride on the Zamboni? (Enter now, and get a chance to walk on the same hallowed turf that your World Champion Marlins do!) And the pre-game intros of those grounds-crew members were a bit much. (Okay, maybe that didn’t happen, but I got there late.)

• Lack of respect for team history. As mentioned, two world titles have been earned by this franchise. The organization acknowledges those titles not by hanging 1997 and 2003 banners or flags from the rafters, but by posting the relevant information on two side-by-side sections of the outfield wall — practically alongside ads for entities such as Lumber Liquidators or the nearby Miccosukee Tribe casino.

Still, there are some inventive things at Pro Player that I did like:

• As at the FleetCenter, ushers do not let you head down to your seat until there is an appropriate break in the action;

• When the opposing batter is struck out (or the visiting pitcher is sent to the showers), the PA uses the common AOL sound bite "goodbye." Perhaps you had to be there. Nice use of Three Stooges audio routines, too, although perhaps that’s more of a personal preference.

• Flying atop the stadium are three sets of flags representing the three National League divisions, with the order of the flags determined by the divisional standings on that day. Wrigley Field does a similar thing with team pennants behind the center-field bleachers. Either way, it adds a nice touch to the stadium and its proceedings.

No one says that baseball in the Northeast is the way it has to be, and perhaps we’re being too hard on the undeserving patrons of South Florida and the organization that they "support." On two different occasions, with two vastly different rosters, this franchise has won the World Series fair and square, and that is more than can be said for any New England team in recent memory.

Still, it was a bit disconcerting to find out that the highlight of most people’s baseball experience at Pro Player that night occurred when the Marlins collected their 12th hit of the night — thereby giving all attendees the opportunity to turn in their game tickets within the next 24 hours for a free dozen doughnuts at their local Krispy Kreme.

And that bonanza was the lead item in most local papers’ game recaps the next morning: MARLINS FANS WIN FREE BAKED GOODS; KRISPY KREME POTENTIALLY ON HOOK FOR 495,000 DOUGHNUTS; ALSO, FIRST-PLACE MARLINS WIN, 7-4. Or something like that.

It was a nice visit, but I’ll take the sights and sounds of Fenway any day, thank you. Many thanks, Florida Marlins, for the opportunity to see how the other side lives, and now I’ll take my dozen glazed to go and bid a humble "goodbye." Enjoy your trophies and your wall banners while you’ve got ’em.

Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk.

"Sporting Eye" runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com