59 Fun Facts About Miami Marlins

Which expansion team began play alongside the Marlins in 1993?

Colorado Rockies fans saw the playoffs first, in 1995, but the Marlins won the World Series two years later, in only their fifth season.

Which Blockbuster Video chief executive paid the $95M expansion fee to found the Marlins?

Wayne Huizenga said his 1997 champions had lost $34 million and ordered the roster broken up within weeks. A year later the Marlins had the worst record in the National League.

Which two Florida regions lost out to Miami in the 1991 bidding for a National League expansion team?

Orlando and Tampa Bay both reached the final six, and St. Petersburg already had a finished dome standing empty. It waited until 1998 for the Devil Rays.

The Marlins originally shared which venue with the NFL's Miami Dolphins?

Joe Robbie Stadium was built for football, but the Dolphins' owner insisted on a layout wide enough for a diamond, betting baseball would come to Miami. He died in 1990, three years before the Marlins' first pitch.

The Marlins had to swap Florida for Miami in their name as a condition of what?

Using the county-owned new ballpark came with strings: the city and Miami-Dade helped pay for it, so the funding deal put Miami's name on the team. The new name and colours were unveiled in November 2011.

Which team swept the Marlins out of the 2023 postseason in the opening round?

Philadelphia Phillies pitching needed only two games. Miami had been outscored by 57 runs over the season and still won 84 games to reach October.

The Marlins were the first team ever to win the World Series as what?

A wild card had never won it all before 1997. The Marlins finished nine games behind Atlanta in their division, then beat the Braves in the NLCS anyway.

Who was the only player to appear for the Marlins in both the 1997 and 2003 World Series?

Jeff Conine, known as Mr. Marlin, was traded away in the sell-off after the 1997 title. The club got him back from Baltimore on the last day of August 2003, just in time for another ring.

Who started the Marlins' first regular-season game, a win over the Dodgers on April 5, 1993?

Charlie Hough was 45 and threw a knuckleball. He struck out the first two Dodgers looking, facing the club that had drafted him back in 1966.

Which veteran collected his 3,000th major league hit in a Marlins uniform in 2016?

Ichiro Suzuki got there with a triple at Coors Field, aged 42. He had not played a big league game until he was 27, after 1,278 hits in Japan.

In 1993 the Marlins traded which young reliever to get slugger Gary Sheffield?

Trevor Hoffman was a converted shortstop with two big league saves when Florida sent him to San Diego that June. He retired with 601.

Which manager led the Marlins to the 1997 title in his first season with the club?

Jim Leyland had managed Pittsburgh for 11 seasons without reaching a World Series. A year after the parade his stripped-down Marlins lost 108 games and he resigned.

Which Marlin won the 2023 National League batting title with a .354 average?

Luis Arráez had just won the American League batting title when Minnesota traded him to Miami for pitching that January. He answered by winning the other league's title as well.

Who managed the Marlins for seven seasons from 2016, the longest run in club history?

Don Mattingly was named NL Manager of the Year in 2020, after a virus outbreak shut his club down for a week and a patched-up roster still reached the playoffs.

Whose bases-loaded single in the 11th inning won Game 7 of the 1997 World Series?

Édgar Rentería's two-out single ended it. In 2010 he did it again, hitting the home run that won the clinching game of the World Series for San Francisco.

What weather greeted the Marlins at batting practice before Game 4 of the 1997 World Series?

Snow flurries fell that night, and Florida's rookie starter gave up six runs and left without an out in the third inning of a 10-3 loss. Four days later the Marlins won the title at home.

Which high-kicking Marlins rookie went 11-2 in his first 17 starts in 2003 and won NL Rookie of the Year?

Dontrelle Willis, the D-Train, was pitching in Double-A until May and twisted away from hitters with every pitch. Two years later he led the majors with 22 wins.

Six Marlins drew votes for 2006 NL Rookie of the Year, but which of them won it?

Hanley Ramírez stole 51 bases that year, months after arriving as a prospect in a payroll-cutting trade. Three years later he won the NL batting title at .342.

Which catcher signed with the Marlins as a free agent for the 2003 season?

Iván Rodríguez ended that year's Division Series by holding on to the ball as a Giants runner crashed into him at the plate. 'Pudge' left for Detroit after one season, with a ring.

The Marlins came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat which team in the 2003 NLCS?

Chicago Cubs fans were five outs from a first pennant since 1945 when Florida scored eight runs in the eighth inning of Game 6. The Marlins then won Game 7 at Wrigley Field too.

Which Marlin hit the foul pop that Steve Bartman reached for in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS?

Luis Castillo walked on the very next pitch, a wild one, and the inning came apart. Twelve Marlins batted and eight scored before Castillo himself popped up for the third out.

Who was named MVP of the 2003 World Series after a five-hit shutout in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium?

Josh Beckett was 23 and pitching on three days' rest. He ended it himself, fielding the last grounder and tagging the runner for the final out.

Which 72-year-old came out of retirement in May 2003 and managed the Marlins to a title?

Jack McKeon took over a 16-22 club, went 75-49 and beat the Yankees, making him the oldest manager to win a World Series until 2022. He came back to manage Florida again at 80.

Whose extra-inning walk-off homer won Game 4 of the 2003 World Series?

Álex González had one hit in 13 at-bats in the Series when he led off the 12th with a drive over the left-field fence. It squared things at two games apiece, and the Marlins never lost again.

In 2002 Jeffrey Loria bought the Marlins from John Henry in a deal that let Henry buy which team?

Boston Red Sox ownership was Henry's goal, so baseball let Loria sell the Expos to the other 29 clubs and buy the Marlins for $158 million. Two years on, Henry's new club ended an 86-year title drought.

Before owning the Marlins, Jeffrey Loria made his fortune in what field?

Art dealing in New York paid for Loria's first club, a Triple-A team in Oklahoma City that he bought in 1989. It won a title in 1992, he sold it a year later and went shopping in the majors.

The Marlins' ballpark stands on the site of which demolished stadium?

The Miami Orange Bowl is where Joe Namath made good on his guarantee that the underdog Jets would win Super Bowl III. It came down in 2008, and the ballpark rose on the same ground.

What was built into the backstop walls behind home plate when the Marlins' ballpark opened?

An aquarium stood on each side of home plate, with live tropical fish behind protective panels in case of foul balls. Both tanks were removed after the 2020 season.

What sprang to life beyond the outfield wall after every Marlins homer when their ballpark opened?

A giant sculpture by pop artist Red Grooms spun its marlins, flamingos and seagulls after every Marlins homer. It cost $2.5 million, and new owners later moved it outside to the plaza.

Which boxing legend was driven onto the field to deliver the first ball at the Marlins' new ballpark in 2012?

Muhammad Ali, frail with Parkinson's disease, rode out in a cart beside the club's owner. He had won his first heavyweight title in Miami Beach in 1964.

Who became the first Marlin to win the NL MVP award, in 2017?

Giancarlo Stanton led the majors with 59 home runs and 132 RBIs and beat Joey Votto by two points, 302 to 300. Weeks later the club's new owners traded him to the Yankees.

Which star catcher played only five games for the Marlins in 1998, between two trades?

Mike Piazza came from the Dodgers in a deal that shipped out four of Florida's 1997 champions. He hit .278 in five games and was traded to the Mets a week later.

Whose leadoff homer opened the Marlins' first game after José Fernández's death?

Dee Gordon, a left-handed hitter, took the first pitch right-handed, as his friend batted, then switched sides and hit his only home run of 2016. Every Marlin wore Fernández's name and No. 16 that night.

Marlins ace José Fernández was born in the city of Santa Clara in which country?

Cuba jailed him after a failed escape by boat, and he got out on his fourth try, aged 15. On that crossing he dived in after someone swept overboard and found he was rescuing his own mother.

In 2020 the Marlins made Kim Ng the first woman to hold what job in any major North American men's league?

General manager was a title Kim Ng had chased for three decades since starting in baseball as an intern. Her 2023 team reached the playoffs, and weeks later she left rather than report to a new boss above her.

Which Yankees legend served as Marlins CEO until stepping down in February 2022?

Derek Jeter was the Yankees' shortstop when the Marlins beat them in the 2003 World Series. In 2017 he joined the group that bought the club, alongside Michael Jordan, and ran it day to day.

Which Marlins pitcher threw a no-hitter in 2001 despite walking nine batters?

A. J. Burnett put ten men on base in San Diego without giving up a hit: nine walks and a hit batter. Three Padres stole second, and none of them scored in a 3-0 win.

The Marlins' original 1993 colour scheme paired black with which colour?

Teal was dropped in 2012 for orange, blue, black and yellow. In 2026 it returned to the regular rotation as a throwback jersey for every Sunday home game.

The Marlins' 2021 City Connect uniform paid homage to which former Havana-based team?

Cuban Sugar Kings games were Triple-A baseball in Havana, and the team won the Junior World Series in 1959. A year later, as relations with the US collapsed, baseball moved the club to New Jersey in mid-season.

In 2003 the Marlins added a dance squad to their home games, called the Marlins what?

Mermaids debuted in the season the club won its second title. In 2008 they were joined by the Manatees, an all-male troupe of plus-size dancers.

The interleague rivalry between the Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays is named after what?

Citrus Series games began in June 1998, when the defending champion Marlins needed 12 innings to beat the first-year Devil Rays 3-2. They are Florida's only two big league clubs.

The Marlins retired No. 5 in 1993 for their late president because which favourite player of his had worn it?

Joe DiMaggio, then 78, threw the first pitch at the club's first game, the day the number was retired. Carl Barger had died four months earlier, and no Marlin wore 5 until 2012.

Which longtime Expos and Marlins radio voice won the 2011 Ford C. Frick Award?

Dave Van Horne spent 32 years as the voice of the Expos before joining the Marlins in 2001. In 2004 he called Montreal's last home game from the visitors' booth, as Florida won 9-1.

After sweeping the 2020 opening round, the Marlins were swept in the NLDS by which team?

Atlanta Braves pitchers shut Miami out in the last two games. It was the first postseason series the Marlins had ever lost, after seven straight wins across 1997, 2003 and 2020.

Which film joked that a Miami team would lose the 2015 World Series to the Cubs?

Back to the Future Part II came out in 1989, four years before Miami had a big league team. The real Cubs were knocked out of the playoffs on 21 October 2015, the very day the film is set.

Which team acquired José Reyes and four teammates in 2012?

Toronto Blue Jays got Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson and two more in a 12-player trade. Reyes had signed for six years and $106 million just 11 months earlier, and Miami's one year of big spending was over.

On Opening Day 1997, which part of mascot Billy the Marlin's costume blew away during a skydive into the stadium?

The head was ripped off by a gust of wind as a Navy SEAL in the suit parachuted toward the stadium. He steered to land outside, and a second Billy took the field in his place.

Which Yankees starter took the loss in the deciding Game 6 of the 2003 World Series?

Andy Pettitte allowed one earned run in seven innings and still lost 2-0. It was his last start for New York before he signed that winter with the Houston Astros, close to his Texas home.

Which Marlin hit three home runs against Cleveland in the 1997 World Series, then was traded within weeks?

Moisés Alou hit .321 with three homers and nine RBIs in the seven games. Sixteen days later he was traded to Houston, as the champions were broken up to cut payroll.

After Game 7 in 1997, the Marlins were the first champions handed the World Series trophy where?

On the field, before a crowd of 67,204, the trophy was handed over in public for the first time. Until then it had always been presented in the winning team's clubhouse.

Which Cleveland closer blew the save in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, igniting a feud with teammate Omar Vizquel?

José Mesa gave up the tying run with Cleveland two outs from the title. After Vizquel's 2002 book mocked his 'vacant' eyes that night, Mesa vowed to hit him with a pitch whenever they met, and did so three times.

Which Marlin was the NLCS MVP in 1997 and then started Game 1 of the World Series?

Liván Hernández, a rookie, struck out 15 batters in Game 5, helped by an umpire whose strike zone stretched well off the plate. He then beat Cleveland twice and was named World Series MVP too.

Which slugger did the Marlins trade to Detroit in an eight-player deal in December 2007?

Miguel Cabrera had won his first big league game with a walk-off homer as a 20-year-old in 2003. In Detroit he won the Triple Crown in 2012 and back-to-back MVP awards.

To whom did Jeffrey Loria sell the Marlins in 2017?

A group led by Bruce Sherman paid $1.2 billion for a club Loria had bought for $158 million fifteen years earlier. Loria's Marlins had not reached the playoffs since 2003, his second season in charge.

Which rookie manager was fired by the Marlins in October 2006, weeks before being named NL Manager of the Year?

Joe Girardi took a team that started 11-31 above .500 by early September. He had told the club's owner to stop heckling an umpire during a game in August, and was let go when the season ended.

Which Spanish-language Marlins broadcaster, on air 1993-2017, won the Ford C. Frick Award in 2001?

Felo Ramírez called Don Larsen's perfect game, Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit and Hank Aaron's 715th home run in a career that began in 1945. He was still behind the Marlins microphone at 93.

Which player did Miami trade months before his 2018 MVP season?

Christian Yelich went to Milwaukee that January, won the batting title at .326 and hit for the cycle twice in 19 days. Miami got four prospects back and lost 98 games that year.

The championship game of which 2023 tournament was played at LoanDepot Park?

World Baseball Classic fans in Miami saw Japan beat the United States 3-2. Shohei Ohtani came out of the bullpen and struck out his Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out.

In July 2022 the Marlins opened a cheering section for which pitcher's starts?

Sandy Alcantara struck out 12 in eight innings the night 'Sandy's Beach' opened, and lost 2-1 anyway. Four months later he won the NL Cy Young Award with all 30 first-place votes.