Joe Robbie Stadium

Walking up to Joe Robbie Stadium, Aug-1993.

The outfield seats fill up for football, but seldom for baseball.

• Location: 27th Avenue at 199th Street Northwest, Miami, Fla.
• Opened: 1987 as Joe Robbie Stadium (1993 for baseball)
• Additional names: Pro Player Stadium (1997); Dolphin Stadium (2005); Land Shark Stadium (2009)
• Home team: Florida Marlins, National League (1993-present); Miami Dolphins, National Football League (1987-present)
• Capacity: 40,585 for baseball

Chronological Tour: Stop 39

Rating: 2 baseballs

The reason for the Florida Marlins’ discontent is simple. They’re a second-class occupant of a football stadium, originally named for the owner of the Miami Dolphins (and, for a time, bearing the name of the NFL team), with a field that fits into the venue about as well as Oprah Winfrey fits into a size-6 dress.

Which isn’t to say that it’s the worst place in the world to watch a ball game. The old manual scoreboard, visible in left field in the photo above, was replaced several years later by an electric board that people could actually read. And the upper deck seats in the outfield, generally not available during baseball season, did get filled up during the 1997 World Series ... after which the owner promptly shed payroll because he said he was hemorrhaging money, dooming those seats to being void of patrons except during football season. The seats filled up again when the Marlins played in, and won, the 2003 World Series.

In the latest twist in the ballpark-naming game, the entertainer Jimmy Buffett pitched in to put one of his brands on the park. As of May 2009, the facility is known as Land Shark Stadium.

The Marlins broke ground in July 2009 on a new park at the site of the storied Orange Bowl, a football stadium that hosted its namesake New Year’s Day college football game for over 70 years but which had become hopelessly outmoded and was demolished in the mid-2000s. The Marlins have already announced that they will be known as the Miami Marlins once the new park opens in 2012. Meanwhile, the annual Orange Bowl game, now part of the Bowl Championship Series rotation, is currently played at the Dolphins’ stadium.