Florida: Dolphins Stadium

Overview

Dolphins Stadium is home to the Florida Marlins of the National League.

It is also home to the Miami Dolphins of the NFL. It started that way in 1987. By 1993 Miami had an expansion baseball franchise, the Marlins - a turquoise hat wearing young team with promise that would go on to win two World Series titles and zero divison titles over the next 11 years.

Dolphins Stadium, formerly known as Joe Robbie Stadium and Pro Player Stadium, was HOK's version of a cookie cutter. It works a little better, but only a little.

The seats are bright, the out of town scoreboard and clock on the left field wall are creative, and occasionally a crowd over 10,000 comes to the game, but in general Dolphins Stadium is not a good place to watch a baseball game.

Not to mention long communtes to the park as well as often exceedingly hot weather and very little shade in the park, its seats are angled straight down the lines, so views are not very good. The upper deck overhangs hardly at all, and the home plate seats were designed as corner seats for a football game.

The Marlins' lease with the ballpark ends in 2010, so their venue may change to someplace better suited to baseball, whether in Miami or elsewhere.

Worst seat

Section 140: There are many things to hate about these seats other than having no protection from brutal summer sun in southern Florida. While first row seats sound nice, and thus cost a fortune, these seats are angled straight outward so that sitting straight, all a fan sees is deep right field. The seats also are beautifully low to the ground 300 feet from home plate. But most irritatingly, they are blocked by a bullpen, a fence and temporary seats. Section 140's first row is a good 50 feet from fair territory.