Beautiful Mother's Day for a ball game! Today we drove to loanDepot Park for a Miami Marlins baseball game as they hosted the Milwaukee Brewers. It was a rainy day with off and on downpours so the drive to the ballpark was delayed a bit. Parking was easy since I had emailed the parking contractor in advance and asked for recommendations on which lot to use. East Lot 1, a surface lot, was the choice and we were the first vehicle in the lot when we arrived.
The stadium was right across the street and we processed in through security quickly and through ticketing. The parking tokens and ballpark tickets are all virtual now, so all you need is your phone (and a pair of glasses for some of us)!
We arrived early so as to not have issues with parking and therefore we had plenty of time inside to tour the park and to find "fan services" so Doreen could get her MLB Ballpark Passport stamped. They don't issue first game certificates here but they do give out first game buttons for your shirt.
We strolled through the team store and enjoyed the various amenities they offer. Here is one where you simulate broadcasting and they take your picture.
This was kind of a unique one. They have a "bobble head" museum! Quite the collection and many familiar "faces" or heads as it were!!
loanDepot Park is a very nice circular stadium. The outfield doors open on a track system and the roof opens but as mentioned before, we had some nasty rain coming through so the roof of the ballpark was closed.
loanDepot Park was retrofitted with artificial turf in 2020, same as the Arizona Diamondbacks due to problems they were having with growing. It has a capacity of 37,442 but due to COVID is operating at 25% capacity right now and the guest services person told us that would equate to about 9400 attendees. The official attendance today was just 5105, and you could tell it! The place was empty! That's not good for sales and the vendors, but for attendees like us it was great. No one sitting next to you, no one in the bathrooms, no one in line for food or drink, etc! And no competition for parking.
We made our way all the way around the park and then found our seats. Again, it was a ghost town!
The players had pink accented gear on today to honor Mother's Day which was nice. With our seats in the left field area along third base side,
Doreen found a slushy adult beverage vendor and got the Miami Marlins cups, and I had a beer, then later we had a burger and a dog. Nothing special.
We saw about half the game before we had to head back towards the campground. It was about 45 minute drive each way and with the heavy rains that slowed everything down quite a bit. The Brewers would go on to win the game 2-1 in the 10th. We were disappointed they had not yet resumed ballpark tours, and further disappointed they did not have a public accessible "heritage area".
Tomorrow our son-in-law (and pilot) Keith from the Milwaukee area is flying the company's family down the Key Largo so he is going to drive up and have lunch with us! Other than that we have no firm plans while we are here. There are some things we want to see but it is nice to be on a slower pace here.
It was a great day! Happy Mother's day y'all!
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