A Ray of Hope for a Former Champion

The official countdown for pitchers and catchers to report to spring training is down to a mere 51 days. What does this mean? Well, for starters it means BASEBALL IS ALMOST HERE. Additionally, it means a new era of South Beach Baseball is about to dawn for the Miami Marlins.

The cap above is the new primary on-field cap for the re-branded Miami Marlins of the National League. Yes, what you see above is most certainly a payment of homage to the glory days of Miami Vice and the era that was the 80's. Other than that, it speaks volumes to the new image of what the club is attempting to project; a groundbreaking, exciting, and eye catching product. With the bright blues, oranges, and yellows which seemingly pop off of this new logo. The ball club of the future has arrived, and the one of the past is gone for good.

The Marlins franchise will be beginning its' twentieth season in South Florida, but will compete in its' first with a place to truly call home. For the first 19 seasons of their existence, they played in what is currently known as Sun Life Stadium. Sun Life Stadium is more or less a football stadium, which the Miami Dolphins have called home since 1987. The place is cavernous, cold, and was usually 80% empty for Marlins games, which proved to be a hard field to play for any team with power alleys the size of Texas.

Now officially in Miami, the Marlins will christen there new home tentatively dubbed "Miami Ballpark" on Sunday, April 1st in the first of two scrimmages vs. the New York Yankees. With the overhaul of the organization, it seems as though ownership is trying to remove the tags placed on them by the public in the past. Accordingly, they have made efforts to put the "fire-sale" days behind them. With the additions of short-stop Jose Reyes, closer Heath Bell, and starter Mark Buehrle it appears as though they want to win early and often. This has to be a welcomed change in the eyes of the fans, knowing that they will have a team to root for which should be intact for quite some time.

When the club captured World Series titles in both the 1997 and 2003 seasons, the Miami community rallied around the team with more support than anyone could imagine. A new stadium, new image, and new roster can only lead to a greater fan base. Possibly the most important aspect of the new park is the retractable roof, which will definitely help out on those hot summer days. From my personal experience of attending a day game in the middle of July, some shade will be much appreciated.

The cap above features a black crown and brim, and has a capital "M" accented with orange, blue and yellow. Above is an orange and blue silhouette of a marlin, seemingly leaping off the logo. It represents more than a new beginning; it represents a new tradition of Miami Baseball.

I picked up this new release at Cap City, in West New York, New Jersey. You can find this fitted and the clubs alternate orange cap here, on the stores website: http://www.ecapcity.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=miami+marlins+authentic&x=0&y=0

Happy New Year, and happy shopping.