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Sharing a stadium is a pain in the dirt

Sporting News, The, Sept 16, 2005 by Todd Jones

When I see the Dolphins these days, I can't get past the fact that they play on our field. In this era of sport-specific stadiums, the Marlins and the A's are the only teams sharing fields with NFL teams. I don't count the Twins because their artificial surface is not destroyed by 300-pound pulling guards working on chop blocks.

By the time we were off the field last Wednesday night, the grounds crew already was disassembling the baseball setup and preparing for the Dolphins' preseason game the next night. I didn't realize this, but the mound area is located on the football field, so it has to be moved out of the way on a forklift.

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The infield then is cut and yard lines are marked off. Part of the basepaths lie near the middle part of the football field, which is not good. Those 300-pound guys can kill our infield dirt, and our infielders can get big, fat lips from bad hops.

Some of the stands are pulled out of the football field's way on trainlike tracks, which helps spare the grass---except for the area right in front of the stands. That gets completely trashed.

As you can tell from our stadium's name--Dolphins Stadium--the Marlins are the second-class citizens. There used to be a family waiting room not far from the Marlins' clubhouse. But earlier this season, the Dolphins notified the Marlins that the family room was off-limits because it was being turned into part of the Dolphins' new locker room.

After the Dolphins' game last week, the stadium had to be changed back for our big series with the Mets that began the next night. I already can tell that the mound has changed because of the Dolphins' preseason games. It's not holding up in the landing spot--where the pitcher's front foot hits the dirt--as well as it did. Because the infield dirt has been stomped down, a ball is more likely to pop up when it hits the lip of the outfield grass. That makes diving for a ball a dicey play. Also, the outfield is chewed up, so when an outfielder charges for a hit, he can't go full-speed because the grass is not smooth and the ball might hop over his glove.

The bottom line is that sharing a stadium is a hassle for both teams. Football guys don't want to tackle anybody--or get tackled--on the infield dirt. We have it tougher, though. Football players don't have to worry about bad-hop grounders. For the sake of the A's and the Marlins, I hope a bad hop doesn't cost us a loss down the stretch. That would be a tough way to miss the playoffs.

Todd Jones is the closer for the Marlins. E-mail him at tjones@sportingnews.com.

Sharing a stadium is a pain in the dirt

Sporting News, The, Sept 16, 2005 by Todd Jones

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