June 10, 1991: S. Fla. learns it will get major league baseball team
Original logos of team formerly known as Florida Marlins
Baseball boosters in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area were disappointed when Baseball Commissioner Faye Vincent announced that the Miami area was chosen as home of one of two Major League Baseball's two new expansion teams.
The news was stunning to baseball supporters in St. Petersburg, which had already built a stadium specifically to lure an expansion franchise to the area, which had hosted spring training for decades.
The selection of Miami and Denver ended a six-month contest among six finalists. Neither city was seen as a frontrunner, and the selections also disappointed Orlando, Washington D.C. and Buffalo, N.Y.
Miami's strength was that its team would be owned by H. Wayne Huizenga, owner of the Blockbuster Video chain and at the time 15 percent owner of the Miami Dolphins. Huzienga would also be the first owner of the NHL expansion team Florida Panthers.
Miami's team, first named the Florida Marlins in an effort to appeal to the entire region, began play in 1993, sharing their home with the Miami Dolphins in what is now called Sun Life Stadium. The team was renamed the Miami Marlins when it moved to its new home in Little Havana in 2012.
The Tampa Bay area would wait four more years before its bid to host a team was approved in 1995. Washington D.C. got its team when the Montreal Expos relocated there in 2005.
The news was stunning to baseball supporters in St. Petersburg, which had already built a stadium specifically to lure an expansion franchise to the area, which had hosted spring training for decades.
The selection of Miami and Denver ended a six-month contest among six finalists. Neither city was seen as a frontrunner, and the selections also disappointed Orlando, Washington D.C. and Buffalo, N.Y.
Miami's strength was that its team would be owned by H. Wayne Huizenga, owner of the Blockbuster Video chain and at the time 15 percent owner of the Miami Dolphins. Huzienga would also be the first owner of the NHL expansion team Florida Panthers.
Miami's team, first named the Florida Marlins in an effort to appeal to the entire region, began play in 1993, sharing their home with the Miami Dolphins in what is now called Sun Life Stadium. The team was renamed the Miami Marlins when it moved to its new home in Little Havana in 2012.
The Tampa Bay area would wait four more years before its bid to host a team was approved in 1995. Washington D.C. got its team when the Montreal Expos relocated there in 2005.