Marlins Park Aquarium: One Fishy Idea

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Have the Marlins considered every possibility regarding the aquariums at the new Marlins Park?

Feb 13, 2012 - The Marlins have unveiled the new aquariums behind home plate at Marlins Park. There are some photos of the aquariums, sans fish, at Sportress of Blogitude.

Gaby Sanchez fired baseballs as hard as he could at the tank to prove they were safe and that thousands of gallons of water wouldn't flood the field in case of accidental breakage.

Almost two years ago, though, PETA said the Marlins shouldn't do this, because:

"Being exposed to the loud crowds, bright lights, and reverberations of a baseball stadium would be stressful and maddening for any large animals held captive in tanks that, to them, are like bathtubs," PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman wrote to the Marlins.

There's no record of any response to PETA from the Marlins, either in 2010 or when the fish tanks were revealed to the public earlier this month. But one wonders whether simply having a player throw baseballs really, really fast at the aquariums is enough to prove that they are shatterproof. What if a foul ball hits them going much faster than a thrown ball? What if a catcher tries to slide to catch a popup and his spikes hit the glass and break through?

Those are questions the Marlins have yet to answer. But perhaps the most interesting event could occur if a warning given in the 2010 article linked above comes to pass:

Expect a naked PETA protest on Opening Day 2012.

And that game is on ESPN, national TV, on April 4! The NBC Miami link also says:

Or you could just put mascot Billy the Marlin in the tank and call it a day.

That might be the best idea of all.

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Al Yellon

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Al Yellon is a Cubs fan. For that, he hopes you will indulge him. He's seen Cubs failures since 1969, including the agonizingly close playoff misses in 1984 and 2003. For that, at least a bit of... Read full bio

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Comments

So you really think they haven't tested it beyond just bouncing some balls off of it?

Jeez lah-weeze.

by Charlie Scrabbles on Feb 13, 2012 2:26 PM EST reply actions

Who knows?

When they built then Pac Bell Park in San Francisco, they forgot to include bullpens.

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by Al Yellon on Feb 13, 2012 2:43 PM EST up reply actions

I Don't Think It's a Bad Idea

But I think the location is really, really dumb. Have it in the stadium, maybe way out beyond the bullpens, out of homer range, or off to the side, or even out front. But live animals shouldn’t be right there in the middle of the game.

The aquarium is still below the home run extravaganza and signing Buerhle for so much in terms of dumb things going on with Miami baseball right now, though.

R.I.P. Nick Adenhart - Always an Angel

by Kernel on Feb 13, 2012 3:02 PM EST reply actions

Al, how is a foul ball going to go faster than a pitch?

There is absolutely no way that the batter adds velocity to the ball when he tips it foul. That will only go as fast as the pitch from which it came. And have you ever tried to break automobile glass? It’s near impossible. If this thing is even an inch thick of similar quality glass, the issue is null. However, the moment it breaks, feel free to front page an article calling me an idiot and refer to these very words. I’ll own it.

Those fish are gonna die so fast from all that stress. That’s horrible. When I played in Florida I almost died from how loud the Puerto Rican fans were. GO VAQUEROS

IGNORE ME

by tsunamijesus on Feb 13, 2012 3:08 PM EST reply actions

ever heard of bullet proof glass?

the glass wont break. the real issue is the stress on the fish.
but we all know how you hate the marlins, so anything that promotes bad publicity is good to write about. right Al?

by rideallnide on Feb 13, 2012 3:24 PM EST reply actions

Either that

or the Marlins have turned themselves into the laughing stock of professional sports

~Ronald Reagan has held the two most demeaning jobs in the country; President of the United States and radio broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs~ George F. Will

by unretrofied93 on Feb 13, 2012 3:32 PM EST up reply actions

I think that’s more likely, what with the home run structure and all.

by DodgerofTrolleys on Feb 18, 2012 9:58 AM EST up reply actions

There's two separate panes of "glass"

There’s the actual tanks that contain the water, and then a gap, and then the shatterproof plexiglass (or whatever it is) that is what the balls / bats / catcher’s spikes / discombobulated-Bryce-Harper-heads will hit. (It has to be that way — water is an incompressible fluid, so even if the balls can’t harm the glass of the tanks, the impact would send pressure waves through the water that would quickly kill the fish). That doesn’t mean that something can’t shatter the protective glass, nor does it mean the fish won’t die (from one of many causes), but it’s unlikely anything that happens on the field is going to result in gallons of water pouring out of a broken tank, which seems to be what most people are envisioning.

by J0SER on Feb 13, 2012 3:59 PM EST reply actions

It just seems like a big distraction to pitchers.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this led to more WP and HBP or even pitchers getting drilled with line drives… or, failing that, at least a few pitchers complaining about it.

www.FriarsOnCardboard.blogspot.com
"jbox does not drink coffee, as it makes him clean house big time." ~Kev

by TheThinGwynn on Feb 13, 2012 5:05 PM EST reply actions

Next up: A shocking exposé on

what foods at the new Marlins stadium are likely to give Al Yellon digestive problems.

by South Side Expat on Feb 13, 2012 6:09 PM EST reply actions 7 recs

fresh water or salt water fish?

by mikeschieve on Feb 13, 2012 11:56 PM EST reply actions

So how hard can Gaby Sanchez throw? I’m confident the engineering of the tank is sound, but if he really the ideal candidate for this “test?” Shouldn’t they have gotten Jason Verlander or the Mythbusters or Aroldis Chapman to do the test?

by Phrozen on Feb 14, 2012 1:02 AM EST reply actions