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The Bobby Maduro - Miami Stadium Project
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"It was a great stadium and you just enjoyed walking in because in those days you never saw a minor league team with a stadium like that."
Tommy Lasorda - Hall of Fame manager of the L.A. Dodgers
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Miami Stadium, ca. 1950
The Bobby Maduro/Miami Stadium Project is an inter-disciplinary effort to reveal the story of one of Miami's forgotten landmarks. Today, the ballpark stands as a monument to our stormy love affair with baseball, the naive optimism of post-war America, and the neglect of urban institutions. The work also illuminates the stadium's fascinating link to the shadowy world of Caribbean politics.
A book on the history of the stadium and the documentary film are currently in development. The film will include archival and contemporary footage, as well as conversations with baseball greats and interviews with community officials.
Baseball figures who have shared their stories on film are Tommy Lasorda, Hall of Fame manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers; former Baltimore Oriole stars Jim Palmer, Boog Powell and Mike Flanagan; and Cuban baseball legends Vicente Lopez and Frank "Panchon" Herrera. Newly discovered footage from Miami Stadium includes Willie Mays, Yogi Berra and rare interviews with Satchel Paige.
City officials, former stadium employees, community leaders and fans also offer their reflections on the ballpark. Roy Firestone, nationally recognized sports and entertainment personality (and former Baltimore Orioles batboy), will narrate the documentary.
In addition to collecting personal stories, the producers are in the process of raising funds to complete research and production of the documentary. Once finished, The Bobby Maduro/Miami Stadium Project will paint an informative, engaging portrait of a stadium, a city and a region with a fascinating and unknown history.
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Miami Sun Sox celebrate 1952 FIL championship
The year is 1948 and post-war Miami is booming. The "Magic City", with its tropical beaches, year round sunshine and retinue of jai-alai frontons, racetracks and resort hotels looks to put itself on the map as a baseball town. Within eight months and with little publicity, the "finest baseball park in the land" magically appears on the corner of NW 10th Avenue and 23rd Street.
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