Home runs and Ballpark Sculpture

 (Photo from sportressofblogitude.com)

OK, baseball fans- the new Marlins ballpark is ready, complete with one of the most elaborate ballpark sculptures in history. For those of you who are used to bronze homerun heroes guarding the gates of their home team, this piece in FL might come as something of a shock. It's BIG (74 feet!). It's garish. It's (as one observer said) "So Miami..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZch2jIMVtk

And, as it turns out, the kinetic piece by Red Grooms, a wildly colorful sculptor whose pieces have caused a ruckus from New York City to Denver, may be a hazard to the game.  According to sources, it may interfere with the sight-line of left handed batters...

That remains to be seen, but the home team has already been expressing its opinion. According Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald, "With the roof open and the wind blowing out, the Marlins peppered the "home run sculpture," the $2 million centerpiece of their new ballpark, with one metal-denting blast after another. That was batting practice, and it prompted catcher John Buck to remark that "it felt like you hit your dad or grandpa on the arm with a ball" — inflicting pain unintentionally, in other words.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/07/2444040/artist-rendering-of-marlins-sculpture.html