Photograph of Miami Stadium by Kurt Schweizer
Thus ladies and gentlemen we present to you, the worlds most famous Art Deco Baseball Stadium... Miami Stadium (aka Bobby Maduro Stadium). Miami Stadium would become home to many future Minor League Miami baseball teams, as well as many future Major League teams as a Spring Training Facility. When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958, they would play their first game ever as the "Los Angeles Dodgers" here in Miami Stadium in a Spring Training exhibition. Miami Stadium's Minor League system would also produce quite a few Hall of Famers, five to be exact! The first team to call this home was the Florida International League's 1949 entry... the Miami Sun Sox. The Sun Sox were christened, the new Class B entry of the Brooklyn Dodgers and were managed by Pepper Martin. The team began the season at Miami Field (now the parking lot of the Orange Bowl) as Miami Stadium's construction was pushed back significantly. They finally moved into this new ballpark nearing the end of the 1949 season. On August 31st, the Miami Sun Sox officially made Miami Stadium (soon to be renamed Bobby Maduro Stadium) their full time home.