The scuttlebutt from Miami was that the Marlins allotted five minutes for the ceremonial first pitch. If Dan Marino and Gloria Estefan rode into Marlins Park on the back of Xander Miami, the griffin for whom the City of Miami was named, the applause wouldn't have lasted five minutes. So what was the deal?
Turns out that it was a huge name scheduled to throw out the first pitch, and there were also logistical concerns to deal with as well. The Marlins gave the honor to Muhammad Ali, who won his first title in Miami:
There's Jeffrey Loria with his arm around Muhammad Ali, which isn't a sentence you expected to read today, nor is it an image you were expecting to see. But if the Marlins weren't going to get someone with a more regional appeal, they made sure to get one of the more beloved sports figures alive today.