MIAMI _ South Florida didn't officially hit the big leagues until 1993 when Charlie Hough uncorked a knuckleball past Jose Offerman for a called first strike in the inaugural game of the Florida Marlins.
Yet, for decades, baseball and Miami were intertwined.
Hough, as many before him and many since, grew up in Miami playing the game he loved on fields around town.
A native of Hawaii, Hough prepped at Hialeah (Fla.) High before spending 25 seasons in the big leagues _ the final two with his hometown team in its infancy.
Today, the Miami Marlins play their games at a domed stadium atop hallowed football ground.
While the Orange Bowl is best known for the football games it hosted until being demolished to make way for the new Marlins ballpark, it was home to baseball, as well.
On Tuesday, the best players in the game will take to the field in Little Havana for the 88th annual All-Star Game.
Much of Miami's baseball history was made in and around Marlins Park.
On the west side of the ballpark once stood Tatum Field where Babe Ruth took his cuts during his first days with the Yankees.
Less than three miles from Marlins Park was the grand old Miami Stadium, a ballpark off Northwest 10th Avenue and 23rd Street in Allapattah that hosted the Brooklyn Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles during the spring and the original Miami Marlins during the dog days of summer.
A few miles to the south of Marlins Park, the Miami Hurricanes have become one of college baseball's powerhouse programs, winning four national championships and making trip after trip to the College World Series.
High school baseball might not be as big as football in South Florida, yet two who grew up in Miami _ Southwest's Andre Dawson and North Miami's Steve Carlton _ are in the Hall of Fame.
Dozens of local products (take, for instance, Yonder Alonso, Anthony Rizzo, Eric Hosmer, Manny Machado, Gio Gonzalez, J.D. Martinez, Mike Napoli and Yasmandi Grandal) are in the big leagues today, with Alonso _ from UM and Coral Gables High _ taking part in the All-Star experience in his hometown.
Alex Rodriguez, the top pick of the 1993 out of Westminster Christian High whose name adorns the University of Miami's baseball park, will be part of the Fox broadcast.
Like many who grew up on baseball in South Florida before the Florida Marlins, Fredi Gonzalez spent many a day and night going to spring training and minor league games at Miami Stadium as well as UM games at Mark Light.
It wasn't the big leagues then, but it was still pretty good.
"I remember going to the first Marlins game at Joe Robbie Stadium, and here we are, 25 years later," said Gonzalez, the former manager of the Marlins and Atlanta Braves who now is Miami's third base coach.
"We have two World Series championships and now an All-Star Game. That's a pretty good chunk of history in a small amount of time."
