New York Yankees vs. Lionel Messi, the Babe Ruth of MLS
In a uniform emblazoned with the most iconic name in contemporary sports, they are box-office gold wherever they go — a big-spending, star-laden franchise led by a generational talent whose potential for a history-making play in South Florida this weekend has local fans buzzing.
Lionel Messi and Inter Miami? Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees? Yes and yes.
In a confluence of events that is unlikely to be repeated, the famed New York Yankees are here to play a three-game series against the playoff-focused Miami Marlins that begins on Friday, the same night the thrilling Lionel Messi show returns to Fort Lauderdale’s DRV PNK Stadium.
Such is the hype, the Miami Dolphins’ preseason debut against the Atlanta Falcons at Hard Rock Stadium on Friday night feels like an afterthought.
In a typical baseball season, a visit by the Yankees and their $40-million-per-year legend-in-the-making — Judge broke Roger Maris’ 61-year-old American League record for home runs in a season last year — would be the hottest ticket in town.
While legions of former New Yorkers now call South Florida home, the Yankee pinstripes and the navy NY hat are transcendent cultural symbols that resonate widely in the local melting pot of immigrants and visitors. They are the iconography of America.
Frank Franklin II/AP
Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees will open a weekend series against the Miami Marlins on Friday. (Frank Franklin II/AP)
Indeed, the Marlins are expecting near sellout crowds at 37,000-seat loanDepot Park for games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday against the Yankees, who last played in Miami in 2021. The Marlins haven’t had a three-game series average more than 30,000 fans since the first such series in the new ballpark in 2012, against the Houston Astros.
Sal Palmisano, of Plantation, will be there on Friday and Sunday, though that wasn’t the plan.
“I got four (tickets) on the field right when the schedule came out,” he says. “I was hoping to sell at least some of them, but (the Yankees being in) last place doesn’t help, so I’m keeping them. I’ve got buddies who want to go. So, fine.”
But there is no more compelling story in sports than what Messi has been doing with Inter Miami, introducing himself with seven goals in his first four matches, changing the game for offense-obsessed Americans and, seemingly overnight, making Major League Soccer cool.
Inter Miami’s most recent game, which brought Messi’s magic act to Dallas, sold out in 22 minutes.
The squad’s 22,000-seat DRV PNK Stadium has become a destination, too. Just a few dozen official tickets remain at InterMiamiCF.com for Friday’s 8:30 p.m. Leagues Cup quarterfinals game against Charlotte FC, with prices starting at more than $150.
Baseball historians may not forgive such a hasty comparison, but in his effect on a franchise and the game of soccer in the United States, Messi someday may be known as the Babe Ruth of MLS.
From Times Square to Tamarac, Messi’s $60-million-per-year pink No. 10 jersey has become its own cultural symbol of a youthful and forward-looking America.
“I don’t know much about Babe Ruth, but Messi is absolutely why my kids … and people at work are talking about MLS,” says Derek Reed, 42, who works at a Fort Lauderdale investment firm. Reed plans to attend Friday’s game.
“All those last-second goals, you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s very exciting,” he says.
Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at [email protected]. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.
