Miami Amigos

The Miami Amigos began play in 1979 as charter members of the six–team, Class AAA level Inter-American League.

Teams from the United States, Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela comprised the league structure.

The Miami Amigos played with fellow league members Caracas Metropolitanos (Venezuela), Panama Banqueros, Puerto Rico Boricuas, Petroleros de Zulia (Venezuela) and Santo Domingo Azucareros (Dominican Republic) as charter members.

Visa issues and airline problems negatively affected travel and resulted in additional cancelled games.

But the San Juan Boricuas occasionally drew fewer than 100 fans and moved some games to Puerto Rico, drawing 14,625 total attendance for the season.

In mid–June, the San Juan and Panama (24,400 in attendance) owners immediately abandoned their teams, leaving players stranded across the Caribbean.

The Amigos and other teams in the league did not have television or radio broadcasts, negating potential revenue sources and fan interest in the games.

[7][3][6][8][9][10] Once the season began, Davey Johnson underwent back surgery and missed time with the team.

Amigos player Dan Thomas, who was leading the league in home runs, was suspended by Johnson.

Amigos player Oscar Zamora owned a successful shoe factory in Miami and could only travel to away games on the weekends.

[15] The Amigos' shutdown left the above-mentioned Miami Orioles as the city's main pro baseball team, a status which would hold until 1991 (at which time they would move westward to Fort Myers), when the Florida (now Miami) Marlins were enfranchised as part of Major League Baseball's National League, starting play in 1993.

A high, rounded roof, with palm trees growing out of the paved walkway circled the stadium.