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Spooky: Did a photo taken 18 years ago predict the Marlins' future?

   Received an email this week from a Texas man, Scott Rose, who attached a grainy photo that was taken of him at the old Arlington Stadium, former home of the Rangers. He pointed out a peculiarity in the photo that reminded me of an old "Twilight Zone" episode," one involving a camera that takes pictures of the future. In one particular scene, the camera is pointed at a racetrack toteboard before a race and the result is a photo showing the eventual winning horses and payoffs. The camera's owner strikes it rich, of course. Later on, the camera takes a photo that predicts a tragic ending for one of the characters, followed by Rod Serling's postscript.

   Anyway, here's what Rose had to say about the photo, which he said was taken in February, 1994, during the Rangers' version of FanFest and has been sitting on his office credenza ever since:

   "I was goofing around on the field and my wife took this picture of me "leaping" to make a catch at the left field wall.  The scoreboard operator had set the out of town scoreboard for the opening day games, but in the upper right hand corner you will see that he made a mistake.  FLA is listed as MIA.  I have also researched it and found that the opponent listed is also incorrect. TheMa rlins' opening day game that year was against the Dodgers.

    "It is very interesting that not only did the operator call the Marlins the MIA Marlins, he also stated that they were hosting STL.  Either he was as bad an operator as the Rangers were a baseball team back then, or he was simply predicting what would happen on Opening Day, 2012:  STL @ MIA"

    Here's the photo. Look carefully at the upper right-hand corner of the scoreboard, where you'll see what Rose is talking about. You can click on the photo to make it larger. What do you think? San Antonio-20120330-00080-5






You also see the Budweiser ad which Marlins have in left field too wow


A quick google search shows that none of the games on the scoreboard were played on opening day 1994....or opening day 1993....or opening day 1995....or the last game of the season in 1993. My first thought was that it was a typo referring to the twins ("MIN") or the Brewers ("MIL") but both were playing in the American League in 1994 and interleague play didn't start until 1997. Don't know what really happened but the guys story does not appear to be right. Don't know if someone else could figure out what date the scoreboard reflects based on the other game and we can figure out what went wrong.

Flav C

Ricky, at least the guy tried real hard. I was almost convinced :)


Flav C, I assure you this is not an April Fool's prank. The picture really was taken in Feb, 1994, and has been in my office ever since. I have often pointed out to people the mistaken use of MIA, but it wasn't until this past week that the significance of STL @ MIA hit me and I decided to send it to Clark.


Scott, the whole scoreboard seems wrong, thats all. If the picture was taken in Arlignton stadium, which seems likely based on my comparison to other pictures that stadium, it had to be between opening day (April) 1993 (when the Rockies were inaugurated) and the end of the season in 1994 (as Arlignton stadium was demolised in 1994). Based on an online baseball almanac, there was no date in the 1993 or 1994 seasons when both the Rockies hosted the Padres and the Phillies hosted the Pirates. After that I didn't bother to check any further. Either the scoreboard operator was an idiot, which makes the significance of the picture equal to the significance of my rally hats on the Marlins wins, or the picture is a photoshop job, which means the picture has no significance and you are a dweeb for altering this picture to try to create this cryptic connection.


*Arlington and *demolished. Damn its late.

Flav C

Scott, by no means I doubted you. I just thought it was funny, after reading Ricky's comments, that nowadays Google has this uncanny ability to cause controversy, no matter the subject. Thanks for sharing this picture.



I realized after I sent the photo to Clark that all of the games listed are wrong. That makes it all the more interesting to me, that the scoreboard operator just randomly put up STL @ MIA, misnaming the Marlins in the process, but accurately predicting opening day 18 years later. I can't explain it, but the picture is real. That's not to say that I am not a dweeb, I just disagree that this event proves the fact.

I am certain that the picture was taken in 1994 because we went to that winter carnival to see the new stadium as well as the old.


I think the most likely scenario was just that the scoreboard operator screwed up. I guessing this is the case based on the fact that if you photoshopped it, it would have so little payoff that it wouldn't make sense to do the work (so I am concluding that you are not a dweeb, at least not due to this). Maybe they mixed NHL scores on the right with MLB scores on the left. Maybe the scoreboard operator was high on shrooms. Maybe there's some other explanation that I haven't thought of. The one thing I'm certain of is that there's so much going on within that scoreboard that it renders the significance of STL vs MIA to almost nil. (then again, I have posted three times on this blog and researched this for probably an hour or two in the last 24 hours, so maybe it is significant to me)


How about the movie, back to the future 2. i believe it said miami wins 2012 world series. could have the date wrong but it def said miami.

Jed Morrison

As Scott’s San Antonio law partner, I can say with assurance that this photo has much wrong with it. First, Scott has hair in the photo. Second, he is displaying a 15” vertical leap, which I know actually is only 3-4”. Third, I understand the Marlins power alley is 384 feet, rather than the 380 feet in the photo. But other than those obvious flaws, I can attest to Scott’s veracity. The unretouched photo indeed sits on his desk, predicting an Opening Day STL @ MIA matchup, as it has faithfully for 18 years. Nearby is his autographed Cal Ripken ball. Scott is a baseball dweeb, but aren’t we all?

Jed Morrison


I don't know $hit about the schedule, but i just have a hard time believing the unbelievable.

Why is there a frame on the top of the picture and there's also a white washout by the scoreboard part. Nobody can an schedule that matches that day.

The only times from here that were called MIA back then were the Dolphins and the Heat.
Also there seems to be like the scoreboard is sticking out over the budwiser billboard?
There are too many inconclusive evidences to determine the truth about this picture.


Tommy, that was 2015. The Miami Gators lost to the Cubs, to which a passerby says I wish I could go back in time and put some money on the Cubbies, giving Marty the idea to buy the sports almanac. I am a B2TF dweeb.

Jed, other than the fact that its hard to believe that a partner in a law practice wouldn't have changed his name from Jed, I believe everything you say.


Jeffrey Lorrie has run that team into the ground. He doesn't deevrse it. The fans don't support the team. They don't deevrse it either. It is a shame that Washington fans had to wait twelve years while Miami and Tampa Bay (Marlins championships aside) have become a disgrace.The new stadium will be in another city, probably San Antonio. Las Vegas is always rumored, but the gambling thing gets in the way. Portland may not have the right population to support an MLB team. Louisville, Charlotte, Nashville or Memphis could make a run and develop a regional fan base though.

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