Miami citizens protesting Jose Fernandez statue
The Miami Marlins tam president is defending the team’s plans to honor Jose Fernandez with a statue.
The construction of a statue honoring Fernandez has not been well received by all residents of South Florida.
Opponents of the nine-foot statue to be displayed outside of Marlins Park cite the circumstances under which Fernandez perished as the reason he should not be honored by the Miami community.
Fernandez died on September 25 of last year following a boating crash off the coast of Miami Beach. Two other passengers also perished. Investigations following the incident revealed Fernandez to be the driver of the boat at the time of impact. He was found to have been driving impaired at the time, under the influence of alcohol and cocaine.
At the time of his death, Fernandez was one of the top young pitchers in all of baseball. He was a two-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year winner, and would posthumously finish seventh in Cy Young Award voting for 2016. In that season he averaged 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings pitched, tops in Major League Baseball.
But none of that matters to protestors who feel that this statue is insensitive to those who have lost loved ones due to actions similar to those of Fernandez.
According to NBC Miami, an anonymous letter was sent by the father of a DUI victim to team president David Samson elaborating on his anti-statue stance.
"“This is why the decisions by your organization to install a larger than life statue of Jose Fernandez are very troubling to many of us.”"
Samson does not feel that the way in which he died should diminish what Fernandez meant to the Miami community, and intends to proceed with the construction of the statue as planned.
"“People make mistakes, mistakes have consequences but it doesn’t change what Jose meant to the Marlins, what he meant to Miami, what he meant to the community,” Samson said.“The fact is he will always be a Marlin that doesn’t change. When you love somebody you love them when things are good and when things are bad.”"
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Fernandez was 24 years old.