Marlins Park home run sculpture is staying despite being universally despised
Despite the rumored inevitability of new ownership, the Miami Marlins will still be the Miami Marlins in some ways.
The hopes of every baseball fan who has ever watched a game played at Marlins Park was that Derek Jeter’s ownership group would remove the Marlins Park home run sculpture once he takes control of the Miami Marlins. According to Miami-Dade County, who owns the sculpture and the stadium, that’s not happening.
Douglas Hanks of the Miami Herald reported on Thursday that the sculpture was commissioned and purchased for the park by the county using specifically-designated funds, and is therefore not eligible for relocation unless the county gives the team permission.
This is devastating to fans who have been subjected to the abject torture of the “work of art,” and for those fans who have not yet had the privilege of seeing the fixture mock any thing that could be considered actual art or entertainment, behold:
While this news is unfortunate, it does present the first of what is sure to be many challenges for the new ownership group led by former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. The sculpture stands as a reminder of the horrid beginnings of the Marlins in Marlins Park, under one of the most-hated professional sports owners ever, one who fleeced the taxpayers of South Florida to pay for the eyesore that makes the few fans at Marlins Park actually hope that none of the Marlins players hit a home run.
Removing the statue would not have only improved the aesthetics of the stadium but acted as a powerful symbol that a new day had come for the franchise, free of the ridiculous failures of the past ownership. Jeter will now have to devise another strategy to send the message that the Marlins are under new ownership.
Just because the sculpture can’t be moved doesn’t mean that the team has to utilize it, however. For the love of baseball and to the joy of the tens of fans at the park, it would be stupendous if it sat silent going forward regardless of how many dingers Giancarlo Stanton launches. In that way, it would act as a reminder of the similar ineffectiveness of former owner Jeffrey Loria that has now passed into antiquity.