The Marlins Are Planning On Building A Statue Of Jose Fernandez
Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria did a lengthy Q&A with Jerry Crasnick over at ESPN, and the subject of Jose Fernandez came up a lot, and predictably so. At the end of the interview, Loria was asked if the Marlins have any future plans to honor Jose.
We’re having a big sculpture of Jose made for the plaza or maybe in front of the stadium. William Behrends is doing it. He did the Willie McCovey and Willie Mays sculptures out in San Francisco.
I went through hundreds and hundreds of photographs with the sculptor and gestures of Jose’s face to try and make it perfect. No one else is going to get involved in a piece of sculpture other than me, right? I’ve spent 50 years in that world.
We’re going to cast it in bronze and paint the glove the red-orange that Jose would like, and that will be the only color on it. I don’t want to make it kitschy, but that was his favorite thing. Hopefully we’ll see it in six months or so. It’s a very long process to cast a sculpture that’s 9 or 10 feet high, as opposed to 6 feet.
And when asked why the statue would be nine or ten feet high, Loria said, “Because Jose was larger than life.” I think that was an awesome touch. There’s obviously a lot of thought being put into this, and it will be great to see once it’s finally done, although I’m sure there will be mixed emotions once it’s finally unveiled. On one hand, fans will look at this statue and be reminded of Jose’s greatness on the mound and in the community down there in Miami.
But on the other hand, there will be a degree of reality that will ultimately set in, because as much as that statue is there to represent Jose’s greatness on the baseball diamond, it’s also there to honor a life that was lost far too soon. But as the years go by, and Marlins fans who weren’t around to witness Jose pitch with their own two eyes travel to Marlins Park, hopefully that statue prompts many conversations and stories about how great Jose Fernandez was and how great he was going to continue to be.