Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria had plans to construct a statue outside Marlins park honoring the late Jose Fernandez, but there’s a chance the tribute may never be completed with the team now being sold.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that the building of the Fernandez statue is “very much in question” since it will not be completed before the new ownership group, which includes Derek Jeter, takes over. The matter has yet to be discussed with the new owners, who have just finalized the terms of their purchase in the past week.
Loria said back in April that the statue should be completed in about six months.
“I went through hundreds and hundreds of photographs with the sculptor and gestures of Jose’s face to try and make it perfect,” he told ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. “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.”
While the new ownership group could ultimately decide to continue with the plan, some have criticized the idea. A toxicology report found that Hernandez had alcohol and cocaine in his system and was responsible for the boating accident that killed him and two others last September. Had Fernandez lived, there is a belief that he would have faced charges.
