Derek Jeter’s Miami Marlins did not accumulate too many victories during the regular season, but they scored one this week.
Miami-Dade County gave the Marlins permission to move the home run sculpture in Marlins Park. The sculpture was built by artist Red Grooms, who opposed the move. That complicated the team’s effort to move the sculpture, which was one of the first things Jeter’s ownership group wanted to do upon buying the team from previous owner Jeffrey Loria.
According to The Miami Herald, the Marlins “promised to pay Miami-Dade up to $2.5 million if Grooms opts to take his name off the work and render it worthless on the art market.” Moving the sculpture required approval from the county’s Art in Public Places board, which the Marlins received unanimously on Tuesday.
The Marlins plan to move the sculpture from its current location around left-center field to outside of the ballpark. The plan is to have the sculpture move in its celebration after team wins, for home runs, and every day at 3:05 p.m., which is the county’s area code.
The Marlins plan to put in a fan standing-room-only ticket area where the sculpture was.
