After Derek Jeter became a partial owner of the Miami Marlins in 2017, the World Series champion made some changes to the team's beloved stadium that others weren't exactly a fan of. Among those tweaks was the removal of the iconic home run sculpture that sat behind center field.
Former Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria blasted the stadium facelift in a new interview with The Miami Herald. "Jeter came in and destroyed the ballpark,” Loria said. “Destroying public art was a horrible thing to do.”
The $2.5 million artwork lit up every time the Marlins hit a home run or won a game. The sculpture featured mechanical marlins swimming, seagulls flying, and pelicans dancing as well as fountains that sprayed water—a celebration worthy of a Miami-based team. Today, it sits outside LoanDepot Park so fans can see it up close.
"I asked the artist about getting it back, and I told him I would help him find a new home for it,” Loria told the Herald. “He didn’t want to get involved. Now it will rot outside where it is… condemned to neglect and outdoor decay.”
The loss of the sculpture isn't the only part of the former Marlins Park that Jeter and his team decided to axe.
“I was fastidious about all the color we put into the building and it was changed; it didn’t have to be changed," Loria lamented. “They covered up all the [colorful] tiles, which we brought in from Europe. To me it reflected the culture of Miami. Now it’s all blue. It’s ridiculous. The amenities like the fish tanks behind home plate—they were there for the kids—and they got rid of them. It’s silly."
Jeter ended up selling his stake in the Marlins last year and stepping down as CEO. Still, some of the original features that made the team's stadium so endearing remain, as Loria put it, left outside to rot.
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/FOz8xi7
0 comments