I generally don’t believe in curses, but I make an exception for Marlins Park.
The financial scam that contributed to its construction doomed the stadium from the start. Opening day in 2012 – when Tropicana dancers accompanied players onto the field for their introductions, and then-owner Jeffrey Loria appeared in a golf cart with an ailing Muhammad Ali – didn’t help the art-filled ballpark in Little Havana. Within weeks the manager, Ozzie Guillén, was quoted in a magazine speaking highly of Fidel Castro.
The team’s most promising and charismatic player, pitcher José Fernández, was killed in a boating accident at the end of the 2016 season. Other top players were lost in trades, even – especially – after Derek Jeter became a co-owner. Jeter messed not only with the roster but with the art, moving Homer, Red Grooms’ whimsical home run sculpture, outside the stadium, despite a letter of protest from the artist. (Granted, Jeter had already traded the team’s biggest home run hitters.)
Since moving to their new home, the Marlins have not had a winning season. Attendance this year, for the second year in a row, should come in well under a million. And that’s with new $5 tickets and “improved” food options.
This week one of the traded players, Christian Yelich, returned with his new team, the Milwaukee Brewers. He promptly fouled a ball off his leg, fracturing his kneecap and ending his season and his MVP chances. It was a wrenching moment, and it demonstrated that even players who leave the Marlins aren’t immune to the curse.
