“There’s no crying in baseball.” Is a motto that was tossed out the window Monday night in Miami.
When Jose Fernandez died in a horrific boat accident during the early hours of Sunday, the news rocked the baseball world.
How could someone with that much lust for the game of baseball – and life in general – be gone in such a tragedy?
Fernandez was larger than life, and when I received the notification from Twitter Sunday morning reporting what happened, my stomach was in knots and has been since.
The Mets had the undesirable task of having to open up a series in Miami Monday, in what would be the first game in a post Jose Fernandez era of Marlins baseball.
The Marlins paid homage to Fernandez with a pregame ceremony, followed by the two teams embracing each other on the field.
The Marlins all wore Fernandez’s jersey throughout the game with the number 16, a number that will be retired in honor of Miami’s young star.
Dee Gordon stepped into the dish batting right-handed to lead off the game and replicated Fernandez’s batting stance.
Gordon took a ball, switched to batting left-handed, and clubbed a home run over the right field fence.
Gordon jogged around the bases with a face full of tears, then embraced his teammates in the dugout in what was truly a heart wrenching experience.
“I was crying too. I had my head down, and when he was coming to home plate, tears were coming down his face and they were coming down mine too.” Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “I’m pretty sure the whole world felt that emotion.”
It doesn’t matter what team you root for on a daily basis. Monday night, everyone was a Miami Marlins fan.
That includes Mets fans who saw their team drop the first game of a three-game series to the Fish 7-3 during a tight wild card race.
It didn’t matter. Monday night, all eyes were on the field, not the scorecard.
The Marlins sealed the win, and just like they had done pregame, the team circled the mound where their all-star pitcher had tossed countless innings and wrapped their arms around each other.
Gone too soon, but never forgotten. You will be sorely missed, Jose Fernandez.
