Photo of the home run sculpture at Marlins Park. Home of the Miami Marlins.

Image Credit: Dan Lundberg (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The tacky home run sculpture in Marlins Park’s left field is under fire from the team’s new ownership group. The group, headed by former New York Yankees great Derek Jeter and Florida businessman Bruce Sherman, have purchased the Miami Marlins from Jeffrey Loria at a sale price of $1.2 billion.

The talks of removal come at an odd time when radical leftist groups across the country are attempting to remove historical statues and monuments they’re offended by. Ironically, the Jeter/Sherman ownership group seemed no different and called the sculpture “divisive” and “offensive”. The 73-foot sculpture has been in left field since Marlins Park first opened in 2012. The sculpture is nicknamed “Homer” and was designed by Red Grooms, an artist from New York City. The sculpture was designed at a cost of $2.5 million and was part of the Miami-Dade Art in Public Places program which requires city buildings to include artwork on their property.

The sculpture is owned by Miami-Dade County who also owns the ballpark and says the sculpture is not movable. The sculpture received plenty of attention back in July when Marlins Park hosted the 2017 Home-Run Derby during the All-Star break. As it turns out, the transaction between Loria and Jeter/Sherman may not be fully complete until October. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was interested in purchasing the Miami Marlins at one time but dropped out of the discussions several weeks ago. 

 

Reference:

 

Related Articles