Much of the Miami Marlins’ roster from last season has departed, but the team’s true centerpiece—the home run sculpture in the outfield—is set to remain, at least for now. That’s not for lack of trying by CEO Derek Jeter, who’s indicated that he’s not a fan. But the fact that the statue is considered public art (due to, of course, the hundreds of millions of dollars that the stadium got in taxpayer money), means that tearing it down is trickier than, say, trading away a young star. For the time being, the statue stays.
For Jeter’s real thoughts on the sculpture, see this lovely exchange in a CBS Miami story from today:
What’s Jeter’s opinion of the 73-foot-tall artwork?
“It’s big,” he said. “It’s big. It’s big.”
Does he like it?
“It’s unique,” he said.
Sadly, Jeter is not alone in his distaste for the statue; CBS Miami also talked to a few players from around the league about what they might trade from the dinger machine, and not everyone seems to recognize its artistic glory. Take this, from Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez:
“There’s not really much I want to trade out of DC. I wouldn’t trade anybody for that. I wouldn’t trade the cherry blossoms. And we wouldn’t even know where to put it.”
Wrong. There are two different statues of Christopher Columbus and three of George Washington in D.C., and zero whimsical technicolor home run machines. This trade should be easier than any that Miami’s made this winter.