OPINION: Ring of dishonor
For a big league team, the Marlins have shown a knack for making themselves look very small
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Is it as bad as the aborted plan to celebrate “Bartman Appreciation Weekend” when the Cubs came to town in April?
Maybe not. Although that’s debatable.
Is it hokier than pleading with Mets fans to buy tickets to loanDepot park to root against the Braves during the final series of last season in an effort to make a few bucks?
It might be. Might not.
But why do these things even have to keep coming up?
With the Yankees visiting this weekend, the Marlins have encouraged fans via social media and their television broadcast to wear replica 2003 World Series championship rings that were given out on the last homestand.
And it seems bush league.
Frankly, it wouldn’t be a stretch to perceive this as someone high up in the organization—VERY high up in the organization—giving Derek Jeter the middle finger after he was forced out last year.
Classy.
I get it. The underdog Marlins beat the Yankees for the title 20 years ago. So why can’t the Marlins simply execute a straight-forward anniversary celebration without having to sophomorically poke at the visitors?
It would be entirely different, in my opinion, if the rings were given out this weekend, as part of a recognition of the 2003 championship club while the Yanks are in town. That’s fine. That’s not out of the ordinary in the industry.
But the Marlins were afraid to do that, knowing the majority of fans at loanDepot park the next 3 days will be wearing Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole jerseys. So they gave the rings away 9 days early, trying to boost a mid-week crowd against the Phillies. And that very night, they began to promote this idea of having fans wear them when the Yankees come to town during an in-game sideline report on the Bally Sports Florida broadcast.
Like the one-year-old who lives across the street from me, I’m old enough to remember a time when this ownership wanted nothing to do with Marlins history. Now they’re embracing it when they feel it can help them sell a few tickets and make a few dollars.
That’s fine. The reality is they should have been doing so all along.
As I’ve said for years, the Marlins’ small but passionate core group of supporters is incredibly sentimental. And the club ought not forget the 2 championship teams, the great players and the countless likable personalities that dot 3 decades of major league history in South Florida.
No sport connects generations the way baseball does, and purposefully ignoring that for the first 5 years of Bruce Sherman’s ownership was a serious mistake.
That said, it will be strange to hear several 2003 Marlins World Series stars who will be at the ballpark tonight get booed by the predominantly Yankee-supporting crowd that should give the Marlins their best-attended series of the Sherman-era.
While the 27-time World Series champion Yankees will assuredly be above even noticing “the ring thing,” the mere act of this particular franchise trying to rub that particular franchise’s nose in history is beyond laughable.
But sadly, given their track record, it’s not surprising.
The Marlins have put a competitive big league team on the field this season. At what point will the organization’s front office start acting big league?
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Where is Jack McKeon? How can you celebrate 2003 without Jack?
Totally agree with you Glenn.