Self-inflicted wounds

The Marlins’ ill-conceived "Bartman Appreciation Weekend" was canceled shortly after it was first promoted. The fact it was even considered is a problem.

The Marlins cruelly, immaturely and embarrassingly hatched a plan to celebrate “Bartman Appreciation Weekend” when the Cubs come to town at the end of the month, part of their season-long recognition of the franchise’s 30th anniversary. 

But after initial promotion of the event with a link to buy tickets (above) went out to thousands of people on their email distribution list, they were roundly criticized and ridiculed on social media and, laughingly, came up with the response that the email featuring the promotional graphic was “sent in error.”

So what we’re told to believe is they never had the idea, yet someone was instructed to create a promotional graphic that was not to be sent out since it was created to advertise an event that was never going to happen. Then, after what you’d think would be some type of review process, an email about an event that was never going to happen was sent to thousands of people. But it was sent “in error.”

Got it. 

How desperate can a major league team be to try to sell a few tickets that it would resort to a ploy as sophomoric as this?

You want to do a weekend celebration of the thrilling 7-game 2003 National League Championship Series while the Cubs are in town? Beautiful. Let’s get a “save the date” card into Mike Mordecai’s hands.

But to even consider highlighting this particular moment? Absolutely tone deaf.

I’d call it “minor league,” but that would be an insult to the scores of minor league clubs that annually conceive countless creative promotions that grow the Game’s popularity in markets across the country and help them put people in the seats.

A baseball fan’s life was turned upside-down because he attended a playoff game at Wrigley Field and interfered with a foul ball on a fateful fall night. 20 years have passed, and the Cubs have since celebrated their own long-awaited World Series title. If you have any heart at all, you’d like to think there’s occasionally a day that passes on which Steve Bartman isn’t reminded that for a split second in October of 2003 he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Then the marketing and communications geniuses who roam the bright white halls of loanDepot park came up with this farcical idea, yet another in a long list of self-inflicted wounds the Marlins organization has made a habit of over the last 6 seasons.

It’s not just foolish. It’s thoughtless, callous and inhumane as it relates to Steve Bartman. 

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What did they think? It was funny? It was cute? It would sell thousands of extra tickets in a ballpark that is less than one-third full most nights, even with the Marlins winning some games in recent days?

I legitimately wanted to know the answer to that question. “What did they think?” I reached out to the Marlins for on-the-record comment Sunday morning.

That night I received an emailed reply “on background.” It was the same nothing response that was given to Andy Slater.

I followed up with a second request for an on-the-record explanation of what happened, hoping maybe this was some big misunderstanding, and they could diffuse the mess they’d made.

Despite my pushing publication of this post back a day in hopes of receiving an attributable explanation, there was no reply. They decided to stick with their original ludicrous story.

Beyond the embarrassingly bush league nature of the promotion, you’d think Marlins brass would realize the majority of fans who buy tickets at loanDepot park when the Cubs are in town are actually rooting for the visitors. Their money is green too. You want to tick them off? Mission accomplished.

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An ownership that was purposeful in largely ignoring the franchise’s history whenever possible for much of its time in command has finally in 2023 decided to reverse course, at long last accepting that many in this community have a tremendous affinity for certain players, moments and teams over the club’s not-always-glorious 30-year history. 

They didn’t have to win the World Series or earn prestigious awards or go to All-Star Games. To this day, hearing names like Chuck Carr, Dan Uggla, Cody Ross, Alfredo Amezaga, Justin Bour and Steve Cishek brings a smile to the face of many Marlins fans and triggers great memories from otherwise largely forgettable seasons.

The Marlins’ story didn’t begin the day Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter walked in the door in October of 2017. But for much of the last 5 years, it often seemed like they wanted you to think it did.

New colors, a new logo and new uniforms. Goodbye to your favorite players. Goodbye to the polarizing Home Run Sculpture and also to the popular aquariums behind home plate. Beginning in their earliest days in control, they said a gradual goodbye to the television and radio broadcasters fans respected, enjoyed and with whom they felt a personal bond.

It was this ownership that forced former club President David Samson, who they would soon dismiss, to fire the 2 most beloved people to ever wear a Marlins uniform—Jack McKeon and Jeff Conine (along with Hall of Famers Andre Dawson and Tony Perez). That was in September of 2017 in what was literally this ownership’s first public act, weeks before assuming full control of the club. 

In a small act that says a great deal about their feelings toward Marlins history, the marketing and communications geniuses they hired that first year instructed the social media team to no longer acknowledge the birthdays of popular former Marlins on social media, as had been customary in the past. 

Miguel Cabrera, one of the great names in franchise history, turns 40 today as he plays his final major league season. That’s the kind of thing they were told to ignore.

Popular former Marlin Henderson Alvarez turns 33 today. Remember his final day no-hitter against the Tigers in 2013? Anthony DeSclafani is 33 today too. Remember his dazzling debut at Dodger Stadium in 2014? 1997 World Series champion Jim Eisenreich turns 64 today. He had a pair of multi-hit games and a Game 3 home run against Cleveland to help the Marlins to their first World Series title.

You won’t hear it from the Marlins, but on behalf of those who support the club and who appreciate what you did during your time in Miami, Happy Birthday, guys. 

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During this ownership’s first season, in 2018, there was a weekend celebration of the franchise’s 25th anniversary. Initially, the plan was to do it on the cheap. The club invited former players to return, but they were told they’d have to pay their own way to Miami for the weekend. After several prominent players balked and ripped into the unfortunate club employee who was tasked with reaching out but had nothing to do with the decision, owner Bruce Sherman, to his credit, got involved and essentially said, “We’re going to do this the right way.”

The Marlins ultimately paid for the players’ trips to Miami, and it wound up being a great weekend. But it wasn’t going to be until the owner stepped in. 

The popularity of the teal pinstripe uniforms worn that weekend made the club realize that, as much as they would like to consign the color teal and everything associated with it to the dustbin of history, there’s actually money to be made in selling those jerseys, caps and T-shirts. They were brought back when the 1997 championship club was acknowledged last season, and they’re being worn on home Fridays this season as part of a celebration of the Marlins’ 30th anniversary. 

Cha-ching.

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But at least recognition of the team’s history has finally begun. A small Marlins museum display was unveiled at the ballpark last week, and other events dot the 2023 schedule to acknowledge 30 years of Marlins baseball, recognition that’s all but required in the year of any meaningful anniversary that ends in a zero.

10 years, 20 years, 30 years…we’ll see you again for the big 4-0 in 2033.

All of that makes it seem as though, when there’s money to be made, suddenly Marlins history isn’t such a bad thing to celebrate, especially when the present is—shall we say—underwhelming, 6 years into the current “build.”

And somehow those dots got connected to Steve Bartman.

You think the Mets would ever hold Bill Buckner Appreciation Weekend? Did the Dodgers ever salute Dennis Eckersley? Did the Blue Jays retire Mitch Williams’ #99 Phillies jersey?

The fact that this poorly thought-out Bartman Appreciation Weekend was scheduled then unscheduled shouldn’t surprise anyone who has watched this organization operate over the last 6 seasons.

But the fact they haven’t learned from their previous missteps (and I have plenty more to share in this space when appropriate) ought to alarm anyone who cares about this franchise.

It’s incredibly sad for those of us who were devoted to the Marlins long before any of the current decision makers rolled into town and to those of us who will still care about the club long after they’re gone.