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After several years of futility, Jeter announced in early 2022 he was leaving the Marlins. And then those in-stadium aquariums were removed before the beginning of the 2021 season. The Marlins will remove the seven-story "Homer" sculpture from Marlins Park. The Art in Public Places board of Miami-Dade County unanimously voted Tuesday in favor of the Marlins' plan to relocate the colorful, mechanical artwork to a location outside the ballpark, a source told MLB.com's Joe Frisaro. The Miami Herald was the first to report the news.
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — There are going to be a lot of changes when the Miami Marlins take the field this season. In its place will be a new standing-room only section to make way for more Marlins fans. An icon of the Jeffrey Loria era in Miami is being removed from Marlins Park.
‘Homer’ a remnant of Jeffrey Loria era
If you can't afford to become a patron, please sign up to our mailing list. It's free and we're asking here instead of a pop-up. So Homer was dismantled and its place was built a new standing-room section that the team could sell tickets for so that fans could gather, drink overpriced beers and cocktails and try to ignore the awful play of the home team. Or, maybe, just maybe, where the rest of the world saw baseball’s largest tribute to marine life and blinking lights, Derek Jeter saw dollar signs.
The Marlins agreed to pay the county up to $2.5 million if Grooms opts to remove his name from the work, per the Herald. “Homer,” the mechanical sculpture featuring flashing lights and dancing marlins that come to life with every home run, is being shipped from the outfield. The old mayor who hated the sculpture is gone, off to Congress where he can do more damage to our nation than public art.
Derek Jeter is removing the Marlins' home run sculpture because he hates art
To celebrate home runs, he had New York-based artist Red Grooms create the sculpture, and it has been a much talked about centerpiece since the stadium opened. Twitter account, tweeted a photo of the early stages of the dismantling of the seven-story sculpture that has been a fixture in left-center field since the retractable-roof ballpark opened in 2012. Workers will take apart the 73-foot-tall sculpture and reassemble it on the plaza.
Like the Marlins, however, Homer does have a few fans. They consider the pop art very Miami, and right at home in a ballpark with garish green walls, a nightclub in left field and fish tanks behind home plate. According to The Miami Herald, the team won permission from the county to remove the home-run thing from the stadium and place it outside in the plaza. So while the artwork isn’t leaving Miami , it won’t be in the stadium to celebrate the occasional dinger from a Giancarlo Stanton-less baseball team. The vote was a victory for Marlins CEO Derek Jeter, who can now remove from the ballpark one reminder of unpopular previous owner Jeffrey Loria's regime. Former Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, an art dealer, played a major role in the design of the retractable-roof ballpark.
Derek Jeter May Be Stuck With Marlins' Home Run Sculpture
Eyesore or art, “Homer” will reside no longer inside Marlins Park after county officials granted Derek Jeter’s wish. Maybe it was a thirst for revenge even though Homer didn’t exist when the Marlins shocked the Yankees in 2003. Or maybe Jeter, who spent a career looking sleek and stately in Yankees pinstripes, loathed the psychedelic flair of Homer. It could be he was worried about one those seagulls flying off and crushing a visiting outfielder.
"I wouldn't trade anybody for that. I wouldn't trade the cherry blossoms. And we wouldn't even know where to put it." Jeter's old team is out; it's impossible to envision the sculpture at Yankee Stadium, although Babe Ruth probably would have loved it. Fenway Park and Wrigley Field don't seem like good matches either. Yes, major league home run king Giancarlo Stanton is gone. So are Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna and even fourth outfielder Ichiro Suzuki. Season previews suggesting the Marlins have an entirely new look in the outfield aren't quite accurate.
Relocating the piece is better than destroying it, but this was a lot of effort — The Herald detailed the contentious process — for a change that had literally nothing to do with making the Marlins a better baseball team. I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t like the Marlins home-run thing when they first unveiled it. But it grew on me — it became part of the Marlins’ identity. It as weird and fun, and baseball needs more weird and fun.
Traditionalists like Jeter — a former New York Yankees shortstop — tended to dislike it, while supporters found the pop art very Miami. Back in the days of Bill Veeck, baseball used to do this better than anyone. That “PHOOOSH” of flying water is the echo of our lost national greatness.
Were he to disavow the sculpture after its displacement, the art value of the piece could be reduced to nothing, according to the Miami Herald. Chip Bowers, president of business operations, said the team plans to dismantle “Homer” as quickly as possible to make room for the new spectator area by opening day next season, according to the Miami Herald. We promise that once we're bought by a billionaire or millionaire looking for a fun new vanity project, we'll stop asking for money.
Less than two weeks ago, the Marlins were granted permission by Miami-Dade County commissioners to relocate the mechanically operated sculpture to outside the park. In its place, the Marlins will be adding a standing-room deck that is part of a series of stadium enhancements for 2019. Open your image file to the full size using image processing software. But Miami-Dade County’s Art in Public Places board voted unanimously to approve the Marlins’ plan. Not the pinched Puritan baseball deities worshipped by the likes of George Will and Ken Burns—those false, flinty idols, consecrated in Green Cathedrals where only organ music plays. No, the real gods, the gods of a game popularized by breweries to get people to sit around in the sunshine drinking beer and hollering.
Eventually, the sculpture will be placed on the plaza outside the ballpark, where it will be visible to the public. Marlins CEO Derek Jeter and his lamentable inclinations have reportedly won a grim victory. Personal prints, cards and gifts, or reference for artists. Pre-pay for multiple images and download on demand.
The team won county permission Tuesday to move the kitschy, widely disliked Red Grooms sculpture out of Marlins Park to the plaza outside the ballpark. The vote was a victory for Marlins CEO Derek Jeter, who can now remove from the ballpark one reminder of unpopular previous owner Jeffrey Loria’s regime. An icon of the Jeffrey Loria era is being removed from Marlins Park. “Homer,” the mechanical sculpture featuring flashing lights and dancing marlins that come to life with every home run, is being shipped out of the outfield. Public art is protected in the county, and the Marlins argued that the sculpture can be enjoyed more in a public place, rather than only by ticket-buying fans. The plan received opposition from Red Grooms, the New York-based artist who designed the sculpture, which complicated matters because it risked devaluing the piece if Grooms disavowed it.
Tacky like their tacky new uniforms are tacky. Tacky like the Miami Marlins’ tackily alliterative revised name, highlighting the tacky metropolis they call home. Move the $2.5 million sculpture over Grooms' objection, and it could lose almost all of its value, said Michael Spring, director of the county's department of cultural affairs. If there's no trade to be made, Jeter would probably be happy to relocate Homer at the bottom of Biscayne Bay. But like Marlins Park, the sculpture is the property of Miami-Dade County.
But, even if behind schedule, it was eventually resurrected in its new home outside of the stadium for fans to enjoy in Feburary 2020. The artwork, which has been located beyond the center field fence, will be replaced by a tiered standing-room-only area for spectators. Fans have abandoned the team amid the turmoil.
