He wasn’t on my favorite baseball team and he didn’t hurl off the mound at Fenway every couple of nights. He was our opponent and everyone’s favorite fantasy baseball league starter. He had a special relationship with David Ortiz and so many other icons in the league that had come before him and blazed the way for young talent to take over the league.
José Fernández was one of the best and brightest stars of Major League Baseball and I’m going to miss him terribly. At only 24 years old, Fernández passed away in a boating accident off the Florida coast in September. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw his name on my SportsCenter update. I thought it had to be a fake tweet or some kind of mistake.
I remember hearing José’s name in the papers, online, on social media and all over fantasy baseball when he first entered the league. He brought life back into the Marlins and ignited a city that had been without promising baseball talent for a while. Along with Giancarlo Stanton and Dee Gordon, Fernández lit up Marlins Park and made baseball fun again in a dried up baseball town.
24 years old. One of the youngest guys in the league was dominating seasoned hitters and setting the bar so high for veteran pitchers. Not only was he a force on the mound, but he could make you pay at the plate. I’ll never forget watching his highlights on SportsCenter and his Top 10 moments in the morning before school or after a day of practice.
Fernández was the type of player that made you want to be better at whatever sport you played. He worked hard to come from a less than stellar childhood in Cuba and left his loving grandmother and family to come play baseball and have a brighter future. He put in work every day and every night to perform for his team, but also to perform for himself and his grandmother who he said so many times was his inspiration.
He was an absolute force on the mound, but he had such a personality and a will to live and make every game fun. It didn’t matter that he was standing on the mound of Fenway Park, one of America’s oldest ballparks with one of the loudest and passionate crowds in the country. He was still smiling, laughing and playing games with David Ortiz and his own Marlins teammates. The gravity of every game was important to him, but he made sure his personality made it into every game.
The shock that went through me and other fans around the league can’t measure up to the shock his family, friends and teammates are going through right now. The showing of support and solidarity throughout the league following Fernández’s passing was incredible. Teams hung up jerseys in their dugouts, paid tribute before their games and posted on social media to thank José one more time.
The Marlins brought me to tears with their anguish and team support in their game following Fernández’s passing. They all came out wearing his number, 16, and paid tribute to his mound. Dee Gordon hit his first home-run of the season after batting in his teammate’s box and he wheeled around the bases with tears in his eyes.
Baseball is lucky to have had a man like José Fernández. We as fans are lucky to have witnessed his power on the mound and at the plate. I would have loved to see what José would do in the future, as I’m sure he would’ve continued to get better and better every year. Although his time on the diamond was cut way too short, I simply feel blessed and happy to have seen such a dominant and profound kid on the mound.
Thank you, José, for bringing your talents and fire to the game of baseball and for being such a role model to look up to. We’ll miss you.
