ANDY PRESTON: Marlins will retire "Homer," moving sculpture to outside the park.
Oct 16, 2018
"YER OUTTA THERE!"
By CHARLOTTE CARROLL from Sports Illustrated
Miami owner Derek Jeter finally gets his wish to remove the home run sculpture out of Marlins park to a plaza outside. The Miami-Dade County gave permission to the team on Tuesday, according to The Miami Herald.
Whenever a Marlins player hits a homer, the sculpture titled "Homer" by artist Red Grooms lights up and the machine fish spin for about 30 seconds — the time it takes a typical base runner to make it home.
According to the Herald, the Marlins have plans for a a multi-story spectator area that will be designed for a new standing-room-only ticket. In the new location, “Homer” will still turn on for home runs and at the end of every home win. It will also go on every day at 3:05 p.m. as a nod to Miami’s original area code.
While Jeter wanted to move the sculpture, Grooms didn't want it to be displaced. To get around this, the Marlins promised to pay Miami-Dade $2.5 million if Grooms takes his name off the work, thus making it worthless for the art market. The artwork will now be the centerpiece of a new art walk the team is planning outside the stadium.
The sculpture has been fiercely debated between Miami taxpayers and players.
Even former Marlin Giancarlo Stanton hated it.
“I can’t stand that sculpture,” Stanton told Sports Illustrated’s Ben Reiter. “I never liked it. I hope Jeter takes it down. He said he wants to. I hope he does. All it does is suggest that this place is a circus, and we’re the main attraction.