Dear David Samson and Jeffrey Loria,
Now that the final game has been played at Joe Robbie Stadium, the Florida Marlins begin the transition to a new era — with a fiery new manager, a shiny new yet-to-be-named stadium, a new colorful (yikes, if that’s the real one) brand and uniforms, and a new name – the Miami Marlins. It’s a step into the future, for sure, and I really hope it’s a monumental step that creates years of incredible memories for me, you, the players and the fans everywhere, regardless of whether they live in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach or any other county in the U.S.
I’m truly excited about the future of the franchise.
But …
I’m a little troubled by your actions and words over the past few weeks. They’ve come across as a desire to leave your roots behind and start from scratch. Remember, you’re not moving across the country to San Antonio or Las Vegas or Portland, you’re moving down the street. Your choice of words in recent statements make it sound like the past is no longer relevant – and the fans associated with the past are not as important as the ones who will be associated with the future.
If you truly feel that way and are leaving the past behind in your efforts to create something crazy delicious in Miami, then I believe you can’t pick and choose what you take with you to your funky new South Beachy ballpark. The new name, brand, uniforms and stadium are the next chapter, yes. But your desire to leave behind everything that was shouldn’t involve cherry picking your favorite accessories to take along and decorate your new home.
If you want to officially close the book on the F-L-O-R-I-D-A Marlins and leave the fans of the F-L-O-R-I-D-A Marlins behind, that’s your choice. But as far as I’m concerned …
The two F-L-O-R-I-D-A Marlins championship trophies?
You can’t take them with you.
The F-L-O-R-I-D-A Marlins no-hitters by Al Leiter, Kevin Brown, A.J. Burnett and Anibal Sanchez?
You can’t take them with you.
The Carl Barger retired number – honoring the man who worked tirelessly to bring the inaugural F-L-O-R-I-D-A Marlins team to South Florida?
You can’t take it with you.
The images of Craig Counsell, Edgar Renteria, Livan Hernandez and Jim Leyland celebrating the 1997 F-L-O-R-I-D-A Marlins championship?
You can’t take them with you.
Mr. Marlin, Jeff Conine?
You can’t take him with you. (Sorry, Jeff.)
Pudge Rodriguez thrusting the ball in the air and being tackled at home plate by Uggie Urbina after beating the Giants in the 2003 NLDS?
You can’t take it with you.
Josh Beckett riding the shoulders of teammates after beating the invincible New York Yankees for the 2003 World Series?
You can’t take it with you.
You can’t take those and all the other memories created by the F-L-O-R-I-D-A Marlins if all you’re concerned about now is the Miami Marlins and the new fan base you want to cultivate.
As for me — and all the other F-L-O-R-I-D-A Marlins fans, and soon to be Miami Marlins fans (which very much includes me) — we can take it with us. We can take all of those memories with us forever because we were the ones who supported the product on the field through thick and thin. No matter what you do to distance us from you, you can never distance us from the F-L-O-R-I-D-A Marlins and their history. It’s ours to keep. Forever.
By the way, we’re the reason you get to play in the sandbox you play in. Just in case you forgot.
Forever a F-L-O-R-I-D-A Marlins and soon to be a Miami Marlins fan,
CelebratetheF
