MIAMI – Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said the team intends to build a 9 to 10-foot-tall sculpture of pitcher Jose Fernandez, who was killed last year in a boating accident.
"We're going to cast it in bronze and paint the glove the red-orange that Jose would like, and that will be the only color on it," Loria told ESPN. "I don't want to make it kitschy, but that was his favorite thing. Hopefully we'll see it in six months or so. It's a very long process to cast a sculpture that's 9- or 10-feet high, as opposed to 6 feet."
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Fernandez and two others, Emilio Macias and Eduardo Rivero, were killed in the Sept. 26 crash in Miami Beach.
A final report released by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission last month revealed that Fernandez was operating the boat.
According to the report, the boat was traveling at 65 mph when it struck the northern portion of the jetty at Government Cut.
A toxicology report revealed that Fernandez had cocaine in his system at the time of the crash.
Fernandez was the 14th overall selection by the Marlins in the 2011 Major League Baseball draft. He made his debut with the Marlins in 2013 and was named the National League Rookie of the Year. His death at the age of 24 came just days after he pitched eight shutout innings in a 1-0 win against the Washington Nationals.
Loria said the Fernandez sculpture will be on display in the plaza or in front of Marlins Park. It is being created by the same artist who made the Willie McCovey and Willie Mays sculptures in San Francisco.
Asked why the sculpture will be so large, Loria answered: "Because Jose was larger than life."