Open Letter to Jeffrey Loria

The Marlins have done it again!

They have deceived a community; they have dismantled the team, and all in the name of losing.

Jeffrey Loria would have us believe that the reason $100+ million in payroll and the five most notable names on the squad are on their way to Toronto is because of a 93 loss season.

But we know better don’t we South Florida!

We’ve seen this chapter before in a book, eerily similar to this fairy tale gone wrong.

Still, when I hear the calls to boycott the team and not show up to the games,

I say NO!

This is not an attempt at rebellion against a fan base, nor is it my condoning of what has taken place.

My reasons are a little more selfish than that, I love the game of baseball! My grandfather took my father to his first game, my father took me to mine, and I in turn will be taking my son to his first game next season.

Through the lies and betrayals of an owner who simply doesn’t understand, lies the bond between father and son passed on from generation to generation in a love affair with this game. I know very little about my father’s beginnings with baseball, other than the fact that he was a fan of the Havana Lions, to him the greatest team on the tiny island nation of Cuba. For me it would all begin in 1991 when my father would take me to the brand new Joe Robbie Stadium for an exhibition game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. On that day we would walk into an experience that I would never forget.

The Grass, the hotdogs, the larger than life personalities on the field would be engraved into the nooks and crannies of my mind forever. The game is bigger than trades, bigger than fire-sales, and yes Mr. Loria even bigger than the ego of an owner whom just doesn’t understand.

Unfortunately this may be exactly what the Marlins are counting on, that the love of the game for the fans will trump the love of money for the owners. Perhaps they are sitting in Little Havana at this very moment counting on the fact that through bleary eyes, kids will continue to say “Dad, can we go to the Ballgame.” We may be giving this man exactly what he wants but the answer to that question from my son will never be no.

Baseball is our game, the fans game, and I will not let him take that away from us, nor should you. Even though this man runs his team like his personal cash cow, and even if the names on the backs of the jerseys aren’t recognizable, the name on the front of the jersey is and the logo of Major League Baseball on the sleeve means more to me than any one owner.

So no Mr. Loria, You do not get to take Baseball away from my son!

And the next time you count your millions you can rest well knowing that there is $20 in that stack with my boys name on it!