Miami Marlins All-Star pitcher José Fernández died in a boating accident off Miami Beach in the early hours of Sunday morning. Fernández, a Cuban defector and the 2013 National League Rookie of the Year, was 24.
As the sun rose over South Florida on Sunday morning, the powder-blue hull of an overturned 32-foot vessel was visible at the end of the north jetty of Government Cut, the channel that leads into Biscayne Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Fernández and two male friends had been riding in the craft when it struck the north side of the jetty with what Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer Lorenzo Veloz described as a "severe impact" sometime before 3:15 a.m. "It does appear that speed was involved due to the impact and the severity of it," Veloz said. "It does appear to be that they were coming at full speed when they encountered the jetty and the accident happened."
Fernández, who had defected from Cuba in a speedboat eight years earlier—after three failed attempts, one of which landed him in jail—was the most popular professional athlete in Miami. A two-time All-Star, he was baseball's most dominant pitcher under the age of 25. Two weeks ago, Fernández outdueled Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, the top pitcher in the game, by recording 14 strikeouts and pitching seven shutout innings in a 4-1 Marlins victory. Last Tuesday, he threw eight shutout innings and whiffed 12 in a 1-0 win against the first-place Washington Nationals.
In Miami, a city with a proud and boisterous Cuban population, Sunday was a day of mourning. As dominant a pitcher as Fernández could be—he was second in the National League in strikeouts this season with 253—he was also an exuberant and charismatic presence. He was a beacon of civic pride in a city that has absorbed the emigration of Miami Heat stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in the past couple of years.
On a ball club that was headed nowhere this season, the 6-foot-3-inch right-hander with the brilliant blue eyes sparkled. Marlins fans, who last cheered for a Marlins team with a winning record the same year James arrived to ignite the NBA's Heat—2009—were completely enthralled by the vibrant hurler who wore No. 16. "Fernandez was the only thing that brought [my mom] limping back to that ballpark to climb those stairs in her old age," wrote Dan Le Batard, a Miami native and the son of Cuban immigrants, in the Miami Herald. "The only thing. Such was the reach of his arm and his joy and his story. It could bring even a betrayed 72-year-old Cuban lady in for what felt like an embrace by grabbing her so firmly by the heart."
Only last week, Fernández had announced on Instagram that he and his girlfriend were about to become parents. In another cruel twist, Fernández had been slated to start Sunday afternoon's game versus the Atlanta Braves. That start was pushed back one day in part because manager Don Mattingly wanted to give Fernández, a veteran of Tommy John surgery who had thrown a season-high eight innings and 111 pitches last Tuesday, an extra day of rest. Monday's start against the New York Mets was to have been Fernández's final start of the season. Instead, it will be a day of mourning for baseball.
Uncommon Knowledge
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About the writer
John Walters is a writer and author, primarily of sports. He worked at Sports Illustrated for 15 years, and also ... Read more
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