On Sunday Sept. 25 at 3:50 am Jose Fernandez, Miami Marlins pitcher, died in a boating accident. He was with two other guys, whose names haven’t been released. The coast guard found the boat upside down off the coast of Miami beach on a pile of rocks. It is said that no drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash, but the high speed could’ve been the cause of the crash.

Jose Fernandez fled Cuba in 2008 to pursue a career in baseball. When Fernandez made it to the US he was still in high school. He attended a high school in the Tampa Bay area. After high school he got drafted and become part of the Marlins organization. He was one of the best pitchers in the Majors. If the tragic accident hadn’t happened, he would have had the chance to win the Cy Young award, which is awarded to the best pitcher in the league. Fernandez was the 2013 rookie of the year and he was a two time all star.

Everyone loved him for his personality and for how he carried himself and treated others. When Fernandez pitched, the attendance was always the highest in Miami. He inspired many Cubans and people who had family from Cuba.

ESPN analyst, Dan Lebatard, told the story of when he told his mother that Fernandez died and she loved to see him pitch. Lebatard explained how much Fernandez meant to her that she started crying. While Lebatard was telling the story, he started to cry on national tv because of how much Fernandez meant to him, not only as a baseball player, but more so as a person because he was their symbol for hope for all Cubans. PV student and baseball player, Ariel Rivera, tells why he thinks Jose Fernandez was so loved by so many people, “He brought motivation to a lot of Cuban immigrants because of his success story and by the way he carried himself.”

The Marlins canceled their game on Monday and played Tuesday. They had a big team tribute to Fernandez. The entire team wore number 16… that will be the last time any Marlins player will wear it. The Marlins front office says they plan on retiring the number 16. Before and after the game, the team stood around the mound with Fernandez’s number 16 and they payed tribute to him. There were a lot of emotions on the field and in the stands.
To lead off the game Dee Gordon who is a left handed hitter batted from the right side wearing Fernandez’s helmet as a tribute to him and he took the first pitch and then switched to the left side. After seeing two pitches, the count was 2-0 and Gordon hit a homerun on that next pitch which he later said it was the farthest ball he had ever hit. All of Miami erupted and the dugout was going crazy with emotions. Dee Gordon was crying as he was rounding the bases. When Gordon touched home plate he looked up and pointed to Jose in the sky. He cried and went into the dugout and hugged all of his teammates. All over the Majors, players pay tribute by putting up a Jose Fernandez jersey in their team’s dugout or by writing “JF16” on their hats or jerseys.