Jose Fernandez Autographed Baseballs Eerily Wash Ashore Near Tragic Accident

jose fernandez

Reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode, a bag of autographed baseballs signed by Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez washed ashore not too far from where the Cuban-born pitcher lost his life in a boating accident.

As Rob Perez wrote at Fox Sports: “Eerie, spooky, shocking and downright gut-wrenching — the only words that can appropriately describe this story.”

The bag floated to shore about one mile from the jetty that Fernandez and two of his friends had crashed into at an estimated 65 mph at 3:30 a.m. Sunday. The Marlins canceled their game Sunday against the Braves to honor the deceased pitcher, whom one sports writer declared was a “rags to pitches” American Dream story.

Monday the Marlins entire team gave an emotional tribute to Fernandez by gathering at the pitchers mound and in unison knelt in the dirt inscribing their fallen teammate’s name. All wore jerseys bearing Fernandez’s number with his name emblazoned on the back.

The Marlins’ emotional night proved to be too much for the Mets to overcome as Miami defeated New York 7-3, aided by a dramatic Dee Gordon leadoff home run.

“It’s hard,” Mets Manager Terry Collins said. “I know all was for Jose and the memory of Jose, but I like to win.”

Marlins superstar Giancarlo Stanton told the New York Times he got emotional when he saw Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom come over and hug some of the Marlin players. The slugger said about the Mets, “I can’t believe how they acted and treated us. I know it’s extremely tough on their side; they’re in a playoff race, too. They’ve got to still understand to take this game for what it was. I appreciate everything they did.

“You never think a hug, or a few hugs, would change anything or be that big. But that was huge of them.”

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