Miami Marlins home run sculpture: ‘Been preparing for this moment my whole life’

The Miami Marlins are set to host the home run derby at Marlins Park on Monday night. For the home run sculpture, it’s a day he’s waited for his whole life.

Tonight, baseballs best sluggers invade Marlins Park with the purpose of putting on an aerial bomb show for the fans. Dingers will ding, and 200+ ticket holders will leave the park with a souvenir. It’s an important day.

But as important as it is for Major League Baseball, the participants in the derby, and the fans that will be in attendance, the day is far more important for someone else. Or something else. For the Miami Marlins home run sculpture, it’s the moment he was born for.

The sculpture will be on a national stage, where he’ll get the opportunity to strut his stuff after each long-ball.

The $2.5 million art piece that resides in left-center field of Marlins Park is the subject of regular scrutiny. Onlookers often refer to it is “ugly”, or “an eyesore”. Others aren’t as kind, and it’s come to be regarded as a mausoleum of maligned Miami Marlins owner Jeffery Loria.

For the sculpture, none of that matters today. Determined to put on the show of a lifetime, he is doing his best to ignore all of the noise he’s been hearing building up to the historic evening.

“For me, it’s about going out there and doing my job”, the sculpture said. “Haters gon’ hate, nothing you can do about that. I have to go out there and give the people what they came for.”

The Miami Marlins sculpture has watched similar home run sculptures and the sort come to be revered. Meanwhile, animosity towards it has only grown. The slide at Miller Park, the Apple at Citi Field, the drunkenness at Wrigley Field, all are looked upon fondly by baseball fans.

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Meanwhile, the home run sculpture, with it’s loud, vibrant colors and multiple aquatic fixtures has struggled to be embraced.

Winning over the national audience

For the sculpture, there is some hope that most of the hatred it faces is misguided, and mostly a manifestation of the frustration fans feel towards ownership. Now that the sculpture will be on a national stage for the first time, it hopes to reach a wider, more accepting audience.

Regardless of how the baseball watching world reacts to the sculpture today, it appears ready for the challenge that lay ahead of it.

“Well yeah, I mean, this is what I’ve always dreamed of. When you’re a kid and mechanical porpoise are flying around your head in your front yard, this is what you dream of. Tonight my dream becomes a reality. How many sculptures get to grow up and say that? It’s unreal.”

It will certainly get the opportunity to show off everything it’s capable of on Monday night. The home run derby will feature record-breaking slugger Giancarlo Stanton, wunderkind Aaron Judge, and the pot roast shaped Justin Bour. All possess prodigious power and should put the sculpture to work often.

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The Major League Baseball Home Run Derby will kick off at 8pm on Monday, July 11th. ESPN will be streaming it from it’s website.

Regardless of who wins tonight, a dream will come true. From humble metal scrap heap, to home run derby sounding bell, it’s truly a $2.5 million to riches story for the Miami Marlins home run sculpture.