Sunday, March 16, 2008

Marlins Show Rare Touch of Class for Conine

The Marlins are an organization known for many things, from two world championships to three firesales, from low fan support to the highest attendance ever at a World Series game. One thing they have not been accredited with, however, is class.

Johnny Damon expressed that very sentiment on March 17, 2005, when the Marlins made the Red Sox travel for a rained out game (just a little anecdote for the old faithful). He claimed that the Marlins didn't have the class of the Red Sox (interesting that the "classy" owner of the Red Sox was the same John Henry who once butchered the Marlins. A lot of class there).

But getting to my real point, the Marlins are honoring the true Mr. Marlin, Jeff Conine. He'll be signed to a one-day contract so he can retire a Marlin. In addition, he'll be throwing out the first pitch and have an award named after him.

For those of us who loved watching Conine play, from his All-Star appearance in 1995, to the World Series victories in 1997 and 2003, this is truly a banner day for the franchise's premiere player.


MLB appearance

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sure, it's a nice gesture, but how important is it really to retire as a member of a team? Just because he signed a meaningless one-day minor league contract? It'd be something else if he actually suited up in a game for the Marlins. But as such, this doesn't cost the team more than an hour of paperwork. It's good publicity for them and they don't have to go any great efforts to get it. Give me a call when they actually go out of their way to do something classy.