Marlins ‘Rally Cat’ becoming famous
MIAMI — Despite two home runs by the Big Bear, all of the widespread attention following the Marlins’ win in their home opener Tuesday was directed at the so-called “Rally Cat.”
The charcoal-gray cat that briefly delayed the start of the sixth inning quickly became a cult figure with its own Twitter account (@MarlinsCat).
had to settle for ending the night as the RBI leader in the major leagues after becoming the first Marlin to drive in six runs in a game since 2015 (J.T. Realmuto) with the second multi-homer game of his career.
With a stadium crew member in pursuit, and Marlins outfielders
and looking on, the cat scaled the fence in center field and took refuge on the “ocean” at the base of the home run sculpture.
Ozuna kept his distance in left field and a wary eye on the cat, perhaps wisely. Among the early tweets on the cat’s account: “Wow I look crazy.”
Ozuna made it clear after the game that he’s not crazy about cats, declaring, “I detest cats.” Marlins manager
said, “Do we have a new mascot? I was hoping it wasn't black.”
By Thursday afternoon @MarlinsCat had 281 followers and had generated58 tweets. Even Britain’s The Guardian carried a story about the interloper in the outfield on its U.S. news site.
“That cat was gray, though,” Mattingly said, eager to evade any stigma of bad luck from the feline’s surprise visit.
The Marlins’ media relations account tabbed the tabby as Rally Cat, but it was a misnomer as the Marlins failed to score after its appearance. But they did hold off a Braves comeback threat to hold on to an 8-4 victory.
Marlins Park temporarily suspended operation of the home run sculpture as long as the cat was skulking around the mechanism. After the game the Marlins tweeted that the cat was liberated from the structure but escaped again, fleeing outside the ballpark.
“My wife’s a cat person. She loves cats,” Mattingly said Wednesday. “I’ve learned to like cats.”
Details regarding how the Miami Marlins will honor and remember late ace are becoming clearer.
Owner an extensive Q&A with ESPN’s revealed the organization has commissioned a 9- or 10-foot sculpture of Fernandez, to be placed somewhere outside Marlins Park. in
Loria, who club president said this week is deeper than ever in talks to sell the teams, said sculptor
has already begun the process. Behrends created the statues of and outside AT&T Park in San Francisco.
“I went through hundreds and hundreds of photographs with the sculptor and gestures of Jose's face to try and make it perfect,” said Loria, an art dealer. “No one else is going to get involved in a piece of sculpture other than me, right? I've spent 50 years in that world.
“We're going to cast it in bronze and paint the glove the red-orange that Jose would like, and that will be the only color on it. I don't want to make it kitschy, but that was his favorite thing. Hopefully we'll see it in six months or so. It's a very long process to cast a sculpture that's 9 or 10 feet high, as opposed to 6 feet.”
Loria added that the statue would be that tall “because Jose was larger than life.”
The rest of the Q&A with Loria touches on Fernandez’s toxicology reports (which indicated he was drunk and had cocaine in his system at the time of his fatal boat crash), Fernandez’s tiff with the time Loria bought a rookie Jose a very expensive bag, and Loria’s public image as a villain.