I Thought The Marlins' Home Run Sculpture Would Grow On Me, But Jeter Needs To Take It Out

We all had a good laugh four years ago when the Miami Marlins introduced us to that thing in center field. It is the creation of pop artist Red Grooms, whose work typically looks like this.

It is a weird thing to have at a baseball field, but that’s not a very good argument against it. Weird is fine, good, necessary. David Bowie was weird. Kobe Bryant is weird. It’s weird to put pineapple on pizza, and yet literally every single person loves putting pineapple on pizza [citation needed].

But new Marlins owner Derek Jeter is thinking about removing Grooms’ sculpture and, although I was hoping the sculpture would take on sort of a post-ironic charm, I find myself still wanting.

From John Heyman:

"One thing someone connected to the Jeter group has suggested will likely go: the home run sculpture in left-center field that was designed by artist Red Grooms and has been the subject of controversy."

It’s nothing against the piece itself, which is delightfully whimsical, and would be right at home in the world’s largest psychedelic pinball game. But at a baseball game, it’s a non-sequitur. It calls so much attention to itself. It doesn’t complement the experience of watching a baseball game — it competes with it.

It’s also not at all Derek Jeter’s style.

It was a good try, and hopefully there will be more attempts like it. But this one hasn’t quite worked out.