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The Marlins lost their home opener tonight 2-0 in front of 34,439 – a happy and festive crowd that showed little animosity about the front office’s controversial off-season roster purge.
But a handful of fans did show up to protest and they said their actions resulted in them getting kicked out of Marlins Park.
The Marlins said police ejected the fans for creating a disturbance.
Here’s a rough chronology of what unfolded.
One fan identified himself as Dan Barton, 25, of Fort Lauderdale. He wore a shirt that read: “Marlins baseball – helping other teams get better since 1998” – a reference to the franchise’s first roster purge.
Barton and four or five of his friends showed up on the main concourse above the first base line in the second inning and were approached by two reporters, from The Palm Beach Post and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
They posed for photos and talked about their anger over Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. One fan, who did not give his name, would periodically say out loud to fans passing by, “Free the Marlins,’’ which was also written on a sign.
“We’re Marlins fans. We’ve been there since 1993. We’ve been through only two winning seasons,’’ Barton said.
“We’re tired of it. I’m just over it. Free the Marlins,’’ the man with the sign said.
“It’s just sheer selfishness,’’ Barton said.
“Now you have this guy coming in. False promises, false hopes. I’m tired of it.
“We’re tired of the ownership. We’re tired of Jeffrey Loria.’’
They went on to say that they bought tickets from a scalper and parked in someone’s yard – their way, they said, of doing all they could not to let Loria profit from their visit.
As they spoke to reporters, at least two Miami-Dade police officers stood a few feet away and watched.
The reporters spent maybe five minutes with the group. The group can be seen briefly in this 30-second video clip:
About an hour later, Barton contacted a reporter via email to explain that they had been ejected from the ballpark not long after they finished being interviewed.
“They kicked us out. We didn’t even make it to our seats,’’ Barton said in a phone interview as they drove back to Fort Lauderdale.
He claimed that one officer told them their sign was blocking the view of other fans. “My friend offered to turn his shirt inside out and they said no,’’ Barton said.
He also said an officer asked them to wait for a Marlins representative, but no representative showed up.
“We asked police what we were doing wrong. And he said, ‘They want you to leave.’’
By ‘they,’ Barton assumed the officer was referring to the Marlins.
After the game, team president David Samson addressed the incident.
“We got information from the police that they’d run into a couple of fans who were walking around holding signs that were fine. That was not the issue. They were drawing some attention to themselves. Making some noise later in the game, which is not uncommon,’’ Samson said.
“As per standard operating procedure, the police go up, try to tell them to calm down and they did not. Then the police said, ‘Show me ID’ and they did not. And that was it. You have to show ID when asked. So they were ejected.
“We go through games during the course of a season, it is not uncommon to have ejections of people who drink too much, do too much. Overall it is hard to, even for certain people, it is hard to put a negative spin on tonight’s game other than the fact that we did not win and got two hits.’’
Samson said he was told that two fans were ejected from the ballpark. None were arrested.
“They were walking around just trying to create a, there’s a police term for it that I am not familiar with. It has to do with disturbance, creating a disturbance. I don’t exactly know what it means but it is their job to make sure everything is safe for everyone.
“Our security people are consulted. But it’s a pretty simple thing: When police ask for ID and you don’t show it, that’s it. No other questions are asked. You are escorted.’’
But a handful of fans did show up to protest and they said their actions resulted in them getting kicked out of Marlins Park.
The Marlins said police ejected the fans for creating a disturbance.
Here’s a rough chronology of what unfolded.
One fan identified himself as Dan Barton, 25, of Fort Lauderdale. He wore a shirt that read: “Marlins baseball – helping other teams get better since 1998” – a reference to the franchise’s first roster purge.
Barton and four or five of his friends showed up on the main concourse above the first base line in the second inning and were approached by two reporters, from The Palm Beach Post and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
They posed for photos and talked about their anger over Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. One fan, who did not give his name, would periodically say out loud to fans passing by, “Free the Marlins,’’ which was also written on a sign.
“We’re Marlins fans. We’ve been there since 1993. We’ve been through only two winning seasons,’’ Barton said.
“We’re tired of it. I’m just over it. Free the Marlins,’’ the man with the sign said.
“It’s just sheer selfishness,’’ Barton said.
“Now you have this guy coming in. False promises, false hopes. I’m tired of it.
“We’re tired of the ownership. We’re tired of Jeffrey Loria.’’
They went on to say that they bought tickets from a scalper and parked in someone’s yard – their way, they said, of doing all they could not to let Loria profit from their visit.
As they spoke to reporters, at least two Miami-Dade police officers stood a few feet away and watched.
The reporters spent maybe five minutes with the group. The group can be seen briefly in this 30-second video clip:
About an hour later, Barton contacted a reporter via email to explain that they had been ejected from the ballpark not long after they finished being interviewed.
“They kicked us out. We didn’t even make it to our seats,’’ Barton said in a phone interview as they drove back to Fort Lauderdale.
He claimed that one officer told them their sign was blocking the view of other fans. “My friend offered to turn his shirt inside out and they said no,’’ Barton said.
He also said an officer asked them to wait for a Marlins representative, but no representative showed up.
“We asked police what we were doing wrong. And he said, ‘They want you to leave.’’
By ‘they,’ Barton assumed the officer was referring to the Marlins.
After the game, team president David Samson addressed the incident.
“We got information from the police that they’d run into a couple of fans who were walking around holding signs that were fine. That was not the issue. They were drawing some attention to themselves. Making some noise later in the game, which is not uncommon,’’ Samson said.
“As per standard operating procedure, the police go up, try to tell them to calm down and they did not. Then the police said, ‘Show me ID’ and they did not. And that was it. You have to show ID when asked. So they were ejected.
“We go through games during the course of a season, it is not uncommon to have ejections of people who drink too much, do too much. Overall it is hard to, even for certain people, it is hard to put a negative spin on tonight’s game other than the fact that we did not win and got two hits.’’
Samson said he was told that two fans were ejected from the ballpark. None were arrested.
“They were walking around just trying to create a, there’s a police term for it that I am not familiar with. It has to do with disturbance, creating a disturbance. I don’t exactly know what it means but it is their job to make sure everything is safe for everyone.
“Our security people are consulted. But it’s a pretty simple thing: When police ask for ID and you don’t show it, that’s it. No other questions are asked. You are escorted.’’
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