The young (24) ace of the Miami Marlins MLB team, former Rookie of the Year and future Cy Young winner (he had a sense of humor) died late Saturday night in a boatong accident just offshore from Miami. Gone way too soon.

As a youth he was caught thrice and spent time in prison for trying to escape Cuba.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Fern%C3%A1ndez_(pitcher)

A great talent, who didn't have a swelled head. I have no doubt he would have been a Cy Young winner, and that he would have had a long career, that would have continued... maybe as a coach and manager... after his playing days were over.

Very sad.

His last start was a shutout (1-0) against the Washington Nationals. He gave up no walks and struck out 12 batters in 8 innings (his previous several starts ended with him having 14-15 strikeouts in 7 innings!). All year Don Mattingly pulled him or skipped his starts so he could physically develop in his later 20s as a dominant force on the mound. I think he would have hit the 20 strikeout mark many times.
Every game the cameras would cover his antics, having fun in the dugout. I was surprised to hear that on his successful escape from Cuba, his mother fell off the boat and Jose jumped in to save her! I don't look forward to watching the end of the season without him. It will be like Edgar Alan Poe was coaching the team, "Nevermore, nevermore..."

Tonight's game against the NY Mets just began. All the Marlins personnel are wearing #16-Fernandez jerseys. Then in their first at bat, Lefty Dee Gordon, a scrawny speedster with little hitting power stood in the righthand batter's box wearing Fernandez's batting helmet for the first pitch of the game. For the second pitch, he switcherd over to his normal lefthand batter's box and hit pitch number two for a home run, his first of the year!

It's very difficult to lose a beloved player at any time, but especially during the season. As a life-long Yankee fan (yes, yes... boo! hiss!), I remember how awful it was when Thurman Munson died in 1979. And Fernandez was so very much younger, at 24.

At 5-0, the Marlins are well on their way to winning this one for Fernandez.

And they won it!

7-3

No high fives after the game... lots of hugs.
Touching tribute on the mound.
Dee Gordon's palpable grief.

I'm teary-eyed.

His W/L record in Marlins Park was 29-2 !

Adam Conley (who began his career in A Ball with Jose) was coming off the Disabled List and took the mound as a relief pitcher for his friend who had been penciled in as today's starter. Later, well after the game, Chris Johnson brought his infant son in a #16-Fernandez tot size shirt out to sit by the #16 on the mound and took his picture. Too much? Or, the spirit of grief expressing itself in a wonderful way?

Last night the NHL Hockey season began here in southern Florida. The Florida Panthers honored Jose Fernandez with jerseys that had Jose's #16 on the shoulders. Karma reared its head as the game went into overtime and the Panthers won on a goal by Barkov, whose real jersey number is 16!

The autopsy report was released and it reported that Fernandez had alcohol and cocaine in his system when he died. Did he actually take a banned substance during baseball's heightened attention to testing for drugs of all kinds? Maybe, but I can also see other ways that test result will come in. We will never know how he was exposed to cocaine the night he died.