Fellow Cuban and MLB All-Star, New York Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes, remembers Jose Fernandez today in the dugout.
Their lives began six years apart. Their major league careers? One began in 2012, the other in 2013. Both Cuban defectors thrust into the struggle of making it to the United States with the opportunity to shine. Both superstars in their own right; one a pitcher, the other a slugger. Both friends with immense respect for one another.
Today, after the tragic loss of Marlins’ ace Jose Fernandez, one is burdened with honoring the life of the other.
This was the scene prior to first pitch between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies: A shocked and despondent Yoenis Cespedes admiring the hanging jersey adorned with the letters of his peer’s last name, a jersey that he had taped to the dugout wall just minutes prior, a jersey he signed just minutes later.
Jose Fernandez never once wore this jersey or these colors. In fact, the jersey represents the fact that he never will, and that is something Cespedes and the rest of major league baseball will never forget.