I would like to thank everyone for attending this ceremony to honor the life of Jose Fernandez. Jose was a rising ace pitcher with the Miami Marlins until his life was cut short to an accident on September 25, 2016. Jose was the life of the dugout no matter the score or inning he was always the one to keep the dugout alive. Jose was born July 31, 1992 in Santa Clara, Cuba to his loving mother Maritza Fernandez. Jose could be seen always having a smile on his face and being the life of whatever was going on. As Scott Boras said before his two most passionate and favorite places were on the water & mound. Both represented his rights & freedom he coveted. Jose attempted to defect unsuccessfully three times, with each failed defection attempt followed by a prison term. Fernández, along with his mother and sister, defected to the United States in 2007. On that successful attempt, José's mother fell overboard when the boat hit turbulent waters, and José had to dive into the water to save her life these actions proved the care and love that he had for others and what he would do for people. …show more content…
Baseball and a search for a better life is what brought Jose to this country that he loved so much. The fact that Jose had defected from his home country in his early teenage years to get his family to the United States and for the hopes of giving them a much better life down the road shows a lot about his character and the lengths that he would go for his family that he loved