One day after fans and the South Florida community got a chance to say their goodbyes to Jose Fernandez, the late pitcher was remembered by his family, close friends and teammates.
A funeral mass was held for the 24-year-old Thursday afternoon at St. Brendan's Catholic Church in southwest Miami-Dade. The event was held privately for those closest to the former Miami Marlins star that was killed early Sunday morning in a boat accident off Miami Beach.
Busloads of Marlins players, coaches, former players and front office personnel arrived at St. Brendan's for the funeral service. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and singer Mark Anthony were among the hundreds of mourners attending the service.
"We weren't supposed to be here today," Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said.
Pallbearers wore Fernandez jerseys as they carried the casket into the church, where manager Don Mattingly and teammates including Dee Gordon, Ichiro Suzuki and Giancarlo Stanton said their final goodbyes.
"His magnetic smile could light up a ballpark," Loria said. "He set the standard for making baseball fun."
The service lasted more than two hours, and Fernandez was remembered as a larger than life figure by the Rev. Jose Alvarez in the homily.
"He was a young man who was larger than life - a good, kind-hearted, loving young man who loved life, who loved people," Alvarez said in his homily. "He was a guy of enormous dimensions. Jose was too good for this league. He's going to a higher league."
During the passing of the peace, players lined up to hug and console Fernandez's mother and grandmother, seated in the front row. He also left behind a girlfriend pregnant with their child.
Alvarez said Fernandez is already at work in heaven, noting the improbable homer hit by 170-pound Dee Gordon leading off the first inning of the Marlins' emotional first game after the boat crash.
"A skinny little guy like that is not supposed to hit the ball that far," Alvarez said. "Jose is busy, I guarantee you. Jose is still pitching....Jose, we'll never forget you. We ask that you never forget us."
Fernandez was a 2013 NL Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Star, but his proudest moment came when he bought his mother a house, said his agent, Scott Boras.
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"He was crying," said Boras, crying himself. "He said, 'Can you believe it?! I bought my mother a home in the United States!'"
Boras also recalled a conversation with Fernandez after he had reconstructive elbow surgery, which sidelined him for 14 months in 2014-15.
"His first words in the recovery room to me were, 'You wait. I'm going to be the best there is,'" Boras recalled.
The hard-throwing right-hander went 38-17 in 76 starts over four major league seasons, but glittering statistics weren't the reason Loria said Fernandez will never be replaced or forgotten.
"I prefer not to think of this tragedy as the end of his life," Loria said, "but rather as the beginning of the legend."
On Wednesday, thousands lined streets across Miami-Dade County for a chance to say goodbye to Fernandez. The procession of his body started at Marlins Park, where teammates saw him off before their final home game of the season against the New York Mets.
It continued to Ermita de la Caridad, where a blessing ceremony was held for the family, before finally being taken to St. Brendan's for a public viewing – as hundreds showed up in the afternoon and evening hours to pay their respects.
Fernandez was one of three people killed when the boat they were on crashed into a jetty at Government Cut. An investigation continues into the cause of the accident.
Following Thursday's service, the Marlins players were flying to Washington, D.C., where they'll play in the final series of the 2016 season.
Earlier Thursday, officials in Tampa said that a jersey worn by Fernandez in high school was missing following a candlelight vigil at his former high school. Officials at Alonso High School filed a police report and authorities are asking whoever took the jersey to return it.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for charitable donations to be made to the pitcher’s JDF16 Foundation.
