when you KNOW it's a big night at the ballpark pic.twitter.com/C375gGT6dW
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) June 17, 2016
If you’ve watched a playoff baseball game in recent years, you’re assuredly familiar with Marlins Man (real name Laurence Leavy), a superfan who attends all different parks and stadiums around the country, always wearing his orange Marlins jersey (even in the pool).
Leavy was diagnosed with cancer and decided to make the most of his remaining time, but even after his cancer scare turned out to be not as serious as initially thought, he has continued with his journey across the country to see some of the world’s biggest sporting events up close and personal.
Marlins Man’s latest stop was in Cleveland for the Indians-White Sox game on Friday night and the team was even promoting his appearance before the game. Unfortunately, Marlins Man did not have a fun time, as he was forced to leave early because he was getting harassed by fans.
According to Leavy, a small selection of Indians fans threatened him and told him they “better not see him outside.” One even said it was time to take revenge for the Indians losing the World Series to the Florida Marlins back in 1997, which, seriously, it’s time to get over it.
https://twitter.com/Marlins_Man/status/744090054411321344
Leavy also said that the Indians had a visible lack of security which escalated the situation because there was no one there to stop the harassment, and he says he has no plans to return to an Indians game. Marlins Man made sure to note that it’s not all Clevelanders who are the issue though, as he said he had a great time at a Cavaliers game and would return there in the future.
Considering the Indians weren’t even playing the Marlins on that day, it makes no sense why there were fans who felt the need to start a fight, even if they weren’t familiar with Marlins Man’s story. Fortunately, Leavy got away without anything happening to him, but this should hopefully serve as a wake-up call to the Indians that they need to do a better job with security at Progressive Field going forward.