Not all of the 34,439 fans in attendance at Monday night's Miami Marlins home opener were pleased with team owner Jeffrey Loria, and a few of them were ejected from Marlins Park when they showed everyone in attendance just how displeased they were.
According to the Palm Beach Post, a small group of Marlins fans were ejected by Miami-Dade police officers at Marlins Park during the team's 2-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves. The Post spoke with the protesters (and took the below video) before they were ejected.
"We're tired of the ownership. We're tired of Jeffrey Loria." one fan, Dan Barton of Ft. Lauderdale, told the Post. He was wearing a shirt that read, "Marlins baseball – helping other teams get better since 1998."
He and "four or five" of his friends bought tickets to the game from a scalper and parked in the yard of a resident near the stadium just so they could attend without any of their money going directly to the team's income statement.
One fan carried a sign that read "Free the Marlins."
But shortly after they spoke with the Post, the fans were escorted out of Marlins Park. "They kicked us out. We didn’t even make it to our seats," Barton told the Post via phone as he was en route to Fort Lauderdale.
"We asked police what we were doing wrong. And he said, 'They want you to leave.'"
Marlins president David Samson told the Post that the fans were ejected because they refused to show police identity when they were approached.
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"They were walking around just trying to create a, there’s a police term for it that I am not familiar with," Samson said. "It has to do with disturbance, creating a disturbance. I don't exactly know what it means but it is their job to make sure everything is safe for everyone."
"Our security people are consulted. But it's a pretty simple thing: When police ask for ID and you don't show it, that's it. No other questions are asked. You are escorted."
The Marlins are not off to a good start in 2013. They are 1-6 on the field, but even that poor performance is overshadowed by the the antipathy a good portion of the Marlins' fanbase has for its management.
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