The Los Angeles Times reports that Muhammad Ali is in “grave condition”, with his family at his bedside in a Phoenix hospital, and that “it could be hours” before his passing.
Several news outlets have had similar reports, but there is not a report out there yet saying Ali has passed away.
Well, either the Miami Marlins know something we don’t, or badly misunderstood the reports on Ali’s status, as they announced on their video board at Marlins Park that Ali had passed away:
The Marlins just told the crowd at the game that Muhammad Ali died. He is still alive. Marlins gonna Marlins. pic.twitter.com/eL4pwoVQqj
— El Niño (@Triccdaddi) June 4, 2016
Marlins announce Muhammad Ali is dead. No media outlets reporting this. A closer look at image shown to fans: pic.twitter.com/XzwZtiudzD — Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) June 4, 2016
Most of the Marlins fans in attendance understandably didn’t know any better, and reacted to the “news” presented on the video board with applause for the legendary boxer:
Just announced at the Marlins game the goat has passed 😢 Muhammad Ali pic.twitter.com/tXnTJaXTIJ — 1999 PEDRO MARTINEZ (@b0ss561) June 4, 2016
It’s just so puzzling how this could’ve happened. To present news like this to thousands of people (well, I guess only like hundreds of people when it comes to Marlins games), you’d think multiple Marlins employees involved with this process would look for concretely confirmed news before announcing it to the entire stadium.
UPDATE: Okay, this keeps getting weirder. Marlins president David Samson claims the announcement was not an error, and that the Marlins were informed by someone close to the family that Ali had passed away (via The Miami Herald):
“It was not an error,” Marlins president David Samson said. “We were informed by someone close to the family that he had passed away. We wanted to get a tribute out as soon as we possibly could.”
“He’s an important part of our organization,” Samson said. “He opened our new ballpark. Being that he had thrown out the first pitch of this ballpark, and has a close relationship [with the Marlins], we wanted to honor him as quickly as possible. His legacy will live forever.”
We’ll still wait for official word of Ali’s situation, and even if Samson and the Marlins were already aware of it, it’s bizarre that they’d choose to be the first to announce it on a video board at a baseball game.
