The tweet and corresponding picture kind of speaks for itself [via Big League Stew]:
https://twitter.com/kmattio/statuses/450792305554124800
The statute depicts Shannon Stone and his son Cooper. In 2011, Shannon stumbled and fell 20 feet to his death after reaching for a ball tossed to him by Josh Hamilton. The Rangers dedicated the statute to fans the next year as a tribute and centerpiece for fans to gather around prior to games.
Unfortunately, on Opening Day (and perhaps on other less-publicized game days in the last two years) the statute served more as a trash holding place. I doubt fans were consciously disrespecting the statute or what it stands for – littering rules, sure, but I don’t think fans were leaving their empty adult beverages on the ledge of the statute in spite of the late fan and his son. The statute is there for fans to tailgate around and if fans can’t bring their beers inside the stadium they’re going to either throw the cans or bottles on the ground or lazily place them where they won’t trip people if a trash/recycle bin isn’t conveniently located.
Certainly, the Rangers aren’t free of blame – there was enough debris and attention to spur a response from the organization:
“The Rangers certainly regret and apologize for the trash that accumulated on the Rangers Fans statue at the home plate gate this afternoon,” the club said in a statement. “With thousands of opening day fans, many of whom had been tailgating, entering the park in the 30 minutes before game time, large amounts of cans, bottles, and other items that are prohibited in the park, accumulated at all entrances. Numerous clean up calls came into the maintenance department in this period, and the club utilized a large number of employees to continually remove the vast amount of trash that was accumulating. The debris on the statue was removed in a timely manner but it should not have been allowed to be placed there in the first place. The Rangers Fans statue is a cherished component of Globe Life Park in Arlington and the club will make certain this situation does not occur in the future.”
