Marlins Scoreboard First With News Of Ali Death

Before most of the world knew Muhammad Ali had died, an unexpected scene unfolded  at Marlins Park on Friday night: A photo of him appeared on the scoreboard with his name and “1942-2016,” indicating his passing, reports WSJ.com.

This was shortly after 10 p.m. EDT, immediately following a 6-2 Marlins loss to the New York Mets. At the time, the seriousness of Ali’s condition was being widely reported, but news of his death had yet to hit the wires and official word didn’t come for at least two more hours.

“Then all of a sudden my phone wouldn’t stop ringing and then texts wouldn’t stop,” said Marlins President David Samson. “And I realized that it’s possible that that was the first place that it had been public.”

Initially, the photo tribute caused a bit of confusion—perhaps the Marlins jumped the gun, it seemed—because it appeared before major news outlets had reported his death. Instead, it looks like theirs may have been one of the first, if not the first, public announcements that the legendary boxer had died at 74 years old.

Samson said it was a “very innocent, heartfelt situation” and after receiving the news of Ali’s death, he “triple confirmed” it with “someone very close to Muhammad Ali.”

“There’s no way I would have broken the news of Muhammad Ali’s passing at a Marlins game,” Samson said. “As far as I knew, it had already been made public.”