Who is Marlins Man? Everything to know about the famous fan originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
He has a signature look, an animal nickname and a boatload of money.
No, we’re not talking about Batman.
It’s Marlins Man.
Whether it’s a regular season baseball game, the World Series or even the NBA playoffs, there’s always a chance you could see Marlins Man in the stands. He’s not a hard guy to miss, either, with his signature orange outfit sticking out like an easy version of “Where’s Waldo?”
But who is the man beneath the visor?
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What is Marlins Man’s real name?
Marlins Man’s actual name is Laurence Leavy.
The 65-year-old is a lawyer from Miami Beach, Fla.
When did Marlins Man become famous?
Leavy made his first notable appearance in 2012. He attended a Miami Heat playoff game in his orange Marlins jersey and popped up behind home plate at Comerica Park when the San Francisco Giants won the 2012 World Series against the Detroit Tigers.
He gained more national exposure in 2014 when he returned for the Fall Classic and got a close-up view of the Giants beating the Kansas City Royals.
From there, Leavy has continued attending countless baseball games each year while mixing in basketball, football and horse racing events.
Why does Marlins Man wear an orange jersey and visor to every game?
Leavy didn’t always have orange attire – and neither did the Marlins. The franchise added orange jerseys and hats to their wardrobes in 2012, the same year it moved to its new venue, Marlins Park, which is now LoanDepot Park. Prior to that, Leavy predominantly wore the Marlins’ white jersey when attending games and mixed in Heat and Dolphins jerseys.
The orange look benefitted Leavy. It turns out he wants to stand out, but not necessarily to garner national attention.
“By accident, a few years ago, I wore an orange Marlins jersey to a Heat game,” Leavy told Tom Haudricourt of The Journal Sentinel in 2014. “Everybody was wearing white but someone had stolen the (white) shirt they left on my chair (to wear). I stood out like a creamsicle. My friends liked it because they could see where I was sitting. Before, they said they couldn’t find me. Now, they can easily find me.”
While he bought season tickets when the Marlins were founded in 1993 and was a season ticket holder for 25 years, he stopped paying for Marlins home games beginning with the 2018 season. Leavy reportedly presented the organization with a $200,000 offer for three years of four premium seats behind home plate, but the two sides never reached a deal.
On May 16, Leavy was back behind home plate at LoanDepot Park once again:
How does Marlins Man get such good seats?
While Leavy said he uses frequent flyer miles to travel across the country, he uses his earnings as a lawyer to purchase tickets.
Leavy used to purchase tickets from scalpers. He then developed contacts from people in various areas where he would go to games and also uses the secondary market. In some cases, he buys directly from the ticket holder.
He doesn’t always buy just one ticket for games, either. Along with bringing dates to games, Leavy gives tickets to people he’s met across the country. He told The Action Network’s Darren Rovell that he gave out more than 2,000 tickets in 2019.
Why does Marlins Man go to so many games?
Leavy always went to games, but a health scare was the turning point that led to him attending even more.
In March 2015, he received an initial diagnosis of liver cancer that gave him less than a year to live. A second reading showed that it was instead a mass of scar tissue, but he never turned back.
