http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/sports/baseball/after-fatal-boat-crash-baseballs-scrawled-with-jose-fernandezs-name-wash-ashore.html 2016-09-27 22:06:06 After Fatal Boat Crash, Baseballs Scrawled With Jose Fernandez’s Name Wash Ashore The Marlins star pitcher was killed with two friends in a boating accident over the weekend. === Hours after the Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez and two friends were killed in a boating accident, a beachgoer approached a lifeguard in Miami Beach with a mysterious object that had washed ashore on Sunday. It was a bag containing four baseballs that apparently had been autographed by Fernandez, a law enforcement official told the local television station WSVN. The beachgoer handed the bag over to the lifeguard, who turned it in to the authorities, the official, Vincent Canosa, the chief of the Ocean Rescue division of the Miami Beach Fire Department, said in a report on “A bag was turned in to the lifeguard at 24th Street,” Chief Canosa WSVN reported that A spokeswoman for the city, Melissa Berthier, said in a phone call on Tuesday that the bag was eventually turned over to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is leading the investigation into the crash. The 32-foot motorboat carrying Fernandez, 24, who was born in Cuba and defected when he was 15, The boat was discovered by a Coast Guard crew about 3:50 a.m. on Sunday. Fernandez’s death touched a nerve among fans, fellow players and members of the Cuban community in Florida, with tributes taking place on the playing field and at makeshift shrines. On Monday, at Rob Klepper, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, declined to comment when reached by telephone on Tuesday, except to say that the bag recovered would be considered “active investigative material.” He also did not answer questions about the contents of the bag and whether the baseballs were being tested to see if they were, in fact, Fernandez’s belongings. He said in an emailed statement that the investigation could take several weeks or more to complete.