David Samson is a lot of things.
Polarizing? Without question.
But can you tell the story of the Miami Marlins without him? Probably not. The former team president (2002-17) was at the helm for the franchise’s last World Series title in 2003, making his mark, whether fans like it or not.
Does he belong among the Marlins’ all-time greats, though? That’s up for debate. Ask Samson, now with Dan Le Batard’s Meadowlark Media, and he’ll tell you he does. Ask Miami fans, and the answer gets murkier — thanks in no small part to his tenure alongside his former stepfather, ex-owner Jeffrey Loria.
Earlier this month, the Marlins unveiled their Legends Hall of Fame, honoring key players, coaches, and executives who shaped the franchise since its 1993 inception. The inaugural class includes Jeff Conine, Luis Castillo, Jim Leyland and Jack McKeon.
Samson’s currently included. But he thinks he should be — eventually.
“Do I think I should be in the first class? Absolutely not. Do I think that when you look at important figures in the history of the franchise, am I in that conversation? I don’t know how to argue against that,” Samson said on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Wednesday.
Allow executive producer Mike Ryan (Ruiz) to try.
Samson, who lived by a “business, nothing personal” mantra as team president — and still does — isn’t exactly beloved in South Florida. Fans let him know as much when they booed him at Le Batard’s birthday party in 2018 — an outburst he responded to with an expletive-laced rant. The resentment? It wasn’t just about his attitude.
Samson and Loria infamously secured hundreds of millions in taxpayer money to fund Marlins Park, only to sell the team for $1.2 billion after the stadium deal sent the franchise’s value soaring.
“Over my dead body will David Samson be allowed in the Marlins’ Hall of Fame,” said Le Batard. “Never! Never!”
“No. You killed baseball in this market; you don’t get to be in a Hall of Fame for killing baseball,” added Ryan.
Samson, naturally, disagreed.
He argued that he didn’t “kill” baseball in Miami — he “saved” it.
Samson has not been involved with the organization in seven years. In 2023, when the team celebrated the 20th Anniversary of its second World Series title, he was not invited. That alone should tell you how the current powers that be at 501 Marlins Way feel about the former team president.
“Listen, the Hall of Fame, it’s not necessarily about who you like or what trade you didn’t like,” Samson said. “It’s about people who mean something to the organization. What is your view of Carl Barger? Is he (the first president of the Marlins, who died prior to the team’s inaugural season) someone who shouldn’t have had his number retired, or not? Is it because he died young?”
Barger was 62.
“[Producer] Chris Cote just whispered to me that David dying is his only shot,” Le Batard added. “And what I say is, at the funeral for David Samson, we should absolutely open around him two Hall of Fames. The Hall of Fame that he gets into is the Hall of Fame first-ballot for people who killed the sport in this market, and also the Hall of Fame for people who saved the sport in this market. Because that stadium did indeed save the — it would not be here. Like, they would not have a place to play. It’d be seven people at a football stadium that we’d still be doing now.”
So, will Samson ever get the recognition he craves?
Depends on how you define a legacy.
Whether we get the show or not, Samson will continue making his case. But in Miami, the jury seems to have already delivered its verdict.