Jose Fernandez’s family, friends and teammates say goodbye during private service

What Miami has been dreading all week finally happened Thursday: the unbearable goodbye to Marlins All-Star pitcher Jose Fernandez.

In a televised service Thursday at St. Brendan Catholic Church, just a day after thousands of mourners passed by Fernandez’s casket in a public ceremony, Fernandez’s mother, Maritza, his beloved abuela, Olga, girlfriend Maria Arias, a roster of former and current Marlins and scores of family and friends grieved the player killed suddenly in a violent boat crash early Sunday.

Spanning more than two hours, the service celebrated a player who at just 24 was known as much for his big personality and dramatic escape from Cuba as the fierce curve ball that made him one of baseball’s best young talents.

“Every time he greeted you, that smile hit you. It was the window of his soul,” his agent, Scott Boras, said in a tribute he struggled to tell through tears.“His two most passionate places were on the water and on the mound.”

Fernandez was found dead early Sunday after his 33-foot SeaVee, the Kaught Looking, crashed on a jetty leading into Government Cut. State wildlife officers are still investigating the crash, which also killed Eduardo Rivero, 25, and Emilio Macias, 27.

Fernandez’s mother, grandmother and girlfriend occupied the front pew in a packed sanctuary filled with the famous and not so famous, brought together by their friend’s death. Singer Mark Anthony sat beside Marlins President David Samson. Behind the family were the pallbearers, some of whom made up a tight-knit group of fishing buddies dubbed JsCrew, clothed in the same black number 16 Fernandez jerseys they wore during Wednesday’s public ceremony.

Among the baseball greats: batting coach Barry Bonds, Hall of Famer Tony Perez, and former Marlins pitcher Alex Fernandez, who befriended the young pitcher. Shortstop Alex Gonzalez and team manager Jack McKeon, from the Marlins 2003 World Series-winning team, also attended. Washington Nationals pitcher and Hialeah native Gio Gonzalez was excused from his team’s Thursday game to attend. The Marlins play them Friday.

A hearse bearing Fernandez’s casket arrived at St. Brendan’s with a police escort about 1:20 p.m., followed by a motorcade carrying his family and nine buses bearing mourners, including Cuban singer Alexander Delgado from Gente de Zona. Most exited with their heads bowed, black No. 16 pins on their suits.

About 60 fans gathered outside the church, many of whom also attended Wednesday’s processional from Marlins Park. “If we knew where the cemetery was, we’d go too,” said lifelong baseball fan Perla Gonzalez, who spent three hours at the church the day before. Fernandez’s mother emerged from a black car clutching a crucifix, arm in arm with the young pitcher’s grandmother. His girlfriend followed. As they did Wednesday, the pallbearers once again flexed their arms in tribute.

One of the most intimate eulogies came from Boras, the agent, who described Fernandez’s three greatest moments: buying a house for his mother, becoming a U.S. citizen and learning that he was going to become a father to a daughter the couple planned to name Penelope.