Marco Rubio salutes Fernandez on Senate floor

Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who lost the Republican presidential nomination to Donald Trump, delivered a poignant tribute Tuesday to late Miami Marlins star Jose Fernandez from the floor of the U.S. Senate in which he praised the Cuban defector for the tremendous impact he had on the Miami community.

"As a baseball player, quite frankly there were few better than Jose Fernandez," Rubio said. "But off the field, as a human being, as a son, a grandson, a teammate, a neighbor, I believe he was even better, from everything we know."

Rubio, himself a Cuban American, also praised the 24-year-old who represented "the hopes and dreams and aspirations" of Miami every time he took the mound.

"We loved him just a little more and took more pride in him than most, but Jose didn't just belong to Cuban Americans," Rubio added. "A young man from Santa Clara, Cuba, playing America's pastime in a truly unique American city, on a team with players from Taiwan and Venezuela and Japan and the Dominican Republic and Mobile, Alabama, and Panorama, California. Jose Fernandez was the pride of Miami. But he belonged to every fan who loved to watch him pitch."