PORTLAND (AP) – Baseball is supposed to be as universally loved as Mom and apple pie. But a bronze statue depicting a family of four trundling off to a game created divisions over whether the so-called nuclear family adequately reflected the city’s diversity.

A year later, some wonder what the fuss was all about as the Portland Sea Dogs prepare to unveil the 9 foot-tall artwork outside Hadlock Field on Monday.

A representative of Sea Dogs owner Daniel Burke and his wife, Bunny, who commissioned the statue, urged people to take a look before passing judgment.

“The people of the city will be favorably impressed by the gift and will question why there was a controversy in the first place,” predicted attorney William Troubh.

A preliminary model for “The American Family Baseball Group” by artist Rhoda Sherbell ran into opposition from members of the city’s public art committee.

Jack Soley, committee vice chairman, said he was not enthused with designs featuring “white folks on pedestals.” Another member, Jay York, said Portland already had too many statues depicting “white, Anglo-Saxon people.” Soley and York did not return messages left at their offices last week.

The committee voted against accepting the gift, based on photographs of a “maquette,” a small, preliminary clay design of Sherbell’s vision for the project. But the City Council ultimately voted unanimously to accept it.

Troubh said the Burkes never would have offered the statue if they had thought it would be controversial. The gift was a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, he said. Valued at six figures, it was nearing completion when the flap played out.

Sherbell was bewildered by the controversy. “How they can make any judgment based on my little clay maquette and a digital camera, I’ll never know,” Sherbell said from her home in Long Island, N.Y. “They know nothing about me, my history or background.”

City Councilor James Cohen said the public debate was a good thing. But he said it was troubling that people’s opinions seemed to be based on their perception of the race or ethnicity of the family depicted in the statues.

“There was a pretty clear sense that the city was not going to consider ethnicity and race as the basis for accepting or rejecting art. That’s a slippery slope,” he said.

Sherbell said she doesn’t understand the debate about race. “It was a family group, and to me a family group is universal,” she said.

Before beginning work on the sculptures, Sherbell traveled to Portland and took more than 300 photos of people, with the goal of getting a good feel for the variety of people who go to Sea Dog games, she said.

She was even hit by a foul ball as she was taking pictures. The team autographed it for her, and it’s on display in her home, she said.

Sherbell said she’s pleased with the final product. It depicts a family with a mother holding her daughter on her hip, a boy with a baseball glove, and a father holding his tickets as if looking for his seats.

“I enjoyed making it,” she said. “It’s wholesome and true to the American public. People love baseball. It’s the national pastime.”

On Friday, as snow covered Hadlock Field, Mayor Nicholas Mavodones Jr. said he was just hopeful that the team would take the field.

“We’re fortunate to have the Sea Dogs in Portland,” he said. “They do a lot for the community.”