Author's Note: The title to this entry comes to us from an ESPN Documentary, which is frankly the most concise and authoritative tome on the subject. If you want more background, I highly recommend you watch it. You can do so by following the link above.
In 2003, the Chicago Cubs were in their first season under new skipper Dusty Baker. The team wound up surprising many observers and captured the National League Central Division title with a record of 88-74. In their return to postseason play after a 5 year absence, the team started off the Divisional Series against the Atlanta Braves. The Cubs surprised everybody yet again and defeated the Braves in 5 games, locking up their first postseason series win since 1908. The next opponent were the Florida Marlins in the National League Championship Series . After losing the first game of the series in an extra-inning heartbreaker, the Chicago Cubs had rallied back to take a 3-1 lead in the series over the Marlins. Game 5 of the series saw the Marlins take the win, but the Series was switching back to Chicago for the final two games, and Mark Prior was up to pitch for Game 6.
October 14, 2003 dawns. Today would be the day that the Cubs would put away the Marlins for good and finally make it back to the World Series. The game started out going great, and by the 7th inning the team is up 3-0, and it appears that the Cubbies are going to cruise into the World Series. Things are looking so good that Kerry Wood(who was up to pitch the next game)was in the dugout doing some recon on the Yankees, the AL opponent in the World Series. All was going well until the top of the 8th inning. The Chicago Cubs are 6 outs away from the World Series. A fly ball is caught in the outfield. The Chicago Cubs are 5 outs away from the World Series. Mark Prior serves up a ball to Luis Castillo that is smashed over to left field. Moises Alou goes up to grab it. A fan reaches for it as well. All Hell breaks loose. Things change forever. By the end of the inning, the Florida Marlins have scored 8 runs and now lead 8-3. The next night, the Marlins take Game 7 and complete their comeback from being down 3 games to 1(which might ring a few bells for any Blackhawks fans out there), providing the Cubs with yet another chapter in their sad-sack biography. Additionally, the Cubs have not one a single postseason game since then, being swept in '07 and '08.
But there is one more piece to this puzzle. The fan who grabbed at the ball. Steve Bartman was a youth baseball coach from the Chicago area who was out with friends, hoping to see the Cubs make some history that night. He was sitting in Aisle 4, Row 8, Seat 113. When Alou went up for the ball, Bartman reached for it. The ball got bumbled, and it fell. Immediately, Bartman started to face jeers from the crowd. It was at this point that Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass(who was sitting in the vicinity of Bartman) asked Mr. Bartman what he had been thinking. Soon afterwards, Bartman was hustled out of the stands, and into a control office. After a while, it was determined that Bartman was going to leave. It was at this moment that Bartman fell under the responsibility of Erika Amundsen, with Wrigley Field Security. Amundsen took Bartman out a back entrance, and into a waiting car, where they first stopped at her house to shake some errant fans from their tails. She then dropped Bartman off at a hotel where he was staying, and that was the last she saw of him.
And that was the last anyone saw of him until 2005, when Wayne Drehs was doing a report for ESPN on the incident. His editor gave him a 2 word mandate: Find Bartman. After asking around numerous times, Drehs tracked Bartman to his place of employment, where he waited in his car for 7 hours. Finally Bartman came out, and Drehs lept into action. The encounter ended with Drehs being referred to Bartman's legal team, and the trail went dead. One final postscript came in April of 2008, when Moisés Alou was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, "You know what the funny thing is? I wouldn't have caught [the ball], anyway." The only thing we know for sure is that 10 years on, the play continues to live in the infamy of Chicago Sports lore.
No comments:
Post a Comment