The twentieth anniversary of the Alex Gonzalez Game is upon us, although few Chicago Cubs followers seek advice from it as that.
Gonzalez, the previous shortstop who booted a possible double-play ball that contributed to an epic Cubs collapse in Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series, was lucky sufficient to search out cowl underneath the dropped foul ball by a fan that preceded his error.
Ditto pitcher Mark Prior and the remainder of the ‘03 Cubs who helped expend a three-run, eighth-inning lead on Oct. 14, 2003, after which did not get the job carried out in Game 7. Manager Dusty Baker and pitching coach Larry Rothschild dodged most, however not all, of the finger-pointing as properly.
Steve Bartman famously took the autumn, disappeared for 13 years, returned to just accept a World Series ring from the Cubs, then went again into hiding for the final seven years. His face has not been on the web, to anybody’s data, and he has not profited off his second of infamy.
While his story has been informed in an ESPN documentary, alluded to in a PlayStation advert and rehashed in quite a few newspaper articles during the last twenty years, together with a 10-year anniversary piece I wrote for the Tribune in 2013, Bartman has refused to speak.
Only on events comparable to this does his legal professional and household buddy, Frank Murtha, spring into motion to reiterate that Bartman has nothing to say about that day or his life.
Murtha thought it might be over by now however admits he was improper. The legend continues. You need to credit score Bartman for staying underground after a life-changing occasion he simply may have cashed in on and for overcoming an unsightly response from die-hard Cubs followers upset that their group blew an opportunity on the World Series.
Former Marlins outfielder Juan Pierre, who was on second base on the time, informed me 10 years in the past that the group thought nothing of the foul ball on the time.
“I saw where someone in the dugout said ‘Hey, let’s make this guy famous,’ ” Pierre mentioned. “But I didn’t hear that. I definitely feel bad for him.”
Bartman did change into well-known, which could not have occurred had the Cubs gotten their act collectively and held on in Game 6 or gained Game 7 to make it a moot level.
But these issues didn’t occur, and you may’t change historical past. Still, you may look again on the details and alter the narrative, which a preferred TV present not too long ago did.
So I needed to ask Murtha if Bartman had seen a selected episode of “The Bear,” a Hulu present a few Chicago man named Carmy, performed by Jeremy Allen White, who took over the household’s restaurant after his older brother dedicated suicide.
“I don’t know if he does, and I didn’t hear anything about it,” Murtha mentioned. “But it’s not like I have search engines covering everything in the world.”
I’ve to imagine Bartman has at the very least been knowledgeable of a scene that mentions his incident in a profane and hilarious dialog between two of the primary characters.
In the episode, a grizzled businessman known as Uncle Jimmy (performed by Oliver Platt) offers an impassioned speech concerning the hazards of the trade, utilizing the Bartman episode as a metaphor.
“Do you remember Alex Gonzalez, shortstop for the Cubs?” Uncle Jimmy says.
“Um, no, no, I don’t think so,” Carmy replies.
“Right, and it’s a shame you don’t think so,” Uncle Jimmy says. “But I’m going to explain why you don’t think so.”
Uncle Jimmy goes on to elucidate the circumstances of the Game 6 loss, calling the grounder to Gonzalez an “easy grab, no (bleeping) brainer kind of thing” that led to the Cubs falling “apart at the seams.”
When Carmy asks himself out loud why he doesn’t keep in mind Gonzalez, Uncle Jimmy delves into the sooner play of the fly ball down the left-field line {that a} fan dropped as left fielder Moises Alou approached the wall.
Carmy shortly realizes he was referring to Bartman, and he nods knowingly. Uncle Jimmy tells him the explanation he couldn’t keep in mind Gonzalez’s title was as a result of “everybody and their mother wants to blame the (bleeping) guy instead of the actual (bleeping, bleeping bleeps) who (bleeped) it up.”
Those bleeping bleeps, in fact, have been the remainder of the Cubs.
The scene was completely written and well-acted and may need been the perfect protection I’ve ever heard of Bartman’s unintended look in Cubs lore. Kudos to “The Bear” for giving Bartman’s aspect in spite of everything these years.
Most Cubs followers have come round to Bartman’s aspect, realizing he was simply an unfortunate particular person sitting within the unfortunate seat the place Luis Castillo’s fly ball would land. But that doesn’t imply his title gained’t be remembered lengthy after Gonzalez and the opposite Cubs who contributed to the loss are forgotten.
The Cubs tried to make amends in 2017 after they gave Bartman a 2016 World Series ring, whether or not it was carried out with good intentions or simply advantage signaling to indicate what benevolent guys they’re.
Bartman and Murtha drove to Chairman Tom Ricketts’ workplace to choose up the ring with president of enterprise operations Crane Kenney and president of baseball operations Theo Epstein additionally within the room.
That was imagined to deliver closure to the incident, and to some extent it did.
Bartman issued a press release that day expressing his “heartfelt thanks” to Ricketts, Kenney, Epstein and your entire Cubs group,” calling the gesture “the start of an important healing and reconciliation process for all involved.” Bartman talked about his want was to “prevent harsh scapegoating and to challenge the media and opportunistic profiteers to conduct business ethically by respecting personal privacy rights and not exploit any individual to advance their own self-interest for economic gain.”
The Cubs additionally invited Bartman to look within the victory parade, which Bartman politely declined as a result of he didn’t assume it was applicable to take any consideration away from the gamers.
I requested Murtha if Bartman ever wears the ring.
“I kind of doubt that he does,” he replied, including he by no means has requested.
The media has principally ignored Bartman during the last seven years, count on maybe when different so-called “Cubbie Occurrences” occur, comparable to Seiya Suzuki’s missed fly ball that helped lose a recreation in Atlanta final month throughout the Cubs’ wild-card chase. One ESPN.com reporter stalked Bartman for a narrative a few years in the past, however in any other case he has been left alone.
When I reached out to somebody who had helped Bartman escape Wrigley that fateful evening, the particular person declined and mentioned “Please leave him alone.”
His title nonetheless pops up now and again, although not as usually as the primary 10 years after the incident.
A entrance web page of the Tribune with a photograph of Bartman’s drop and the headline “The Mitt Hits the Fan” was signed by Alou and framed by a Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse attendant. It resides in his workplace within the customer’s clubhouse at American Family Field to this present day, viewable to any Cubs participant who walks previous.
In April the Miami Marlins promoted a “Steve Bartman Appreciation Day” on social media for a sequence in opposition to the Cubs, however the concept was shortly squelched after Kenney contacted the Marlins to voice a grievance. In September a fan wore a Bartman outfit, with the distinctive inexperienced turtleneck and old-school headphones, and sat behind the plate throughout a Cubs-Colorado Rockies sequence at Coors Field. Hardly anybody appeared to note, although he was in nearly each TV shot.
But when the topic of the 2003 Cubs comes up, it’s not possible to disregard his title. I not too long ago requested former Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano, who misplaced Game 5 in Miami that may have clinched the NLCS for the Cubs, if he ever felt sorry for Bartman.
“No,” he mentioned. “It could’ve been Paul Sullivan or Carlos Zambrano, it could’ve been anybody else. His name popped up, and he became famous after the incident.”
Zambrano added that he didn’t assume Bartman did something improper.
“It was just the natural reaction of the fans,” he mentioned. “You see the ball, you want to grab the ball.”
He stopped for a second and considered how way back it was.
“Twenty years ago, wow,” he mentioned. “But we have to turn the page and celebrate ‘16.”
The Cubs received their rings in 2016. Baker earned his first ring final yr with the Houston Astros and is working for one more. Prior received one in 2020 as pitching coach with the Los Angeles Dodgers and in addition is again within the postseason.
It sounds as if Bartman has come out OK and moved on as a lot as doable. Maybe he’ll write a e-book sometime and clarify how he felt going via all of it.
Or possibly not. The longer time passes, the extra individuals may have forgotten the true story of the foul ball that modified one man’s life and left a scar on Cubs followers.
But scars heal, thankfully, and life goes on.
The worst of occasions by no means final without end.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com