“The
Chicago Cubs are
going to come calling. It's inevitable. Now that the franchise's great World
Series shame has been extinguished, the team will finally come around to
forgiving its most infamous fan. The offer will come sometime in the next
few months. A first pitch at the ring ceremony next April. Singing Take
Me Out to the Ballgame with Eddie Vedder. Accompanying Bill Murray for a
cameo on Saturday Night Live. The adoration of fans who have
cursed his name for years. It'll happen. And when it does, Steve Bartman, the
designated goat of recent Chicago Cubs history, should tell everyone to
shove it.
“Everybody
remembers Bartman, with that green turtleneck and the 1980s headphones perched
atop his aged Cubs hat, reaching over to grab a foul ball that Moises
Alou might have caught in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the 2003
NLCS. They collided, the ball harmlessly dropped foul and the at-bat resumed,
with Luis Castillo facing a full-count with one out, a man on second and a
three-run deficit. He walked on the next pitch.
“Five
outs from the World Series and a double play away from being out of the inning
with their ace still on the mound, the Cubs collapsed. Wild pitch. Single, RBI.
3-1, Cubs. And then, the true culprit for Chicago's Game 6 collapse - a routine
Miguel Cabrera ground ball to Alex Gonzalez that should have gone for an
inning-ending double play (or an out at worst) but was booted instead, leading
to a bases loaded situation and the floodgates opening. By the time it was
over, the Marlins had sent 12 batters to the plate, scored eight runs and the
unknown, sad sack down the third-base line would soon become the most
infamous baseball fan since Jeffrey Maier - except this time, the fan wouldn't
be celebrated, he'd be vilified. Steve Bartman had sabotaged his own team.
“And
hadn't he? Alou should have caught the ball, the Cubs would have easily retired
the next batter and the drought could have ended after 95 years instead of 108.
Heck, the Cubbies could have exorcised their demons before the Red Sox.
Think of all those Cubs fans who missed out on seeing that elusive title
because of Steve [expletive] Bartman, the unknown-turned-pariah-turned-recluse,
all because he reached for a foul ball. Forget that Steve Bartman barely
scratches the top 10 reasons the Cubs imploded that year. The blame, however,
was put on him.
“He
went into hiding, it's said even though it appears he lived a relatively normal
existence. In the era of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Bartman has done a
remarkable job of staying out of the limelight in the years that followed and
good for him. He didn't deserve any of the scorn thrown his way so the least
people could do is curse him in private rather than to his face. The
rational Cubs fans realize this. Chicago still should have gotten out of the
inning with a lead. They could have even survived Gonzalez's error, which was
more damaging by a factor of 100. But they collapsed and if a
Walkman-wearing fan could do that to the psyche of a baseball team, imagine how
they would have performed in a World Series with 95 years of history on the
line against the greatest franchise in baseball history. (The Yankees
would have awaited in the 2003 Series.) Oh, they also remember the Cubs had a
5-3 lead in Game 7 that Kerry Wood couldn't hold. One fan didn't cause all
that.
“Now
the Cubs, its fans and the baseball world will want him - expect him - to
come back out at their command so they can feel good about themselves as they
absolve an innocent man of his crimes against Cubbies. It's too late. You
don't get to apologize when it's convenient. The Bartman game was 13 years ago.
Apologize when you realize you're wrong, which, in this case, should have been
about three hours after that Game 6.
“There's
a parallel with Bill Buckner's situation in Boston, where he was the goat
(lowercase) of the 1986 World Series even though the team had a 5-3 lead going
into the bottom of the 10th that was blown by reliever Calvin
Schiraldi. Buckner's boot would have only sent a tie game into the
11th, not won the Series. And like the '03 Cubs, there was still a Game 7 to
play, complete with another blown lead by Schiraldi. Despite the fact that the
relief pitcher was the main culprit of a lost season, Buckner unfairly got the
blame and became the outcast of New England. Although he returned numerous
times over the years as a player and coach (even playing for the team again in
1990), he didn't accept the invitation for a hero's welcome until after the Red
Sox won their second World Series.
“It
ends there though. Only their status as scapegoats tied them together. Buckner
was a paid player. With the fame and money comes the pressure and scrutiny.
He's supposed to make that play. He deserves the blame when he doesn't. He
didn't deserve the scorn he ended up getting, but at least he knew what he was
in for when he signed up to be a professional athlete. Bartman was just a guy
with good seats to a baseball game who may have interfered with a ball, yet had
to be hustled out of the stadium by security and go into hiding whereupon he
immediately released a pathetic, poignant, 185-word note to the public
that showed the depth of his Cubs fandom (the two former players he apologizes
to were alive at the time but have since passed) and the instant pain and
torment he felt. It ended:
‘To Moises
Alou, the Chicago Cubs organization, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, and Cub fans
everywhere I am so truly sorry from the bottom of this Cubs fan's broken
heart. I ask that Cub fans everywhere redirect the negative energy
that has been vented towards my family, my friends, and myself into
the usual positive support for our beloved team on their way to
being National League champs.’
“Now
the Cubs fans will want to forgive Steve Bartman who, reports
from friends say, is still a huge fan. They'll want to applaud him for the
classy, humble way he dealt with how he was treated for 13 years. It'll be
soul-cleansing. What they really want though, is for Steve Bartman to forgive
them. They're the ones who need penance, not him. And if Bartman wants to
wash away these painful years by basking in the adulation of 41,268 Cubs fans
(even if he realizes how superficial it all is) or decides to cash in by making
$300,000 on a 30-second Budweiser commercial, then go for it, man. He's gone
through enough. He deserves to do what he wants.
“If
I were him though, I'd put on my Walkman, pull my new Cubs World Series
hat low and stroll down the streets of Wrigleyville, anonymous as ever and
without a care in the world.”
Cub fan scapegoats such as the
ReplyDeleteBlack Cat walking by Ronnie or The Billy Goat brought into the stadium to hex the cubbies I can deal with. But, when it comes to ruining a man's life it is indefensible. Bottom line, the cubbies were simply never good enough.
A Grandiose Apology is due to Steve Bartman on behalf of all cub fans and management. Much more could have been done along the way to recognize it wasn't Bartman who lost the chance at a pennant it was mediocrity.