"Catching Hell" on espn now...

[ktuck911]

Steve Bartman. Poor guy. He caught a ton of help from the October 16th 2003 play during the Cubs/Margins NCLS. Geesh he literally got lynched without being lynched. I feel so bad for.the guy.

 

[SAMCRO]

when I read your subject line, I immediately thought the CFB talking heads were ripping UConn apart, and UConn was catching hell from those buffoons.

 

[ktuck911]

Is anybody else watching this other than me. The guy did what any fan would do.and try to catch a foul ball. Unfortunately he helped.keep an inning alive that ultimately cost the Cubbies a shot at the Worp Series. It wasn't all in him though..

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I saw it myself. I had forgotten about Moises Alou's ridiculous over reaction. A professional ball player may react that way if it were a bit more critical of a siituation (perhaps tie game, runner on third who would not have scored on an out because of that play) but when that happened there was no reason for his going nuts like that. Pryor was still cruising, the lead was safe, his antics had to bring the whole team down, thinking they were fortunate to be in a position to win and one of their last opportunities just vanished.

I still vividly remember Gonzalez' error and I still don't get why he tried to field it with his glove pointed down. He was (almost fully) in front of the ball, it is easier to surround the ball (the way an infielder fields it) with the glove facing up and it is an easier exchange to the throwing hand (it was a double play ball).

 

[BugsyCT]

Just watched it too. Pretty well done. Can't help but feel bad for Bartman and the public lynching he went through over that play - what other Cubs fan could've felt worse than him? It's hard to say that any of us wouldn't do the same thing - a natural human reaction when at a sporting event to go after a ball hit towards the stands. Bartman & the fans next to him instinctively looked up and probably never realized Alou had a shot at it. On the other side, you would hope under the circumstances that fans would have been cognizant of the magnitude of that game situation and get out of the way if the fielder had a chance to catch it, so I can understand the rest of the Cubs fans' frustration in the heat of the moment. Tough call. And an unfortunate fate for Bartman and the Cubbies.

As for the piece on Buckner, I still to this day think he took way WAY too much blame for '86. Did everybody forget the Sox had already blown the lead at that point and the game was tied? I'm not even a Sox fan, but Buckner seemed like a good guy that never deserved to be the poster child for that series.

 

[ktuck911]

Which leads me to Donnie Moore... Unfortunately for him not so great an ending to his life (suicide).. Ironically, he's the pitcher who gave up the Dave Henderson HR in the '86 ALCS playoffs which ultimately helped put the Red Sox into the World Series vs. The Mets... The Angels were an out away from going to the WS when that happened... Moore's career was never the same after that...

 

[IMind]

The anger at Buckner never lasted quite as long as most people think... and he milked the last few years of it for some extra cash. That's not diminishing the fact that the first couple of years must have been horrible for him.

 

[buckley503]

Buckner now coaches one of the Sox minor league teams. Would the right word be irony if he ended up being the manager in Boston.

 

[Palatine]

Is anybody else watching this other than me. The guy did what any fan would do.and try to catch a foul ball. Unfortunately he helped.keep an inning alive that ultimately cost the Cubbies a shot at the Worp Series. It wasn't all in him though..

That's not true. Having watched scores of games in Wrigley, the fans know not to do that. They were the first stadium to throw back opponent home runs and because of the nature of Wrigley learned long ago how to affect games. In another park, it wouldn't have been as big a deal, but Wrigley fans because of a hundred years of sitting right on top of the players, knew to keep out of the way.

That point is often missed by national broadcasters who are less familiar with the park.

Yep, Bartman was unlucky and didn't know better. But he wasn't like most of the fans who go to hundreds of games and know not to touch that ball.

 

[uconndennis]

That's not true. Having watched scores of games in Wrigley, the fans know not to do that. They were the first stadium to throw back opponent home runs and because of the nature of Wrigley learned long ago how to affect games. In another park, it wouldn't have been as big a deal, but Wrigley fans because of a hundred years of sitting right on top of the players, knew to keep out of the way.

That point is often missed by national broadcasters who are less familiar with the park.

Yep, Bartman was unlucky and didn't know better. But he wasn't like most of the fans who go to hundreds of games and know not to touch that ball.

no chance. In a split second decision like that, everyone tries to catch the ball that is about to land in his lap. Including all the people around him. You sound like that author that was giving his pretentious 2 cents last night....

 

[MilliniumPrince]

I don't think Alou overreacted at all. It was the playoffs and they were the Cubs. It is not his fault fans took things way too far. People rip athletes when the look like they don't care...then they rip them when they show emotion.

I think a fan has to know to get out of the way....but 90% of people in that situation would have done the same thing. He didn't cost them that game.

 

[Palatine]

A big part of the anger by Cubs fans is that Bartman was clueless. He didn't know the etiquette of the park. Believe me there are plenty of Cubs fans who would just have leaned back and let Alou catch the ball.

 

[businesslawyer]

Non-athletes with a baseball coming towards them aren't looking to see if the fielder may have a play on it. Non-athletes have both eyes on the ball to make sure it doesn't hit them in the damn head on national television.

 

[YearoftheHusky]

Did anyone catch Buckner on Curb Your Enthusiasm? Hilarious.

 

[Scoe]

Both guys in those situations never should have gotten the blame.

How come no one blames Alex Gonzalez for blowing that DP, not to mention the Cubs also had a lead in game 7. Its absolutly disgusting that the local media in Chicago released Bartman's information about where he lived and worked to the public.

With Buckner the game was already tied on the road so the way the game was going the Mets would have won anyways, and the Sox had a lead in game 7.

 

[Adios]

It's hard to believe what people do for balls that go out of the park. There's people who drop their kids or die to catch a ball.

 

[BugsyCT]

I saw it myself. I had forgotten about Moises Alou's ridiculous over reaction. A professional ball player may react that way if it were a bit more critical of a siituation (perhaps tie game, runner on third who would not have scored on an out because of that play) but when that happened there was no reason for his going nuts like that. Pryor was still cruising, the lead was safe, his antics had to bring the whole team down, thinking they were fortunate to be in a position to win and one of their last opportunities just vanished.

He was probably still aggravated that he flied out to end the 7th with runners at the corners. Blew a chance to pad the lead. Still, he should have tried to keep his cool, as his reaction seemed to ignite the crowd against Bartman.

 

[UCDaveD]

Some things I found interesting from the film:

1) When they digitally removed everyone from the seats, Alou clearly makes that catch. Was never really sure that he would have had it, but that was pretty conclusive.

2) Bartman was listening to the radio play by play, which ran on a 7 second delay, on his headset. If he's just tracking the ball in the air, he really has no clue that Alou is approaching to make a play on it.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

A big part of the anger by Cubs fans is that Bartman was clueless. He didn't know the etiquette of the park. Believe me there are plenty of Cubs fans who would just have leaned back and let Alou catch the ball.

Perhaps there are plenty of Cubs fans who know this but none were anywhere near that play. If you saw the documentary you would have seen the many (nearly a dozen) who were reaching for the ball while it was in the air. By some weird twist of irony most did appear to be Cubs fans.

 

[zyron]

It's hard to believe what people do for balls that go out of the park. There's people who drop their kids or die to catch a ball.

This video came out a couple days ago. The best part is when they put the camera on the guys wife and she looks like she is going to kill him.