Statement From Cubs Fan Steve Bartman

Associated Press via Fox News Channel ^ | Wednesday, October 15, 2003 | Steve Bartman

[newgeezer]

"There are few words to describe how awful I feel and what I have experienced within these last 24 hours.

I've been a Cub fan all my life and fully understand the relationship between my actions and the outcome of the game. I had my eyes glued on the approaching ball the entire time and was so caught up in the moment that I did not even see Moises Alou, much less that he may have had a play.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

This has to be the most pathetic rant I've ever witnessed on FR........ this wasn't something the guy planned for and "carried out"......a freaking ball was flying toward his head - every fan in the world wishes to catch a fly ball - you would have done the same damn thing - grow up...

[Cagey]

Chummy just doesn't realize they should have let that goat in to see the game and none of this would have happened.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

LOL.... yep - but let's blame it on a fan..not the team -

[MotleyGirl70]

I just can't get over his name. I thought of this right away. :)

[Guenevere]

#3..Well said!

[mikrofon]

EXCLUSIVE:  Cubs Fan 'Steve Bartman' revealed to be Time-traveler Art Bell!

(10-16-03)  The Wacky World News has learned exclusively that the Chicago Cubs fan whose interference with play in Game 6 of the recent National League playoffs may have cost the Cubbies a spot in this year's World Series, is none other than a younger, time-traveling Art Bell, current weekend host of the overnight radio program, Coast-to-Coast.

Following his mea culpa earlier today to the Chicago media and fans, 'Steve Bartman' as he is otherwise known granted an exclusive interview to WWN reporters in which the truth came out.

According to the youthful Bell, he was visited some thirty years ago by his older self after the Cubs and Boston Red Sox reached the World Series in the 2003 timeline, which eventually precipitated the start of Armageddon and the End of the World.  In order to forestall this fateful catastrophe, the elder Bell recruited him to travel back to the present to help do something to change the course of history.

"We thought that this would be the least conspicuous way to change things, but we didn't count on all the grief and publicity and everything," remarked a flustered 'Bartman'.  "I mean, the Cubs usually lose all the time anyway, don't they?!"  He then quickly departed, stating that he may have left something on the stove prior to his leap into the future.

The current Art Bell could not be reached for comment.

[newgeezer]

But , what put him in this spot was his complete lack of knowledge of the game of baseball, the history of the game, and even how some fans and many players in the past have changed the coarse of baseball history ( be it deserving or not). Bartman calls himself a true Cubs fan, well, he may be a fan, but he knows very little about the game of baseball ( at least until now).

You haven't the slightest idea what he knew or didn't know.

If nothing else, I'm certainly convinced you've never experienced a post-season game in person. Due to the lack of any effect my earlier comparison seems to have had on your judgment, I'm also doubting you've ever made whoopee. Or, you just didn't care for it all that much.

;O)

[Peace will be here soon]

"If nothing else, I'm certainly convinced you've never experienced a post-season game in person. Due to the lack of any effect my earlier comparison seems to have had on your judgment, I'm also doubting you've ever made whoopee. Or, you just didn't care for it all that much. "

---

You have no idea of how wrong you are !!!! On both aspects of your argument. And as for comparing sex to baseball? Well, my guess is your not enjoying it as much as you could. Just for fun, I have been to roughly 70 or so post season games ( I could count them up if you like, but this is a conservative estimate). Including numerous NLDS , NLCS , World Series games and even All-Star games ( and this is just baseball, you want to add other sports as well? ). I had my World Series tickets waiting for game 4 ,5 , and 6 in Chicago, but they blew it, oh well, I hate the Cubs anyway. If I feel like it, I could make a phone call and pick up some World Series tickets for the Yankee/Marlins, I just have not decided if I want to go yet. But I have already seen the Yankees win a World Series in person ( 1996 : game 6 , Yankees over Atlanta ). I actually had tears in my eyes! It was awesome !! Oh, and I just don`t go to post season games, I actually go to games during the regular season , and even pre-season. I am a baseball fan. I will put my baseball knowledge, and experience, up against Bartmans any day of the week. Why can`t you see this guy is a chucker ? I have nothing against the guy, I HATE THE CUBS !!!! But as a baseball fan, he did a very bad thing. I just don`t see how you can`t see it. Being you are a "knowledgeable fan " yourself.

[newgeezer]

Ah, so it's not that you haven't been to a post-season game. It seems you've been to so many that you no longer recall what it was like to see your first one, assuming you cared who won. (Was your beloved team involved? That's key!)

Or, perhaps your experience just wasn't as special as mine, in which case you really can't know what I mean when I talk about how it was like sex in the way that it's like a mind-altering drug. I thought every real fan felt that way the first time, even us knowledgeable ones. Maybe I was wrong, and my experience was more special than I ever thought.

Try to be understanding. The guy gets enough grief from the friggin' Cubs fans.

[Chummy]

I would NOT have done the same thing under the circumstances. Legions of knowledgable baseball fans at a home game with all of the facts surrounding Game Six would also have known better.

A selfish, thoughtless act that affects millions of people cannot be excused because it is a selfish, thoughtless act.

It is quite interesting to me that you caustically shriek at me, labeling my comment as "pathetic", using a curse word to tell me what you think I would have done, and demanding that I "grow up". Chill, fellow FReeper, chill.

The "freaking ball" was not "flying toward his head." Before you make further pronouncement I would suggest you view the videotape of the incident; before you tell me again what I would have done and should do, I would suggest you first walk that proverbial mile in my mocassins. THAT FAN's arm was over the rail and in the field of play, a fact that is shown clearly on video and not at all clearly in a still photo.

You obviously missed a deeper point I was trying to make, one that a great many other FReepers got by the way, that the act itself, when viewed in a greater and more meaningful context, shows a great problem with our society, and you've unwittingly underscored my point: one cannot cast off an act of negligence as, "Well, I didn't mean to do it."

I trust that you, too, didn't mean to fly off the handle as you did, and would respectfully suggest you take your own advice.

[Chummy]

"...I'll just mention that Moises Alou forgave him, and I'll always admire him for showing the class to do it. Maybe that's because he already has a World Series ring. But, I'm guessing it's because he's 37. (He even had the wisdom to say he was 'almost 100%' sure he'd have caught the ball, acknowledging nothing's a sure thing in baseball.)..."

Moises is definitely a class act.

Have you considered that Hall-of-Famer and Cubs legend Billy Williams said, after viewing the videotape replay, that he believe Moises Alou would have caught the ball and that, because there would have been two out with only four more outs to go, the entire dynamics of the game -- the situation -- would have been drastically altered?

It is a game, after all, regardless that someone whose team is ahead would never conclude this.

In this selfish, thoughtless act, tossing aside any feigned knowledge of the game, any semblance of discipline, or respect or regard for others, just seizing the bone so the other dogs in the pack can't go munching, one can find a very telling incident indeed. Even in its aftermath, it is very interesting to read the comments of those who cannot see beyond, opining like lemmings, "it is just a game" or "you would have done the same thing."

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

The guy didn't leap out onto the field - you claim to be such a great fan/ball player but if a ball coming at that speed was heading toward you or a child next to you, I am quite certain you wouldn't have been "the good little fan" and waited to see if someone was going to catch the ball before it hit your child.

Yes I saw the entire thing - I still contend that in the excitement of the game the guy was unaware that the fielder was even close - it would have been a selfish act if the guy had knocked the player out of the way - he didn't - he was merely reaching for the ball just like others sitting with him.

You sound like you'd have this guy condemned to death if you could....... I still say you need to calm down, it was just a freaking game

[Chummy]

Ma'am, all I've ever suggested is THAT FAN come forward and apologize, which he did, and which elsewhere I noted was all that I personally was hoping he would do -- the right thing.

I assure you that you are curiously reading between the lines of what I've written, reaching for some conclusion that is not there, just like the ball that had disappeared from play and Moises' glove: it's not there.

Perhaps you also need to re-read my posts. I did not "claim to be such a great fan/ball player." You play the "child card", despite there being no child present in the vicinity of THAT FAN (a name which, by the way, I've only used as a bit of dark humor). The "child card" is also used, for example, too frequently by liberals who demand more and more government, justifying the expense "because it's for the children," so it's a bit odd to read a fellow FReeper latching onto the argument.

I assure you that fans in the same area of THAT FAN were seen stepping back from the play, not lunging for the ball. I did not write the "...guy...leap[t] out onto the field." I did write that his arm extended into the field of play. Do you know the difference?

You're exactly right that, "...in the excitement of the game the guy was unaware that the fielder was even close...." He said that. He apologized for that. I'm among those who suggested we move on.

No, you're not right about what may be a selifsh act; the ball was in play, not the player, and THAT FAN knocked the ball out of play, and did so carelessly, without thought, without respect for or regard for anyone else but himself. He secluded himself at a ballpark with 39,000-plus other fans assembled by shutting them out with headphones -- further ignoring the call of the announcers that the game was heading his way.

As to this being "...just a freaking game...", again, I urge you to re-read what I've written, both that sentiment sans your beloved use of "freaking", as well as the impact of the economic loss of a potential three games in a city of 6-million plus that has not hosted the crowning jewel of Major League Baseball in more than two score years.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

What I am trying to point out to you is that without knowing this man you have classified what he did as a selfish act. A selfish act would mean he purposely did this with no regard to the outcome of the game - I don't believe that is what happened.

Yes he reached for a ball that he felt was coming toward him. Some would have done exactly as he did, some wouldn't have - apparently you are so aware of everything going on around you at all times that you would never had done something so foolish.

You believe he changed the outcome of the game - I believe it was an accident that, while upsetting, shouldn't have resulted in the slaughter that happened following the incident.

I apologize for the insults - apparently this was very important to you. I'm a huge football fan and see bad calls all the time - many which do have a major impact on the outcome of a game - but to blame one incident on a team losing so badly is not fair.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

Alex Gonzalez should get on his knees and pay tribute to Steve the Bartman, for by all rights Alex should be demonized, since he screwed up doing his job, and not by watching a ball come toward him in the stands, 14 feet or so at eye level above the field.

And why can't Miami enjoy some WS windfall? They were smart enough to put together a team that can get there once in a while. To the victor goes the spoils.

[Chummy]

Do you know what garbage is without being garbage?

One can perform a selfish act wholly unintentionally; in fact, would not this be the most likely root meaning behind the act itself? That one gave no regard for anyone else but themselves? THAT FAN admitted as much, so I'm not really out on a limb in the criticism.

Again, do not cross the bridge to tell me what I would have done, apparently or otherwise.

What I am saying is that the man has been portrayed as being, not my quotes, please note, "a diehard Cubs fan" and "knowledgable" about baseball, underscoring the latter in revealing he is a coach for an "elite" youth baseball team in a Windy City suburb. He relies on some of this in his apology. If you're not a Cubs fan, if you've never taken in a game at Wrigley Field, it may be difficult to understand.

But for those of us who are, who have, it is accepted quite generally one doesn't sit with headphones on in the front row of a playoff game with such far-reaching consequences as the contest in discussion, that one doesn't act as one would, say, at a Thursday contest in the middle of May with a visting perennial loser as the opponent.

Are you aware the ticket sellers routinely tell those fortunate to obtain front-row tickets to be alert at all times? Are you aware there are special signs posted at the entrance to every tunnel leading to the stands at Wrigley -- they've a cute Cubby bear on them, smiling -- advising fans to be alert at all times? That the public address announcer shares a pre-game announcement not to interfere? (Visit the Cubs online and, navigating through their site you'll find a store that even offers for sale, the last time I checked, replicas of the signs.)

It's not that this is important, per se, and certainly not "to me", which would be selfish; I've personally accepted the guy's apology, and am looking forward to the 2004 season, chalking up THAT FAN in the lore that follows not only this club but all of baseball. That it IS a game is precisely why I have such passion for it.

My concern is for the millions who are diehard Cubs fans, for the people of the City of Chicago and its suburbs, who deserved far better and were oh-so-close-but-not-quite-yet-again.

This lapse in judgment, this moment of unthinking, this second of disregard for anything or anyone but a ball arcing somewhere just beyond the guy's reach, is very telling to me -- about the man himself, for certain, but also in the greater context, what that act says about society, including those who would defend such an act.

Y'know, with football, at least we have instant replay in the pro version of the game!

Please let me also assure you that I am not blaming the one incident and saying it is the only reason; surely a club worthy of a championship should have been able to pick themselves up and move on, but baseball, especially October baseball is a different game, raw with emotion, and the impact that resulted from a non-participant who became a participant obviously had greater effect than any of us would ever be able to understand. "They say" a butterfly that beats its wings flying over the Atlantic can cause a typhoon in the Pacific; THAT FAN lunging may mean the daughter of some Chicago cabbie doesn't get a book she's longing for as her Dad doesn't receive the tip of the reporter who is instead in Miami.

In a football context, even though it falls far short, think of what THAT FAN did as if the Rams call time-out to ice the Cowboys' kicker, set up for a 58-yard field goal with one second on the clock, the outcome of the game being one of those two teams advances to the Super Bowl.

And the Rams had no more time outs.

[Chummy]

The batter who benefitted directly from THAT FAN, Luis Castillo, himself said the man gave the Marlins a huge break, the break they needed to go on and win the game, acknowledging that they'd otherwise have been as sunk as the Palehose.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

Luis did a get a break. Batters also got breaks from Baylor not knowing when to pull pitchers, and from being too stupid to use starters in the bullpen, like the two managers who are actually IN the World Series. And Alex Gonzalez did a real nice job of letting the inning go on. Remember, Mark "God's Gift to Baseball" Prior still had a chance to get Castillo out after my hero Steve did his deed. Not so with the batter Alex let on base.

As for how low the White Sox sunk - well, looks like both our teams earned the right to watch the Series on the tube. We just were smart enough to get to our seats first.

[Chummy]

"We just were smart enough to get to our seats first."

Yeah, now that you mention it, is that seat next to you taken? Want an Old Style?

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

I'm glad you've moved on...... good luck next season