Bartman maintains his privacy, love for Cubs
Infamous fan content to stay out of spotlight
CHICAGO Steve Bartman doesn’t need pity, he doesn’t need redemption and he sure as hell doesn’t need forgiveness. What he needs is peace. Thirteen years after Bartman was made the modern- day goat for the Chicago Cubs’ epic run of futility, the object of ridicule and much worse, he’s being dragged into the spotlight again. With the Cubs in the World Series for the first time in 71 years, some fans want him to return to Wrigley Field for this weekend’s games or, better yet, throw out the first pitch.
Not to be outdone, the handful of people outside of northeastern Ohio who haven’t piled onto the Cubs bandwagon are invoking his name as if he’s some high priest of voodoo.
All Bartman wants, all he’s ever wanted, is to be left alone. Left out of the conversations about curses and the many cruel fates that have befallen the Cubs. Allowed to live his life quietly while rooting for the team he still loves.
“Steve is cheering for the Cubs and continues to be a Cubs fan,” said Frank Murtha, a family friend who has acted as Bartman’s
agent, spokesman and gatekeeper the last 13 years. “He just wants everybody, moving forward, to respect his privacy and let his life continue to unfold as the grand plan has it. Unimpeded by things that … have been blown out of proportion. I think that’s the one message. It’s not necessarily a new one.” To be clear, Bartman, now 39, was never to blame for the Cubs’ 2003 collapse. Moises Alou, Mark Prior, Alex Gonzalez, Dusty Baker— every one of themplayed a part in the Shakespearean tragicomedy that was the eighth inning of Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Florida Marlins.
The Cubs were five outs away from reaching the World Series for the first time since 1945 when Luis Castillo hit a high foul down the left- field line. Bartman, like every other fan in the history of baseball, including those around him, reached for the ball only to see it bounce off his hands and into the stands.
Now, Alou was never going to catch that ball. Nor, with a 3- 0 lead and only five outs to get, should it have mattered.
But Alou and Prior threw tantrums over the interference no- call, and the Cubs’ fragile psyches were irreparably damaged. A wild pitch by Prior and a booted double- play grounder by Gonzalez, and the next thing you know Florida had scored eight runs.
And yet it was Bartman who got the blame, the latest in a long line of evil forces conspiring against the Cubs.
“Steve became the perfect cover for bad baseball and bad managing of baseball,” Murtha said.
Murtha won’t say if Bartman has been back toWrigley or not since 2003. As for whether he could show up this weekend, Murtha said, “It’s safe to say Steve will not be in attendance.”
Bartman has flatly rejected every effort to turn him into a third- tier celebrity. Interviews, appearances, tickets, trips, money — Bartman has turned them all down and, Murtha said, will continue to do so.
“He is a very, very positive person, and yes, he’s happy,” Murtha said. “A less solidly footed individual could have had serious problems with this. ... He’s been successful in getting on with his life.”
If only everyone else would.