Bartman and Marlins Vindicated

Section 102 seat 113 row 1. Steve Bartman must have been extremely excited to get a ticket to the NLCS game 6 when the Marlins we coming back to Chicago to face certain defeat. The entire city was abuzz over the prospect of getting back to the World Series for the first time in literally generations.

But a foul ball, hit over to the seat Bartman was sitting in, would prove to be disastrous for Cub fans' hopes. Moises Alou raced over and tried to catch the ball in the stands, but it was not to be. Frustrated, Alou begins pointing and shouting and throwing his glove around. Very uncharacteristic for a veteran player who has seen his share of playoff games over a foul ball. And that was exactly why it proved to be something more.

We know the rest of the history. The Marlins went on to score 8 runs in that inning and took Game 6. The Cubs never recovered and squandered the series in what was one of the best postseason matches in MLB history. Certainly, one of the most entertaining.



Until now, however, the book could not be closed. At least, not entirely. Alou, now a member of the Mets, said something pretty significant while on this opening road trip to the 2008 season in Miami. The ex-Marlin, who won a title with the '97 team, said in regard to the incident some 5 years ago "I wouldn't have caught it, anyway."

Say what? Did you hear that Chicago? Did you hear that Steve Bartman? Both of you can finally wake up from your denial and embrace reality. And at the same time, the 2003 Marlins can finally be recognized as a legitimate champion.

Wrapped in all of this is not only the fact that the Cubs and its fans were in denial, or that they were simply cursed. In fact, what had happened is the whole thing led everyone rooting for the Cubs to a massive psych-out. Alou didn't catch the foul ball, but he did overreact. It was as if he was expressing the intensity of the moment everyone in Chicago was feeling. Alex Gonzalez goes on to boot a perfectly good double play opportunity - and really faces no penalty because of it. What about Prior choking all over that mound? You can still see him pointing vehemently at Bartman and Alou and begging the umpires for some kind of appeasement.

Not to mention all the naysayers of the Marlins title, which there are but a few. They shouldn't have been there because they had a payroll that was around 52M whereas teams like the Cubs and Yankees had easily double or triple that figure. In Chicago, most of the fans were in a slumber of denial as they continued to say that the Marlins were lucky and they were cursed.

But now you have proof that isn't the case. Cold, hard evidence. Unlike the ball that was destroyed to somehow release the demons from Wrigley. Or was it all just a cruel April Fool's joke by Alou on all you Cub fans out there - to make you all actually own up to the fact that your team choked?

Or perhaps the Marlins were really just the better team.