A great documentary about how supposedly one fan during one play determined the fate of the 2003 Cubs. He didn't. He may have had a tiny influential piece of the outcome (one out which wasn't) but that can't be determinative. To put it bluntly, after the incident, the Marlins scored 8 runs. The fan had nothing to do with those runs period. To demonstrate how mythological and superstitious people still are, some Cubs fans saw the incident somehow jinxed the Cubs. It's ridiculous and makes no sense.
In Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, the Chicago Cubs were beating the Florida Marlins by 3-0, The Cubs were leading the series itself by 3-2 in a best of seven: the team to win four games goes to the World Series. In other words, if the Cubs won, they go to the World Series for the first time in nearly 100 years.
It's the top of the 8th Inning, and the Cubs are supposedly five outs away from their first World Series appearance since 1908. Marlins hitter Luis Castillo comes to the plate and hits a foul ball to left field. Cubs outfielder Moises Alou, a great hitter but an "okay" fielder goes to the fence in foul territory. He jumps up for the ball and it appears a fan (or fans) touched the ball first preventing Alou from making the catch, hence the play and an out.
Alou throws his glove down in disgust and glares back at the fans. Castillo then was walked on a wild pitch, beginning an 8-run rally. It was determined by reply that a fan wearing a knit cap, sweatshirt with "Renegade" on it, a green turtleneck and headphones had been the first fan to touch the ball, Shortly thereafter, the Marlins scored 8 runs. Later the fan was named as a Steve Bartman Then nearly every Cubs fan blamed this fan for supposedly turning the game in the Marlins' favor. The Marlins won 8-3.
Now let's compare it to another hypothetical baseball scenario. A player gets a hit and is on first. Now a base runner, he leans too far towards second base, the pitcher sees it, throws the ball to the first baseman and the runner is picked off. He's out and there is no one on base. The next pitch, the batter hits a home run. I have heard announcers say in such situations how bad it was that the runner was picked off because it would have been a 2-run home run rather than a solo home run, one run rather than two.
This analysis is WRONG. There is no way to know whether the batter would still have hit the home run if the base runner hadn't been picked off. First off, the pitcher would be out of the stretch so already his pitching style would have been different. Anything could have happened. The batter could have been hit, there might have been a wild pitch. Maybe the runner tried to steal second but was thrown out. We can't go back in time and replay the alternative scenario. Ultimately "what-if" imagined scenarios are interesting but they are just fantasies. Most often we can never know.
So back to Steve Bartman and Moises Alou. The prevalent idea at the time was somehow Bartman cost the Cubs the game. After the missed out, the Marlins scored 8 runs. Several other things happened which were the fault of the Cubs, not Bartman. A wild pitch and a short stop error were really the determinative plays, the latter maybe the real crucial play of the inning. The Marlins all of a sudden got a series of hits in that inning. Also, there's no way to know that the Marlins might have gotten more runs in the 9th inning even if Alou had caught the ball.
Still, there's no way to know that the Marlins may have still have won the game even if the Bartman/Alou incident hadn't taken place. We can't go back in time, change the outcome of the one play and see how things would have been different. In a similar vein, there is no way to know that Alou would have gotten the ball if it hadn't been touched by a fan. Alou claims he would have caught the ball (of course) but not even he knows that. The wind was erratic that game and it looks like the wind played a part. It is possible the ball could have bounced out of Alou's glove, so outcomes are never inevitable in sports. Also consider, say the Cubs went to the WS but lost to the Yankees.
There have been many missed foul balls in MLB history. If there was a missed foul ball and on the next pitch, the batter hit a home run, the fielder who missing the ball isn't vilified for the rest of eternity for having missed the foul ball. But because of the "curse" of the goat for Cubs fans, Bartman became the perfect "scape goat", Strangely there was a happy ending. The Cubs finally won the WS and gave Bartman a WS Ring.
In Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, the Chicago Cubs were beating the Florida Marlins by 3-0, The Cubs were leading the series itself by 3-2 in a best of seven: the team to win four games goes to the World Series. In other words, if the Cubs won, they go to the World Series for the first time in nearly 100 years.
It's the top of the 8th Inning, and the Cubs are supposedly five outs away from their first World Series appearance since 1908. Marlins hitter Luis Castillo comes to the plate and hits a foul ball to left field. Cubs outfielder Moises Alou, a great hitter but an "okay" fielder goes to the fence in foul territory. He jumps up for the ball and it appears a fan (or fans) touched the ball first preventing Alou from making the catch, hence the play and an out.
Alou throws his glove down in disgust and glares back at the fans. Castillo then was walked on a wild pitch, beginning an 8-run rally. It was determined by reply that a fan wearing a knit cap, sweatshirt with "Renegade" on it, a green turtleneck and headphones had been the first fan to touch the ball, Shortly thereafter, the Marlins scored 8 runs. Later the fan was named as a Steve Bartman Then nearly every Cubs fan blamed this fan for supposedly turning the game in the Marlins' favor. The Marlins won 8-3.
Now let's compare it to another hypothetical baseball scenario. A player gets a hit and is on first. Now a base runner, he leans too far towards second base, the pitcher sees it, throws the ball to the first baseman and the runner is picked off. He's out and there is no one on base. The next pitch, the batter hits a home run. I have heard announcers say in such situations how bad it was that the runner was picked off because it would have been a 2-run home run rather than a solo home run, one run rather than two.
This analysis is WRONG. There is no way to know whether the batter would still have hit the home run if the base runner hadn't been picked off. First off, the pitcher would be out of the stretch so already his pitching style would have been different. Anything could have happened. The batter could have been hit, there might have been a wild pitch. Maybe the runner tried to steal second but was thrown out. We can't go back in time and replay the alternative scenario. Ultimately "what-if" imagined scenarios are interesting but they are just fantasies. Most often we can never know.
So back to Steve Bartman and Moises Alou. The prevalent idea at the time was somehow Bartman cost the Cubs the game. After the missed out, the Marlins scored 8 runs. Several other things happened which were the fault of the Cubs, not Bartman. A wild pitch and a short stop error were really the determinative plays, the latter maybe the real crucial play of the inning. The Marlins all of a sudden got a series of hits in that inning. Also, there's no way to know that the Marlins might have gotten more runs in the 9th inning even if Alou had caught the ball.
Still, there's no way to know that the Marlins may have still have won the game even if the Bartman/Alou incident hadn't taken place. We can't go back in time, change the outcome of the one play and see how things would have been different. In a similar vein, there is no way to know that Alou would have gotten the ball if it hadn't been touched by a fan. Alou claims he would have caught the ball (of course) but not even he knows that. The wind was erratic that game and it looks like the wind played a part. It is possible the ball could have bounced out of Alou's glove, so outcomes are never inevitable in sports. Also consider, say the Cubs went to the WS but lost to the Yankees.
There have been many missed foul balls in MLB history. If there was a missed foul ball and on the next pitch, the batter hit a home run, the fielder who missing the ball isn't vilified for the rest of eternity for having missed the foul ball. But because of the "curse" of the goat for Cubs fans, Bartman became the perfect "scape goat", Strangely there was a happy ending. The Cubs finally won the WS and gave Bartman a WS Ring.