THE SCAPEGOAT

June 27, 2023

Good evening this is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball like Greg Maddux loves pranks.

Today’s story is about an innocent fan who became the most hated man in Chicago, overnight.

October 14, 2003 is one of the darkest days in Chicago sports history.

The Cubs were playing the Marlins in the NLCS, and they were up 3-2 in the series.

They returned home for Game 6 and carried a 3-0 lead into the eighth inning.

The Cubbies were five outs away from going to the World Series for the first time since 1945.

Luis Castillo hit a slicing foul ball down the left field line, and then this happened.

We all know the rest of the story: Wild pitch for ball four, base knock, error, another base knock, and by the time it was all over the Marlins had hung an 8-spot on Chicago.

The Cubs of course went on to lose Game 6 and 7.

And here’s the thing about baseball fans.

We’re generally more superstitious than the average human being.

So it didn’t help that the Cubs completely fell apart after the Bartman play.

But there was several opportunities to salvage this game.

No one even thought to blame Alex Gonzalez for missing this candy hop, which would've resulted in a double play.

The fans at Wrigley were literally chanting “asshole” at Steve Bartman after the incident happened.

But that was just the beginning.

As the Cubs proceeded to shit the bed and give up the game, the mob got increasingly more aggressive towards Bartman.

People threw beers, tried to get physical, and even shouted death threats at him.

It was so tense that Steve had to be escorted out of the ballpark disguised as a security guard.

So why did Bartman get blamed?

We can all agree that this play definitely changed the momentum in the game, and it certainly opened the door for the Marlins to come back, but everything that happened after the play is what made Steve Bartman's life a living hell for years to come.

First off, Moises Alou’s reaction to the situation did not help.

Because the play was so close and Alou's reaction was so theatrical, the network replayed the incident over and over.

So Bartman's face was all over TV.

At least initially, no one knew who he actually was, they had just seen his face.

Then the next day the Chicago Sun-Times put out Bartman’s full name, place of work, and the school where he coached baseball.

They even showed his parents’ house on the news.

Bartman, a diehard Cubs fan himself, was mortified by the possibility he had even done anything that could hurt Chicago's chances at winning a World Series.

He pretty much became a ghost after this incident, and he absolutely REFUSED to take advantage of the situation even though there were plenty of opportunities.

The infamous ball was sold to Harry Caray's restaurant by another fan for $100K.

It was blown up and boiled into spaghetti sauce for people to order.

Bartman was offered $25K for a single autograph and turned it down.

Then he was offered a six-figure sum to be in a Super Bowl commercial; he said no.

The Cubs had made several attempts to make amends with Bartman in the public eye, but it appeared he didn't want to subject himself to the attention.

Finally in 2016, the Cubs won the World Series, and in the ultimate gesture of forgiveness, they got Steve Bartman his very own ring.

Finally, the weight was lifted.

ICONIC LUMBER

I’m always adding to my memorabilia collection.

There’s just something special about owning a small piece of history.

When I’m looking for something to add to my collection, Steiner Sports is the first place I check - they have pretty much everything you can think of.

Lately, I’ve been eyeing a few autographed bats:

And it’s not just bats that are on sale tonight - everything on the site is 20% off.

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

“The Don of Dairy”

“The Buttery Bandit”

“The Sultan of Spread”

All of those nicknames are made up, but you can bet your ass I would’ve been using these if I was on Frank’s team.

Buttery played for the Middletown Mansfields back in 1872, and during his one year in the major leagues, he threw 59 innings.

His performance was nothing to write home about, but he definitely gets the credit for one of the most delicious last names in baseball history.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

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