The Bartman Game

October 14, 2003, Wrigley Field, National League Championship Series Game 6. The Cubs led the series three games to two and the game 3–0 in the eighth. Mark Prior was pitching. Five outs remained. Juan Pierre doubled. Luis Castillo, on a full count, fouled a ball down the left-field line. Moises Alou reached the wall. Several fans reached too. Steve Bartman, headphones on, eyes on the ball, deflected it. Left-field umpire Mike Everitt did not call interference. Alou slammed his glove.

Prior's next pitch was wild. Castillo walked. Ivan Rodriguez singled, and it was 3–1. Miguel Cabrera then hit a grounder to shortstop Alex Gonzalez, a tailor-made double play, and Gonzalez booted it. Derrek Lee doubled and the game was tied. The Marlins scored eight runs in the inning and won, 8–3. Five of those runs were unearned because of Gonzalez. Florida won Game 7 the next night.

Alou later said he did not believe the foul ball was fan interference. In 2016 the Cubs gave Bartman a World Series ring. The entry keeps his name because that is what the night was called. The play that actually reopened the inning was a baseball play: a shortstop missing a grounder with runners on first and second and one out.