We have come upon the 10th anniversary of the infamous Cub meltdown in the 2003 NLCS.
The Cubs were five outs away from going to the World Series for the first time since 1945. Wrigley Field and the surrounding streets were packed with fans. The Cubs took an early lead in Game 6, with rookie Mark Prior mowing down the Marlins. Then in the 8th inning, myth and aghast took over.
ESPN showed its 2003 special last night, and ComcastSports Chicago will show their special tonight.
The direct consequence of these specials and other media coverage is that myth will continue to overshadow the reality of that series and the alleged fan interference play.
There was no fan interference. The biggest part of the myth is that there was fan interference on a fly ball. There was an umpire less than 10 feet away from the play, looking directly at it, and he did not call fan interference. By rule, a fan interference on a fly ball in the field of play would have resulted in the batter being called out. Since that did not occur, the fact is that no fan interference happened on that play.
However, Moises Alou's temper tantrum incited the crowd. Alou was never a great defensive left fielder. By all agreements, he was below average. It would have been a difficult catch for a better outfielder. His arm was bent with his glove over the wall. He even admits that "six arms" were reaching for the ball, not just one fan in head phones. The ball did not land on the field of play but into the front row seats, where another fan got the ball. Steve Lyons on the Fox broadcast telestrated that there were about six fans reaching for the ball, which was natural, normal occurrence. It was a historic playoff game so fans were on their feet. Eric Karros, the Cub first baseman, thought nothing about the play, until he saw Alou's reaction. That got Prior to point down the line for umpire assistance. Manager Dusty Baker popped his head out of the dugout, but did nothing to calm the situation. Rightfielder Sammy Sosa would later remark the Alou reaction got the team unfocused for the rest the game.
Prior had thrown more than 112 pitches at that time. Suddenly, there was a "incident" that caused the place to change its vibe. Broadcaster Steve Stone believes today that even though Prior was pitching well, someone from the bench, the manager or pitching coach, needed to go out to the mound and get the team back on the same page. That was not done. The lack of team focus became apparent shortly thereafter when shortstop Alex Gonzalez booted a routine ground ball which opened the flood gate for an 8 run Marlin inning.
The Wrigley crowd turned into a stunned lynch mob against the fan who did nothing wrong. For those who still believe to this day that "fan interference" cost the Cubs a championship are still fooling themselves. The Cubs LOST three games in a row to lose that NLCS. The Cubs were up 3-1 in the Marlin series. The Cubs hosted Game 7. The Cubs were leading the Marlins 5-3 going into the 5th inning (18 outs from the World Series). What most people forget is that Kerry Wood walked the pinch hitter (9th spot in the order) to lead off that inning. Then the Marlins formidable lineup of Pierre, Castillo, I. Rodriguez, Cabrera, Lee and Lowell clipped Wood for 3 runs in that inning that gave the Marlins and the lead they held to the end.
The incident in Game 6 played no part in the Cubs Game 7 loss. Or if it did, it was on the Cub players like Alou and Aramis Ramirez, who after Game 6, booked a flight home to the Dominican Republic to leave after Game 7. Some people would say that showed a lack of confidence or heart when players have checked out on the season with an important game to play. There were plenty of other instances where Baker mismanaged games. He did not trust his bullpen so he rode his starters. He did not manage Game 7 like a Game 7, win or go home, when he left Wood to struggle in the important, game changing 5th inning. The bottom line is that the players did not perform as well as the Marlins in crunch time. But instead of accepting the blame for their failure, the Cubs, including Baker, pointed the finger at one fan, forever seizing on a scapegoat to deflect criticism.
A scapegoat is an innocent victim who is used to absolve others of their misdeeds. If one goes back to 2004, you can begin to see the sea change of fan emotions toward their lovable Cubs. The curse began to turn into curses. High expectations for the Cubs did not pan out. In 2004, the Cubs for the most part were not very likeable. They groused about their broadcasters, they made excuses in losses. They began to underperform. As a result, some fans began to feel regret over the Game 6 incident.
So the Cub myth of the Billy Goat curse had morphed into a media circus about a fan scapegoat costing the team a championship. And this attention to find a scapegoat continues on. During the final stages of the Tribune era, fans were constantly on Alfonso Soriano. He was supposed to win championships. Despite being the best player on the team, he was the scapegoat when the Piniella Cubs laid a goose egg in two post-season appearances. The whole situation wore Piniella out to the point of early retirement. Soriano, and his large contract, was blamed by fans for the Cubs sudden fall from winning to perpetual losers. The team could not make any moves because of the budget constraints of Soriano's deal. This is also a myth, because an owner can authorize as much spending as he wants in baseball. It was a convenient trap by the new owner to decrease payroll which he called "unsustainable" while at the same time diverting family resources to massive real estate projects around Wrigley Field.
A scapegoat takes attention away from the real problems. No matter what the front office says, Dale Sveum was the scapegoat for the team's poor performance for the last two years. Sveum was hired because he was a hitting coach; he played the major league infield position; he was supposed to be a good instructor-teacher for the young players. The Plan was to eventually seed the roster with homegrown minor league talent. But the whole "plan" assumes that the organization has the minor league scouting and development gurus to make that happen. Since Castro and Rizzo regressed badly this last season, and fans readily saw this fact, something had to give in order to deflect decreasing ticket sales and to try to capture waning fan interest while the rebuild stalls.
Scapegoats are now part of the Cub legacy. It is not a kind way of running a sports franchise.
