Steve Bartman, perhaps the only person who came out of the Chicago Cubs’ disastrous 2003 visit to the postseason worse off than the Cubs themselves, will not be going to see the Cubs in this year’s Wild Card game.
Steve Bartman will not be attending the Cubs’ Wild Card game, thank you very much
Jon Durr/Getty Images
A GoFundMe raised more than $3,600 in his honor as of Saturday morning with the goal of buying Bartman a Wild Card ticket -- but a spokesman told ESPN that Bartman would not be attending.
“It’s nice of these people to think of Steve, but he won’t be taking advantage of the offer,” the spokesman, Frank Murtha, said. “He’s perfectly capable of attending the game on his own, though he has no intention of being at the Wild Card game.”
In 2003, Bartman attended Game 6 of the NLCS, when the Cubs faced the Marlins. While reaching for a foul ball, he seemed to prevent Cubs outfielder Moises Alou from making the catch and getting the out. Bartman was widely blamed for the Cubs’ subsequent collapse, inciting city-wide vitriol and forcing him to go into hiding.
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