Today I watched a documentary on youtube called Catching Hell. It's the story of the infamous game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship between the Chicago Cubs and the Florida Marlins. It's not the first time I watched this documentary. I've seen it on TV a few times before. I just wanted to write about it because I'm a huge fan of baseball and this remains a very controversial game today.
To any readers who don't follow baseball, let me explain the relevance of this particular game. The Chicago Cubs have a long history of losing. They havn't won a World Series since 1908. They were playing the Florida Marlins in the NLCS. they were winning the best of seven series 3 games to 2. If they won this game, they would go to the World Series. The Cubs were winning this game 3-0 going into the top of the 8th inning. they were 5 outs away from going to the World Series when the Marlins second baseman Luis Castillo stepped up to the plate. He hit a foul ball into the left field stands. The Cubs left fielder Moises Alou attempted to make a leaping catch, but a fan named Steve Bartman reached out and deflected the ball in an attempt to catch it. After this play the wheels fell off for the Cubs. The Marlins scored 8 runs that inning, won Game 6, and eventually won Game 7. Bartman quickly became the target of a lot of aggresion from angry fans. He got a lot of expletives screamed at him, death threats, etc.
Catching Hell was created by Alex Gibney who is a Boston Red Sox fan, So he made some interesting comparisons to Bill Buckner. The famous Red Sox first baseman who let a ground ball go through his legs that let the winning run score in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. If the Red Sox won that game they would've won their first World Series since 1918. I found those comparisons very interesting and they gave me goose bumps. I don't want to spoil too much in this review, but there are some odd coincidences that are mentioned about Bill Buckner who used to play for the Cubs before he was traded to the Red Sox. Overall this documentary was very informative. There are interviews with some fans who sat near Bartman and it's interesting to hear there side of the story.
This review wouldn't be complete without my opinion about this infamous play. I'm a die hard Milwaukee Brewers fan. I hate the Chicago Cubs. I was nine years old when this happened. The Brewers had a bad season and didn't make the postseason, so I was routing against the Cubs. I was very happy when the Cubs lost the series. I enjoyed every minute of their meltdown. That being said, The city of Chicago had absolultey no right to treat Bartman the way they did. The fans treated Bartman like he was Osama Bin Laden, or Adolf Hitler. for what? because he tried to catch a foul ball. Wrigley Field has no right to be called "The Friendly Confines" anymore. I do not believe Bartman is to blame at all for the Cubs downfall for 3 reasons. First of all. he wasn't the only person to reach for the ball. Secondly, the Cubs gave up 8 runs after that play. Bartman didn't give up the runs, The Cubs pitchers did. Lastly, even if Bartman did cause the Cubs to lose this game, he didn't lose the series for the Cubs he just forced a Game 7. The Cubs simply couldn't get it done. Bartman did what anybody else would've done. After all, It's every baseball fan's dream to catch a foul ball.
If you're a baseball fan, you need to watch this documentary. Even if you're not a Cubs or Marlins fan. This was part of the ESPN fiilms 30 for 30 that they did a couple years ago. They do air these documentaires from time to time so if you ever see it on the listings, I highly encourage you to watch it. You can also pick up the DVD on amazon for about 15 dollars. I give this documantary 4.8 out of 5 stars.
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