ESPN Bartman Doc Leads to Media Navel Gazing

By Chuck Sudo in News on Sep 27, 2011 9:05PM

After many delays ESPN is set to air Catching Hell, Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney's documentary on Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series and the fallout received by Steve Bartman for reaching out for that fateful foul ball.

As always when the name Bartman is evoked Our Town's media outlets rush to pound out more "who knew people would react like that?" articles with only a cursory mention of their participation in the scapegoating of Bartman. This time around, there's some genuine reflection to go with the navel gazing thanks largely in part because Gibney's deft direction throws it in their faces.

Sun-Times "Back in My Day" columnist Dave Hoekstra saw the film and appreciated the parallels between Bartman and former Cub and Red Sox Bill Buckner, who also had a fateful moment that, if things were different, could have lifted a so-called "curse" from a baseball club in the midst of a legendary World Series drought.

(Buckner, by the way, showed to be an amazing sport by sending up his butterfingers during the recently completed season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.)

As Hoekstra noted in his column, the Bright One was the first media outlet to publish Bartman's home address in an online article. Tribune columnist John Kass asked of Bartman in a column, “Do you realize what you have just done?”

The Tribune's K.C. Johnson looks at the amazing cocoon erected by Bartman friends, family and co-workers in the wake of that October night eight years ago. It's amazing that, in an age where we can have contact information at the click of a mouse, Bartman has become a recluse on the level of Greta Garbo or J.D. Salinger. Even more impressive: no one close to him has betrayed his trust.

Johnson also looks at some Cubs fans who were there that day and asks the one question all baseball fans, North or South side, should ask themselves before commenting on Bartman: "Would you reach out for the ball?"