Alou Admits He Wouldn't Have Caught Bartman Ball

[Dmiles23]

Alou now admits he wouldn't have caught the infamous Bartman Ball. What a jerk! Why wait 5 years to admit this will all Bartman has gone though.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Cubs fans are fine upstanding folks. Look for a Steve Bartman day at Wrigley soon to give them a chance to apologize to the guy.

[saget]

Why did he throw a temper-tantrum on the field then? He lies!

[PeaveyFury]

Alou should seriously buy Bartman a beer or something.

[RU Rah Rah]

I hate stuff like this. It's as though he thinks he's a magnanimous guy for admitting that he's a liar -- five years after the fact. According to the story, Alou said immediately after the game:

 

"I timed it perfectly, I jumped perfectly. I'm almost 100 percent that I had a clean shot to catch the ball. All of a sudden, there's a hand on my glove."

 

At the time, I guess it was easier to point the finger at a fan than at his teammates for choking.

[LouisEly]

Alou should buy Bartman a beer, alright.

 

And Bartman should dump it on Alou's head. Alou is a horse's behind for helping put this guy through so much afterwards.

[BuckyBrewer61]

My reaction when I heard this was that, years later, Alou is just trying to put it in the past. Either he wants to make it seem like Bartman didn't do anything wrong so that people get off his case, or he's just sick of talking about it. I doubt he really thinks he wouldn't have caught it and has just been lying for years...what would be the point? Obviously way too late to matter as Bartman is now, and will always be, Chicago's version of Bill Buckner (sad given that he was just a fan...). Maybe I'm just naive, but I think it's just an attempt to end the ridiculous talk about that stupid ball and an innocent bystander.

[dadofandrew]

Alou was trying to get an interference call. However, replays seemed to show that Alou was not very close, and that if Bartman doesn't touch it, one of several others do. Why these facts were ignored is beyond me.

[Bernman23]

I always thought it was pretty obvious Alou wouldn't have caught that baseball. Alou has had multiple leg injuries over the years. He's wasn't near the athlete he was earlier in his career. The ball was traveling towards the stands over a railing (and as a result Bartman had every right to the baseball) that sat rather high off the ground. Alou's glove wasn't ever that close to the ball actually. No chance. Cub fans were just looking for a scapegoat.

[brewcrewkid14]

Alou was trying to get an interference call. However, replays seemed to show that Alou was not very close, and that if Bartman doesn't touch it, one of several others do. Why these facts were ignored is beyond me.

 

It's because they're Cubs fans looking for excuses. It's what they do best.

[AdvantageSchneider]

I read tht, but I assumed it was an April fools story, designed to torment cubs fans.

[Gobias Industries]

If you saw the replay and you have a brain in your head you knew Alou wasn't catching that ball.

[pitchleague]

just a couple of issues ago, the ESPN magazine had a small Bartman article. In it, the great RYNE SANDBERG even admitted that the Cubs and their fans needed to drop and (get this) even HE would have gone for the ball if he was in those seats.

 

Can you imagine if it really was Sandberg instead of Mr. Bartman? Wow! It just blows my mind.

[Gopher74]

Alou was trying to get an interference call. However, replays seemed to show that Alou was not very close, and that if Bartman doesn't touch it, one of several others do. Why these facts were ignored is beyond me.

I don't know why you think it was not very close. Alou's glove looked like it would have at least hit the ball.

 

It is very true that if it had not been for Bartman that several other Cubs fans would have touched it. What's also forgotten is that this was Game 6, I don't believe that a run had scored yet, Alex Gonzalez had an error after that, the Cubs gave up several hits, and they lost game 7.

 

But hey, it's easier to blame Bartman. Poor bastard.

 

[cubfan1126]

How about letting a real Cub fan chime in here?

 

At the time of the play, I was furious. But probably because of Alou's reaction more than anything else. I settled down when I realized that Bartman did nothing more than what I would have done. Why weren't the palyers in the bullpen yelling for the fans to back off. Real Cub fans do NOT blame Bartman. Real Cub fans blame Alex Gonzalez who booted an easy double play ground ball 1 batter later. The guy made 10 errors all season but had to make one at a critical juncture in game 6. Real Cub fans blame Dusty Baker for not settling down Mark Prior who had been cruising along until then. Real Cub fans blame the entire team for not being able to hold a 2 run lead in game 7. Bartman remains an issue because other teams' fans, media, and not-real Cub fans won't drop it.

[yfinn6]

If Alou doesn't flip his lid then we would have never even known who Steve Bartman is.

[Fear The Chorizo]

If anyone should buy Bartman a beer/give him a million bucks, it's probably Alex Gonzalez, the Cubs SS in 2003. After that foul ball play, a walk and a single to make the game 3-1, slow-footed Miguel Cabrera hit a potential double play ball right at Gonzalez - it was the Sunday hop of all Sunday hops...and he completely booted it. They turn that double play and they're out of the inning with giving up just one run, and probably win the game and series.

 

It shocks me to this day that his name isn't brought up much at all.

[jimmyjeromehardy7]

Alou was trying to get an interference call. However, replays seemed to show that Alou was not very close, and that if Bartman doesn't touch it, one of several others do. Why these facts were ignored is beyond me.

The facts were ignored because it was easier to blame one guy than a team of chokers.

[Tbadder]

The thing is, I don't believe Alou. I think he could have caught it.

[cubfan1126]

Tbadder that is correct. He could have caught, there was no guarantee. Enlarge the picture in this article and take a look at the inset. His glove is right there but it is directly over the wall and railing. It was not a sure thing. I do not blame Bartman. I'm glad I'm not the guy that was in those seats cause I would have been reaching for the ball too.

[PlayerHader]

Man, I can't believe this is even news. I thought this was some April Fools thing, and still thought so most of the way through the article.

[jazzytrav]

I've never really been a big Mariotti fan, but I rather enjoyed that article. Especially this part:

 

Let's pause 10 seconds for a collective primal scream in Cubdom.

[jimmyjeromehardy7]

Alou "You know what the funny thing is?" - Yea its really funny that you caused someone to basically disappear for the past 4.5 years. HAHA

[SeriesFinale]

At the time of the play, I was furious. But probably because of Alou's reaction more than anything else.

Wait, are you saying you were furious at Bartman, or Alou?

 

Fact of the matter, it wasn't Alou or Alex Gonzalez who had objects thrown at him, had to be escorted out of Wrigley, and had death threats made against them for weeks if not months afterwards. Some of those people had to be "real" Cubs fans.

[Jubes4025]

Good video about the Bartman incident.