The Fish that gets away

Only five outs separate the Chicago Cubs from reaching the World Series 21 years ago today as they hold a 3-0 lead over Florida with one out in the top of the eighth inning in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field.

Then comes on a fateful foul pop fly by Luis Castillo down the left-field line that Cubs All-Star outfielder Moises Alou seems ready to catch, only to have a longtime Chicago fan named Steve Bartman unwittingly write himself into the team's mostly tragic history by reaching for the ball and deflecting it away from Alou.

Castillo then walks and the Marlins end up scoring eight runs before the end of the inning, winning the game 8-3 to tie the NLCS at three games apiece before beating the Cubs 9-6 the next day to advance to the 2003 World Series.

“I timed it perfectly,” Alou says after the stunning 8-3 loss in front of a Tuesday night crowd of 39,577 in Chicago.

“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.”

Um, that would be Bartman’s hand.

“Hopefully,” Alou says of Bartman in 2003, “he won’t have to regret it for the rest of his life.”

Well, not for all of his life, but Bartman takes years before returning to Wrigley after that ignominious moment in 2003.

As for the Cubs, they finally win the World Series eight years ago in 2016 – their first World Series title since, oh, 1908.

Turns out that Alou, a few years before the Cubs finally win, confesses that he really has little chance of catching the ball hit by Castillo 21 years ago tonight in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS.

“Everywhere I play, even now, people still yell, ‘Bartman! Bartman!’ I feel really bad for the kid,” Alou tells the Associated Press in 2008, the year he retires.

“You know what the funny thing is? I wouldn’t have caught it anyway.”

Worry not for Bartman. Turns out, the Cubs after winning the title in 2016 present the much-maligned Bartman with a World Series ring.