It's been ten years since Steve Bartman beat out the late Harry Caray to become the world's most famous Chicago Cubs fan, albeit for all of the wrong reasons, when he interfered with a foul ball that may have been caught by Cubs left fielder Moises Alou and became a lightning rod for years of pent up anger from Cubs fans after they blew a 3-0 lead and lost, according to the New York Times.
Bartman is far from the reason the Cubs lost that game, it was still just a foul ball and they had a 3-0 with only five outs left in the ball game, but he instantly became notorious as fans threw beer at him and he had to be escorted out of Wrigley Field that night.
Alou threw a fit after missing the foul ball and from that moment on everything became unhinged for the Cubs. Mark Prior ended up walking the Marlins' Louis Castillo, Dusty Baker left Prior in a bit too long and Alex Gonzalez booted what would have been an inning ending double play as the Cubs gave up eight runs in the eighth inning and lose Game Six of the NLCS. The next night they would squander another lead and end the team's best chance to make it to their first World Series since 1945, according to NBC News.
Immediately thereafter Barman came to symbolize everything about the 95 years (at the time) of failure the Cubs had endured. Two weeks later Steve Bartman became the most popular Halloween costume among White Sox and Cardinals fans; the two fan bases who love nothing more than to poke fun at the misery of Cub fans.
One thing that has made Steve Bartman such an intriguing figure is that in the ten years since Oct. 14 2003 he has yet to grant a single interview as he has turned down over 200 media requests, according to the New York Times.
"He's happy and healthy and he's still a Cubs fan," Frank Murtha, a friend of Bartman's, told the New York Times. "He values his privacy."
Of course, this date is remembered very differently in Chicago than it is in Miami. To Marlins fans today represents the tenth anniversary of the day they were five outs away from going home for the year before making an improbable comeback and ultimately beating the heavily favored New York Yankees to win the World Series, according to the Miami Sun-Sentinel.
