The story of that poor ol’ Steve Bartman has been told and retold several times on several platforms.
So what will be different about the latest documentary, 5 Outs, which debuts tonight on Comcast SportsNet Chicago at 9 p.m. Central?
“We didn’t want to make this, Catching Hell, part 2,” said producer Ryan McGuffey, alluding to the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary “Sure, Steve Bartman is discussed, but it’s not the only thing that happened that year for the Cubs.”
Indeed, since the film is airing on a Chicago outlet, the story of the entire Cubs season is told, not just one game. Thanks to adding some critical pieces via mid-season trades, the 2003 Cubs were one of the more memorable teams in franchise history, as they came out of nowhere to win the National League Central title. At the time, it only was their third division championship in 44 years.
“There was so much chemistry,” said producer Sarah Lauch. “This team was lovable.”
The film chronicles the hiring of Dusty Baker in the fall of 2002, and the emergence of the 1-2 punch of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. It features interviews with all three key participants in the story and each was highly illuminating.
“Dusty told us he had only 5 minutes and he wound up doing 25 before he had to go out for the game,” McGuffey said.
The documentary also includes Sammy Sosa, rarely seen since his retirement from baseball. David Kaplan interviewed him on Oct. 4 in Florida, creating some last-minute editing for Lauch and McGuffey.
As usual, Sosa has one of the film’s better moments when he learns Moises Alou and Aramis Ramirez purchased tickets to return home to the Dominican Republic the day after Game 7 of the Florida. Sosa clearly was upset that his teammates appeared to have bailed on the Cubs.
The only person missing from the film is Alex Gonzalez, the shortstop who made the key error in the eighth. It is interesting considering Gonzalez did appear on a MLB Network show on Game 6.
Gonzalez should have been the goat, not Bartman. Alas, it is Bartman who remains the symbol of the team that was 5 outs away from the World Series.
The Bartman saga becomes the focus of the last part of the film. Again, the play is analyzed from many different angles. Steve Stone, who worked on Cubs radio for that game, noted Alou “doesn’t have many Gold Gloves in his trophy case.” So it hardly was a sure thing that he would have made the catch.
Among those who had the best view of the play was Ozzie Guillen, the third-base coach for the Marlins. The former Sox manager is terrific in adding his insights to not only that game, but the Cubs in general.
Indeed, this film is about the Chicago perspective of where the ’03 team and Game 6 fit in franchise history. Lauch said there was so much good material, the documentary stretched “from 30 minutes to 60 minutes to 90 minutes.”
The film closes with a wishful fantasy spin, with the former Cubs and others speculating on what Chicago will be like if they ever win the title. Kaplan talks of going to his father’s grave and saying, “They did it.”
The Cubs almost did it in 2003. But as we all know, they never got the five outs.
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I’ve always found it fascinating that a franchise would basically ‘celebrate’ for want of a better word, some of the most epic collapses in baseball history.
There’s a reason this franchise hasn’t won a World Series in over a century and never will…they seem to wear failures like 1969, 1984 and 2003 as badges of honor.
If I was a fan of that organization I’m be upset. Instead of trying to bury those choke-jobs they keep reminding everyone of them.
In the interest of full disclosure I’m a fan of a Chicago baseball team that actually GOT to a World Series and WON it.
You can be sure I’ll be watching Comcast Sports Chicago to see if in October 2015 they hype a documentary of a Chicago baseball team’s 10th anniversary of actually accomplishing something other than embarrassing themselves.
Remember Reinsdorf is one of the owners of CSN Chi. Count on a documentary.