Documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney approaches Catching Hell and the Steve Bartman incident by revisiting the Bill Buckner error.

Steve Bartman had the unfortunate luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nobody could forget the sight of a Chicago Cubs fan wearing a green turtleneck, listening to headphones, and reaching out over the wall to try and catch a foul ball. Oh yeah, Moisés Alou just happened to be going for the ball. Bartman wasn’t the only fan trying to catch the ball. All the replay evidence on camera—yes, there’s quite plenty of replays—shows other fans in the area are trying catch the ball. Someone else ultimately left with the ball but Bartman gets the blame and later starts fearing for his life.

But as much as baseball fans remember the Steve Bartman incident, Miguel Cabrera hit what should have been an inning-ending double play on a ground ball to short stop Alex Gonzalez. Gonzalez closes his glove just a bit too early, loading the bases. The gloves came off from there with the Florida Marlins scoring eight runs in the eighth. But where’s the blame on Gonzalez in all of the commotion? All the attention and blame was falling onto Bartman, for better or worse. That definitely felt like the case for the Fox broadcasters Thom Brennaman, Steve Lyons, and Al Leiter. Lyons was even defending Bartman during Game 7!

Among those appearing in the documentary are broadcasters Bob Costas, Steve Lyons; Fox Sports producer Jeff Gowen; radio host Dave Kaplan; journalists Bob Ryan, Dan Shaughnessy, Ron Borges, Wayne Drehs, Jim Litke, Brian Hedger, John Kass; TV reporter Dane Placko; filmmaker Matt Liston; players Eric Karros, Moisés Alou, and Mike Lowell. Others appearing include fans, attorneys, and security guards working the game.

A coda to the whole incident is that the Chicago Cubs lifted the Bartman’s burden by offering him a World Series ring in summer 2017. In Bartman’s statement, he was relieved and glad to finally put the situation behind him.

You can read my full review on Dugout Dirt.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Alex Gibney

ESPN premiered Catching Hell on September 27, 2011. Grade: 4/5

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