Cubs Fan Has Money to Burn to Try to Strike Out the Jinx

Here’s one way to try to end the curse of the Chicago Cubs: Destroy the ball at the center of one of the team’s most heartbreaking defeats.

That’s exactly what Grant DePorter wants to do.

DePorter, a friend of Harry Caray and managing partner of the late broadcaster’s area restaurants, paid more than $106,000 at auction Friday for the ball that might have cost the Cubs a shot at the 2003 World Series.

The ball is to be destroyed in an act of exorcism. It is earmarked for death on Feb. 26, when the restaurant organizes a worldwide toast to Caray, who died in 1998.

DePorter plans to ask fans for ideas on how best to banish the ball.

“Harry Caray was a true Cubs fan, and we think he’d want us to do whatever we can to make it easier for fans to put this thing behind us,” he said.

Cubs fan Steve Bartman deflected the foul ball in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series on Oct. 14. The ball appeared to be headed for the glove of Cubs outfielder Moises Alou, but he was unable to catch it after it ricocheted off Bartman’s hand. The Florida Marlins rallied to win the game, and the Cubs then lost Game 7 and their chance to reach their first World Series since 1945.

“We want to create some closure to the way the season ended,” DePorter said. “We weren’t about to let it get into the hands of a Marlins fan.”

The ball was sold for $106,600, said Julie Stoklosa, spokeswoman for the Internet auction house MastroNet Inc. Thirty-seven bids had been made on the ball by the time the auction closed.

MastroNet said the seller was a 33-year-old Chicago attorney identified only as Jim. According to the company, he was sitting near Bartman and picked up the ball when it bounced his way.

The ball was authenticated using affidavits, ticket stubs and other information, MastroNet said.

DePorter said he was pleased that his bid surpassed that for the ill-fated baseball that skipped through Bill Buckner’s legs in the 1986 World Series, helping the New York Mets beat the Boston Red Sox. Actor Charlie Sheen paid $93,500 for that ball in a 1992 auction, and author Seth Swirsky bid $63,945 to acquire it in 2000.

“The Cubs fans’ sorrow is worth more than the Red Sox fans’ sorrow,” DePorter said.

DePorter said Bartman will be invited to attend when the ball is destroyed.

Bartman declined to comment through his spokesman, Jim O’Connor, who noted that Bartman has sought to avoid the limelight since the incident. He also said Bartman does not plan to attend the baseball-destroying event.

Cubs fan Pete Smolenski said that’s probably a good thing. “I don’t have anything against him, but others won’t be so forgiving,” he said Friday from Harry Caray’s restaurant.

As for the baseball, Smolenski suggested that it be used as a “flaming centerpiece” during the restaurant’s event.

“So it can be burnt to ashes,” he said.