Rozner: New chapter in a foul Chicago Cubs saga

On a day when baseball should have been focused on the trade deadline, when a few teams got considerably better and at least one failed miserably, the big story was somehow about a foul ball that occurred 14 years ago.

Strange.

The Chicago Cubs had previously gone out of their way to not go out of their way, to deny the existence of a story by giving it no meaning — because it had no meaning.

The innocent victim who deserved none of what he got had managed to stay alive and out of the limelight, despite the media's insistence that he somehow remain part of a World Series story.

But now the Cubs have brought him back to forefront with an entirely magnanimous gesture, giving him a title ring and allowing all of Chicago and Cubs fans worldwide to forgive him.

Thing is, he didn't need forgiveness.

The foul ball had nothing to do with the eighth inning of Game 6 in the 2003 NLCS.

Must we place this case before judge and jury yet again?

The Cubs had a 3-0 lead going into eighth at Wrigley Field that night, but Mark Prior at 95 pitches was on fumes and Dusty Baker had no one up in the pen, when most managers would have had their closer ready to get six outs and head for the World Series.

At that moment, you wondered about those extra 2 innings and 43 pitches Prior threw in a Game 2 massacre of the Marlins when he could have departed after 5 innings, on top of the heaviest workload of his young life.

With one out and one on, a foul ball eluded Moises Alou. He threw a fit and Baker jumped up and down, leaving a shocked Prior to twist in the wind.

Luis Castillo walked on a 3-2 pitch, Prior hung an 0-2 breaking ball to Pudge Rodriguez, and Alex Gonzalez butchered a perfect double-play ball that would have ended the inning.

A foul ball? Why, for the love of Steve Dillard and all that's holy, was anyone talking about a foul ball?

Only 3-for-26 in the NLCS, Derrek Lee hammered the first pitch (No. 119) for a double, tying the game.

Only then did Baker go get Prior, the horse having fled 15 minutes earlier with the barn door busted to pieces.

Kyle Farnsworth's first 4 pitches were an intentional walk — always a good idea — and Jeff Conine's sac fly brought home the go-ahead run, as Sammy Sosa's throw landed on Clark Street, the runners moving up and forcing another intentional walk.

Mike Mordecai emptied the bases with a double, and a basehit off Mike Remlinger made it 8-3.

At least closer Joe Borowski was finally warming up.

A foul ball?

Said Prior, “Everybody in the clubhouse and management knows that play is not the reason we lost the game.”

Baker, however, mentioned “fan interference” three times in his postgame excuse session, though Alou admitted after the game that he had overreacted on the field.

In 2008, Alou told The Associated Press, “You know what the funny thing is? I wouldn't have caught it anyway.”

The Cubs had another chance but also lost Game 7 with an equally exhausted Kerry Wood on the hill.

A foul ball?

Never in sports has such a ridiculous story had such legs, a canard furthered by a manager who had more to do with that horrific defeat than any person associated with that game.

No, the foul-ball fan's name has never been mentioned in this space in 14 years and, well, there seems no good reason to mess with a streak now.

And yet, here we are again, arguing the merits of a case that should have never gone before the bench.

It's just odd that it's back in full view, and a man who protected so closely his privacy until now has placed himself back in the public eye by accepting a gift and issuing a statement asking again for all to respect the privacy he just surrendered.

One should assume the Cubs were meaning only to be generous, and you can't blame a lifelong fan for accepting a once-in-a-millennium gift as a gesture of forgiveness.

Just not sure why it was necessary when the man did not seek, or need, absolution.

Rather than bring closure, it is again a huge national yarn and the video was seen millions more times Monday.

The more you think it will go away, the more it returns.

As stories go, they just don't come much stranger.

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.