Cubs World Series parade won't be attended by Steve Bartman
CHICAGO -- Cubs fans are expected to pack downtown Chicago to celebrate the team’s first World Series title in 108 years, but one infamous fan won’t be among them.
Steve Bartman has confirmed through a spokesman that he won’t be at the victory parade or rally.
Frank Murtha tells USA Today that Bartman “was overjoyed that the Cubs won” on Wednesday night to clinch the Series, but that he doesn’t “want to be a distraction” to the team’s accomplishments.
Bartman vanished from public view after interfering with a foul ball during the National League Championship Series in 2003.
The Cubs were five outs away from reaching the World Series at the time. Bartman became a pariah in Chicago after the Cubs went on to lose the game and the series to the Marlins.
Friday’s events get underway at Wrigley Field with the parade leaving the historic ballpark at 10 a.m. The parade will wind its way downtown an hour later and end in Grant Park for a rally expected to start around noon.
The city also plans to dye the Chicago River blue to honor the team, similar to how the river goes green annually for St. Patrick’s Day.
A victory party is new territory for long-suffering fans of the Cubs, who hadn’t won a World Series title in 108 years before their Game 7, extra-inning thriller in Cleveland on Wednesday night. The last time the Cubs even reached the Fall Classic was in 1945.
It’s unclear how many people will attend Friday’s parade and rally. The city estimates that 2 million people attended similar events in 2015, after the Chicago Blackhawks won their third Stanley Cup in six years - but generations of Cubs fans have a lot of pent-up celebrating to do.
Friday was already a scheduled day off for Chicago Public Schools, meaning the city’s 390,000 public-school students will be able to attend.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has declared Friday as “World Champion Chicago Cubs Day” statewide.
