Mark Prior, Sammy Sosa and the Cubs cruised into the eighth with a 3-0 lead, set to end their 58-year absence from the World Series. At that point, it was almost as if the baseball gods woke up and realized these were the Cubs.
What followed was a sudden collapse that would rival anything in the Cubs’ puzzling, painful past — and the emergence of baseball’s most infamous fan since Jeffrey Maier.
A 26-year-old wearing a Cubs hat prevented Alou from catching Luis Castillo’s ball down the left-field line.
“When it happened, Mark Redman said to me, `Let’s make this fan famous,’” Florida’s Derrek Lee said.
They did.
“You cost us the World Series!” one fan yelled at him.
