Before Bartman there was Glenn Close

Yeah, I'm writing about The Natural again.
Sue me.

Remember the great scene when Roy Hobbs is in a huge slump and heads to Chicago? Glenn Close, who played his childhood sweetheart stands up in the crowd. Roy sees her, with the sun behind her creating a halo effect.

Then he hit a home run right through the clock in the centerfield fence and the Knights went on a big winning streak.

It's a great scene in a great movie.

But it doesn't take into account that Glenn Close was a Chicago fan who helped the Cubs lose AT Wrigley Field.

SOUND FAMILIAR???

She was the Steve Bartman of The Natural!

If she sat her butt down and didn't have her hat become a halo and remind Roy Hobbs of the promise of his youth and the purity of his natural abilities then he probably would have struck out and the Cubs would have won.

Remember The Natural takes place in 1939, a year AFTER the Cubs won the pennant. Now I grant you I can't take the time line TOO literally. There was no team called the Knights. (I wondered if there was a team called the Giants in The Natural's universe.)

But if the Cubs won the pennant that year, who knows? Maybe in the The Natural's universe they could have won the World Series and in that parallel existence there would be no Curse of the Billy Goat.

Would Cub fans turn on Glenn Close as they turned on as they turned on Bartman?

Would some Cub fans boil a rabbit on HER stove?

Of course they shouldn't blame HER. It was the pitcher who let up a meat ball of a pitch to Roy Hobbs!

But then again, they shouldn't have blamed Bartman either.

I said that already.

Enjoy the scene from the movie...