Steve Bartman and Jeffrey Maier committed basically the same act. Sure, one hurt the home team while the other helped it, but both still committed fan interference. And yet, one has had to go into hiding and the other is a folk hero. Hell, MLB has no problem romanticizing Maier’s illegal involvement in a playoff game.
On the other hand, Bartman can’t catch a break nearly 18 years after his mistake. It is kind of like Batman, Superman or most other superheroes. When they kill or hurt someone, it’s fine because they are good. But when a villain does the same thing, everyone agrees that it’s bad. The difference is always intent. Heroes have good intentions and villains have evil ones.
However, the intent of Maier and Bartman was exactly the same. They both wanted a baseball. Neither one was thinking about if their actions were going to help or hurt the team. There was no thought at all. Bartman leaning over the rail at Wrigley Field and Maier sticking his glove out over the Yankee Stadium wall were each instinctual.
Everyone is familiar with the story of Bartman although it is always told through the eyes of other. Maier has got to create his own narrative. To this day, he is profiting off his actions through selling memorabilia and doing speaking gigs. It’s total bullshit.
More Baseball: Walt “Three Blind” Weiss, the ballplayer who gave us all hope
Helping the home team
Jeffrey Maier benefited from what might be one of the most horrendous calls in baseball history. The outfield umpire is Richie Garcia who you can see sprinting down the right field line after Derek Jeter made contact. It is clear that he is tracking the ball in the air while running, so he seems to be aware of what’s happening.
The umpire then disappears from the screen, not reappearing until Tony Tarasco confronts him. Garcia passionately upholds his botched call which simultaneously delights the Yankee Stadium crowd and infuriates the entire Baltimore Orioles roster. However, Garcia admitted his mistake the following day, although he refused to admit that Tarasco would have caught the ball.
“I feel really bad about it. I don’t think that play cost the game anymore than the fly ball hit to left field in the first inning. There were nine innings in the game, and that’s part of the game. I feel bad about it, I don’t feel responsible [for Orioles’ losing]. I saw it in my dreams. I went out of my room and picked up the paper, and there it was. Obviously, it’s a picture, and the picture makes it a whole lot worse,” Garcia told Buster Onley, who was working for the Baltimore Sun at the time.
Here’s the thing. If Garcia gets the call correct and dings Maier for fan interference, that kid probably doesn’t make it out of Yankee Stadium alive. Not only does he get bailed out by an incompetent decision but becomes a hero because of it. That is wildly unfair.
More Dingers: Crazy facts about home run hitters in 1996
The joy of youth
Jeffrey Maier was extremely lucky he was a 12-year-old kid when this happened. A big part of the narrative of the time was “boys will be boys” and his actions were somehow quaint. It was this weird, feel-good story everywhere in America outside of Baltimore.
But what if Maier and that dude in the white hoody switched places? There is something infinitely less charming about a buzzed New Yorker interfering in a professional sporting contest. There is no way that guy becomes a legend. He’s most likely asked to leave the stadium before the game ends.
That’s one of most peculiar things about the Maier story. He was on all the talk shows, got a ton of attention and was celebrated. But had anyone over the age of 21 leaned over the wall and interfered, they wouldn’t be going on the Today show.
Since the New York Yankees won the game, they probably wouldn’t have gotten the Bartman treatment either. However, they would not get the 15-minutes of fame like Maier did.
90s Baseball: Chan Ho Park tries to fight
Jeffrey Maier aftermath
People were quick to blame Steve Bartman for the Chicago Cubs losing Game 6 to the Florida Marlins in 2003. The reality was Chicago had like a million other chances to win the NLCS after that. It was a similar story for the Orioles. Derek Jeter’s home run that had an assist from Maier only tied the game. The Yankees went on to win the game in 11 innings.
But Baltimore won Game 2 of the 1996 ALCS. Of course, they did lose the next three games to a New York team that was vastly superior to them. There is always some opining, especially in Maryland, about what would have happened had the Orioles not lost Game 1.
The reality is that it is hard to envision Baltimore advancing to the 1996 World Series, regardless of Maier’s fan interference. Even if New York went to Baltimore down 0-2, they were still more than talented enough to take the series. The only difference is it would have taken six games and not five.
As for Maier, he’s lived a pretty sweet life all things considered. At least when compared to the hell Bartman had to go through. For starters, he got to meet Jeter ahead of spring training in 1997 and received some swag from the shortstop.
“[Jeter] signed a ball for me that said, ‘To Jeff, thanks a lot. – Derek Jeter. And he signed a glove that Mizuno had sent me, because Mizuno had gotten a lot of attention because the glove I used [during Game 1] was a Mizuno glove. He signed that and that still sits and resides in our basement as well as a picture I have with him,” Maier told Yahoo in 2020.
He also played baseball in college, had several cool internships in baseball after graduating and is the New York Times’ go-to interview anytime there is fan interference that involves a kid. Not a bad life.
However, the only real difference between Steve Bartman and Jeffrey Maier is luck. They both did the exact same thing in the exact same setting. A terrible call and the fact Maier was 12 made his actions okay. Fate was not as kind to the turtleneck wearing 30-something.
