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'No Steve Bartmans Allowed': Cubs Fans Cautiously Excited as Playoffs Loom

By Joe Ward | September 25, 2015 3:17pm | Updated on September 25, 2015 11:26pm
 Eric Brown (l.) and James Brown model their homemade T-shirts warning any Steve Bartman wannabes to stay away from Wrigley Field as the Cubs attempt to clinch a playoff birth Friday.
Eric Brown (l.) and James Brown model their homemade T-shirts warning any Steve Bartman wannabes to stay away from Wrigley Field as the Cubs attempt to clinch a playoff birth Friday.
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DNAinfo/Joe Ward

LAKEVIEW — The Chicago Cubs can clinch a playoff berth with a win today, and fans outside Wrigley Field aren't taking any chances.

By the entrance to the bleachers, cousins Eric and James Brown were seen in matching shirts, one red, one blue, both saying "No Steve Bartmans allowed!!" with a picture of the much-maligned Cubs fan who became infamous for fan interference in the 2003 playoffs.

"We're on Cubs playoff patrol," said James, pointing to the slogan on his back.

They were just two of the thousands of fans outside Wrigley early Friday, where a Cubs win would mark the franchise's first postseason birth in seven years.

While the Cubs lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2, Friday evening, the North Side team can still clinch if the San Francisco Giants lose their West Coast game which will end aroud midnight.

Fans were enthusiastic, but also a bit cautious. When asked what they thought about the team's chances this year, the cousins didn't want to talk about much beyond a potential one-game, wild card playoff.

"If we get a wild card game at home, then I think we'll go far," Eric said.

Cubs mania has settled in on the North Side. Tickets to a prospective wild card game are going for tens of thousands of dollars. Professional eaters have even attempted to eat their way out of the Cubs' longtime curse.

For some, this season's run has been electrifying, though some say the hysteria has been detrimental to the diehards of lesser means.


Jerry Pritikin, also known as the Bleacher Preacher, hopes a miracle will get him into Wrigley Field for a Cubs playoff game. [DNAinfo/Joe Ward]

Jerry Pritikin, for example, was in his usual "Bleacher Preacher" costume and was taking in the scene near the corner of Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue instead of inside the Friendly Confines: A combination of fan hysteria, neighborhood evolution and the Cubs' business decisions had priced him out of game tickets many years ago.

"I can't afford to go to games anymore," said the self-professed diehard.

Still, there is no one more excited about a potential Cubs playoff run than Pritkin, he said.

His first game at Wrigley was in 1945, a few months before the Cubs clinched the pennant and went to the World Series. Then 8 years old, Pritkin asked his dad if they could go to a World Series game, but his dad told him he was too young, Pritkin said.

All these years later, Pritikin still hasn't had a chance to see the Cubs in the World Series.

"For 70 years, I've been waiting to get to the promised land," Pritikin said.

As for the current team and its chances at a successful playoff run, Pritikin said he thinks a playoff stint could be in the cards, if not this season then soon down the line.

Then, in creeped a little bit of self-loathing and doubt many Cubs fans know all too well, as Pritkin doubted he would ever make it in inside Wrigley for a World Series game.

"I've got a bit of a Moses complex," he said. "He never got to the promised land, and I'm afraid I won't either."

 

The Cubs and Wrigley Field are 95 percent owned by a trust established for the benefit of the family of Joe Ricketts, owner and CEO of DNAinfo.com. Joe Ricketts has no direct involvement in the management of the iconic team.

 

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