Five Outs Away, Five Years Later

It was five years ago last night that the Cubs were leading the Florida Marlins 3-0 with one out in the eighth inning of game six of the National League Championship Series; five outs away from their first NL pennant and World Series appearance since 1945. Then the Bartman Incident happened.

But it was two innings earlier when I learned something about Perspective. Something I guess I'd always known, but a profound reinforcement of What Really Matters.

That night, during the top of the sixth inning, our pediatrician called. Earlier in the summer of 2003, we noticed a lump on our then-two-year-old son Andy (then only four months old) had a regular check-up scheduled during the day and my wife took both boys so they could get their flu shots and have the pediatrician take a closer look at Mitch's neck.

The doctor decided to do some bloodwork and send it to the lab for an immediate work-up. We weren't sure how to take this. Had she seen something she didn't like or was she just doing it to ease our minds as quickly as possible?

So when the phone rang that night and I saw it was the doctor calling back with the lab results, I tensed up a bit before answering. Everything was as it should be and the bump was indeed nothing more than a reactive lymph node.

I like to think I approach things with a pragmatic "hope for the best, prepare for the worst" philosophy, due in no small part I'm sure to a lifetime of Cubs baseball. But now that I'm a parent, "the worst" is something I don't like to think about. Ever. The Cubs finding new and bizarre ways to break my heart really is less than trivial compared to what could have awaited me on the other end of that phone call.

That's why, after hanging up and feeling a sense of relief like I'd never felt before, I thought to myself, if the Cubs manage to go ahead and lose the next two games of this series, so what? I'd gladly make that trade again. But I still feel bad for Steve Bartman.