SportsBuy.com and the National Sports Collectors Convention are offering $25,000 -- a briefcase with 250 $100 bills inside -- to infamous Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman if he attends the show and signs a single autograph.
Bartman, for those not cursed by Cubs history, is the fan who reached out for a foul ball during the eighth inning of Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, a ball that could have been caught for an out by left fielder Moises Alou. Instead, the Cubs blew a 3-0 lead, lost the game and their chances at going to the World Series vanished with a Game 7 loss to the Florida Marlins.
To collect the cash, all Bartman has to do is show up at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill., at 1 p.m. on July 31, prove his identity and sign a photograph of the infamous play. It will then be auctioned on the Web site with the proceeds going to a Chicago-based charity, according to a news release for the event.
"No one in sports memorabilia history has ever been paid $25,000 to sign one autograph -- not Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, or any other athlete,” said Mike Berkus, co-Executive Director of The National. "Steve Bartman has been a recluse for years, but we’re hopeful that he will accept our invitation and generous offer to appear ... We have personal security to provide to Steve at The National and to a destination of his choosing.”
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