To call Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster “Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster,” while true, is a bit limiting. He also keeps time full-time (and tours constantly) with Bob Mould and the Mountain Goats, contributes hilarity to The Best Show On WFMU With Tom Scharpling and maintains one of the most reliably funny Twitter feeds. Superchunk is on the road supporting its 10th LP, I Hate Music (Merge); while traveling from gigs to home and to more gigs, Wurster filled some rare empty space in his hectic schedule by guest editing magnetmagazine.com this week. Read our brand-new Q&A with him.
Wurster: In the summer of 1981, I gave up junior high school sports for the more exciting and equally lucrative world of drumming in rock bands. Ever since, I’ve had little to no interest in participating in or watching televised sports. Documentaries on sports? That’s a whole ‘nother thing. Since its debut in 2009, I’ve been addicted to ESPN’s 30 By 30 documentary series. My favorite is Catching Hell, a fascinating look at two brief incidents in pro baseball that forever altered the lives of two of their participants and turned them into loathsome scapegoats.
First up is Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner’s infamous ball-between-the-legs error in game six of the 1986 World Series vs. the New York Mets. While it’s indisputable that Buckner committed the error, what’s seldom discussed is that his mistake was just one in a series of blunders committed by other Red Sox players that were, if not as dramatic, equally as crucial to the Sox loss that night. (The Mets went on to win the final game of the series two nights later.) But it was Buckner whose successful multi-decade career was forever tarnished and whose name became synonymous with failure.
The other focal point of the documentary is Steve Bartman, a man described in Catching Hell as “the J.D. Salinger of Chicago Cubs fans.” Bartman’s fast track to infamy came during game six of the 2003 National League Championship Series between the Cubs and the Florida Marlins when he leaned over the leftfield rail and deflected a foul ball about to be caught by Cubs leftfielder Moises Alou. As with the Buckner play, Bartman’s interference was but one in a series of errors that added up to a loss. (Florida went on to win the series.) To Cubs fans, however, the 25-five-year-old Bartman was the sole reason the Cubs’ World Series hopes were dashed. And they wanted his blood.
The bulk of the film deals with Buckner and his family’s struggle to deal with the massive stigma of his blunder and Bartman’s amazing escape from Wrigley Field, his pursuit by the media and his Salinger-esque disappearance from the public eye. You’d be hard pressed to find a better documentary, sports or otherwise, dealing with disappointment, public shaming and forgiveness.
