The 20th anniversary of the Alex Gonzalez Game is upon us, though few Chicago Cubs fans refer to it as that.

Gonzalez, the former shortstop who booted a potential double-play ball that contributed to an epic Cubs collapse in Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series, was fortunate enough to find cover under the dropped foul ball by a fan that preceded his error.

Ditto pitcher Mark Prior and the rest of the ‘03 Cubs who helped fritter away a three-run, eighth-inning lead on Oct. 14, 2003, and then failed to get the job done in Game 7. Manager Dusty Baker and pitching coach Larry Rothschild dodged most, but not all, of the finger-pointing as well.

Steve Bartman famously took the fall, disappeared for 13 years, returned to accept a World Series ring from the Cubs, then went back into hiding for the last seven years. His face has not been on the internet, to anyone’s knowledge, and he has not profited off his moment of infamy.

While his story has been told in an ESPN documentary, alluded to in a PlayStation ad and rehashed in numerous newspaper articles over the last two decades, including a 10-year anniversary piece I wrote for the Tribune in 2013, Bartman has refused to talk.

Only on occasions such as this does his attorney and family friend, Frank Murtha, spring into action to reiterate that Bartman has nothing to say about that day or his life.

Murtha thought it would be over by now but admits he was wrong. The legend continues. You have to credit Bartman for staying underground after a life-changing event he easily could have cashed in on and for overcoming an ugly reaction from die-hard Cubs fans upset that their team blew a chance at the World Series.

Former Marlins outfielder Juan Pierre, who was on second base at the time, told me 10 years ago that the team thought nothing of the foul ball at the time.

“I saw where someone in the dugout said ‘Hey, let’s make this guy famous,’ ” Pierre said. “But I didn’t hear that. I definitely feel bad for him.”

Bartman did become famous, which might not have happened had the Cubs gotten their act together and held on in Game 6 or won Game 7 to make it a moot point.

But those things didn’t happen, and you can’t change history. Still, you can look back at the facts and change the narrative, which a popular TV show recently did.

So I had to ask Murtha if Bartman had seen a particular episode of “The Bear,” a Hulu show about a Chicago man named Carmy, played by Jeremy Allen White, who took over the family’s restaurant after his older brother committed suicide.

“I don’t know if he does, and I didn’t hear anything about it,” Murtha said. “But it’s not like I have search engines covering everything in the world.”

I have to believe Bartman has at least been informed of a scene that mentions his incident in a profane and hilarious conversation between two of the main characters.

In the episode, a grizzled businessman called Uncle Jimmy (played by Oliver Platt) gives an impassioned speech about the hazards of the industry, using the Bartman episode as a metaphor.

“Do you remember Alex Gonzalez, shortstop for the Cubs?” Uncle Jimmy says.

“Um, no, no, I don’t think so,” Carmy replies.

“Right, and it’s a shame you don’t think so,” Uncle Jimmy says. “But I’m going to explain why you don’t think so.”

Uncle Jimmy goes on to explain the circumstances of the Game 6 loss, calling the grounder to Gonzalez an “easy grab, no (bleeping) brainer kind of thing” that led to the Cubs falling “apart at the seams.”

When Carmy asks himself out loud why he doesn’t remember Gonzalez, Uncle Jimmy delves into the earlier play of the fly ball down the left-field line that a fan dropped as left fielder Moises Alou approached the wall.

Carmy quickly realizes he was referring to Bartman, and he nods knowingly. Uncle Jimmy tells him the reason he couldn’t remember Gonzalez’s name was because “everybody and their mother wants to blame the (bleeping) guy instead of the actual (bleeping, bleeping bleeps) who (bleeped) it up.”

Those bleeping bleeps, of course, were the rest of the Cubs.

The scene was perfectly written and well-acted and might have been the best defense I’ve ever heard of Bartman’s accidental appearance in Cubs lore. Kudos to “The Bear” for giving Bartman’s side after all these years.

Most Cubs fans have come around to Bartman’s side, realizing he was just an unlucky person sitting in the unlucky seat where Luis Castillo’s fly ball would land. But that doesn’t mean his name won’t be remembered long after Gonzalez and the other Cubs who contributed to the loss are forgotten.

The Cubs tried to make amends in 2017 when they gave Bartman a 2016 World Series ring, whether it was done with good intentions or just virtue signaling to show what benevolent guys they are.

Bartman and Murtha drove to Chairman Tom Ricketts’ office to pick up the ring with president of business operations Crane Kenney and president of baseball operations Theo Epstein also in the room.

That was supposed to bring closure to the incident, and to some extent it did.

Bartman issued a statement that day expressing his “heartfelt thanks” to Ricketts, Kenney, Epstein and the entire Cubs organization,” calling the gesture “the start of an important healing and reconciliation process for all involved.” Bartman mentioned his wish was to “prevent harsh scapegoating and to challenge the media and opportunistic profiteers to conduct business ethically by respecting personal privacy rights and not exploit any individual to advance their own self-interest for economic gain.”

The Cubs also invited Bartman to appear in the victory parade, which Bartman politely declined because he didn’t think it was appropriate to take any attention away from the players.

I asked Murtha if Bartman ever wears the ring.

“I kind of doubt that he does,” he replied, adding he never has asked.

The media has mostly ignored Bartman over the last seven years, expect perhaps when other so-called “Cubbie Occurrences” happen, such as Seiya Suzuki’s missed fly ball that helped lose a game in Atlanta last month during the Cubs’ wild-card chase. One ESPN.com reporter stalked Bartman for a story many years ago, but otherwise he has been left alone.

When I reached out to someone who had helped Bartman escape Wrigley that fateful night, the person declined and said “Please leave him alone.”

His name still pops up from time to time, though not as often as the first 10 years after the incident.

A front page of the Tribune with a photo of Bartman’s drop and the headline “The Mitt Hits the Fan” was signed by Alou and framed by a Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse attendant. It resides in his office in the visitor’s clubhouse at American Family Field to this day, viewable to any Cubs player who walks past.

In April the Miami Marlins promoted a “Steve Bartman Appreciation Day” on social media for a series against the Cubs, but the idea was quickly squelched after Kenney contacted the Marlins to voice a complaint. In September a fan wore a Bartman outfit, with the distinctive green turtleneck and old-school headphones, and sat behind the plate during a Cubs-Colorado Rockies series at Coors Field. Hardly anyone seemed to notice, even though he was in almost every TV shot.

But when the subject of the 2003 Cubs comes up, it’s impossible to ignore his name. I recently asked former Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano, who lost Game 5 in Miami that would have clinched the NLCS for the Cubs, if he ever felt sorry for Bartman.

“No,” he said. “It could’ve been Paul Sullivan or Carlos Zambrano, it could’ve been anybody else. His name popped up, and he became famous after the incident.”

Zambrano added that he didn’t think Bartman did anything wrong.

“It was just the natural reaction of the fans,” he said. “You see the ball, you want to grab the ball.”

He stopped for a second and thought about how long ago it was.

“Twenty years ago, wow,” he said. “But we have to turn the page and celebrate ‘16.”

The Cubs got their rings in 2016. Baker earned his first ring last year with the Houston Astros and is working for another. Prior got one in 2020 as pitching coach with the Los Angeles Dodgers and also is back in the postseason.

It sounds as if Bartman has come out OK and moved on as much as possible. Maybe he’ll write a book someday and explain how he felt going through it all.

Or maybe not. The longer time passes, the more people will have forgotten the true story of the foul ball that changed one man’s life and left a scar on Cubs fans.

But scars heal, fortunately, and life goes on.

The worst of times never last forever.

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The Orioles’ recent drafts played a significant role in their turnaround. A key figure in those selections is leaving the organization.

Brad Ciolek, Baltimore’s director of draft operations, is joining the Washington Nationals as their senior director of amateur scouting, a source with direct knowledge of the agreement confirmed. Ciolek has been with the Orioles for more than a decade and has overseen their past five drafts — each of those under executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias.

A rare holdover from the previous front office, Ciolek served as Baltimore’s interim scouting director for the 2019 draft, in which the Orioles had the No. 1 overall pick. They used it on catcher Adley Rutschman and took infielder Gunnar Henderson with their second-round selection. Those two players ranked first and second among Orioles in FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement as the club won 101 games and the American League East this season.

The 2019 draft also produced major leaguers Kyle Stowers and Joey Ortiz, with fifth-round pick Darell Hernaiz traded to the Oakland Athletics to acquire left-handed pitcher Cole Irvin. Baltimore’s top two choices in 2020, No. 2 pick Heston Kjerstad and No. 30 pick Jordan Westburg, and 2021 No. 5 pick Colton Cowser all reached the majors in 2023; Ciolek spent those two drafts as Baltimore’s supervisor of domestic scouting operations.

Jackson Holliday, the first overall selection in 2022, ranks unanimously as baseball’s No. 1 overall prospect. That draft was Ciolek’s first in the directing role. Of the top 30 prospects in the Orioles’ top-ranked farm system, 20 were products of Ciolek’s drafts, based on Baseball America’s rankings.

After the initial turnover surrounding Elias’ November 2018 hiring, the Orioles have enjoyed relative consistency across the top of their baseball operations department. Assistant general manager of analytics Sig Mejdal and director of senior director of international scouting Koby Perez were among Elias’ first hires after he joined Baltimore. Ciolek, director of pro scouting Mike Snyder, director of minor league operations Kent Qualls and director of baseball systems Di Zou were already in the organization at that time. Director of player development Matt Blood and assistant general manager of baseball operations Eve Rosenbaum were brought in ahead of the 2020 season.

Brendan Fournie, hired as Baltimore’s director of baseball strategy in late 2021, is the only member of the baseball operations department with a director or assistant general manager title who was hired within the past three years. That could change if the Orioles make an external addition to replace Ciolek.

The Athletic first reported Ciolek was joining the Nationals. 106.7 The Fan first reported his position with Washington.

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Mike Elias and Brandon Hyde both expected to hold their end-of-season news conferences under different circumstances, but, as Elias noted, “sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way.”

On the heels of the Orioles’ sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers in the American League Division Series, Baltimore’s general manager and skipper both spoke with the media Thursday morning to wrap up the 2023 season and look ahead to 2024.

Here are 10 takeaways from what they said.

Elias and Hyde are back for 2024 and ‘100% in’

Elias and Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos have both declined to answer specifics about how long the general manager or Hyde are signed for.

Elias once again declined to provide such details, noting he doesn’t believe it’s “beneficial” for the organization to do so. However, when asked specifically if he and Hyde would be returning for 2024, Elias laughed and said, “We’re back next season. I’ll give you that.”

“Me and Brandon, we are 100% in on this,” Elias said. “We are giving our hearts and souls and minds and quite a bit of experience to this, and I hope that lasts forever.”

The Orioles have many questions to answer this offseason — from the lease to arbitration-eligible players to free agents. But who is leading the front office and team aren’t among them.

Elias doesn’t want to talk about roster specifics

The season just ended for Elias, too, and he doesn’t know what the offseason looks like. And even if he does, he still wasn’t answering specific questions about the Orioles’ roster.

“I’m going to be kind of boring today with specific positional roster questions,” he said when asked if the Orioles need a front-of-the-rotation starting pitcher. “This is very fresh. We just got off a plane. I’ll have probably a lot more to say later.”

Elias, entering his sixth offseason as the Orioles’ top executive, was still asked about whether the organization views Tyler Wells and DL Hall as starters or relievers, the club’s 16 arbitration-eligible players and other roster-related questions.

“I’m going to plead the fifth again and not talk about specifics with the roster or the offseason,” he said when asked about Wells and Hall.

The ALDS sweep was formative, but it was one small sample

Elias opened his news conference by putting the blame for the ALDS sweep on himself.

“Any shortcomings that anyone perceives with the 2023 campaign should be directed towards me,” he said.

But how will he evaluate the failure that was the three-game playoff series with the massive success that was his team’s 162-game regular season?

“I think that we want to overweight our failures when we go and self-reflect over the winter and try to push ourselves to get better,” he said. “That said, if we’re evaluating players or things like that, I don’t want to get caught up in what they did in a three-game sample. We’re going to weigh it heavily as an organization, but in terms of, like, finite events on the field, there’s much larger samples to draw from.”

Hyde was asked the same question about how he views the playoffs versus the regular season.

“In the world of analytics — there’s big samples and there’s small samples — they tend to long at the big sample,” Hyde said with a smile. “So, three games is kind of a small sample. It’s also a first experience for a lot of those guys and we’re going to evaluate everything going forward, we just got our teeth kicked in, so we’re still wearing it.”

Hyde is ‘still pissed’ about playoff loss

Like his players Tuesday, Hyde on Thursday was both sad at how the season ended but hopeful for the future. He twice said he was “still pissed” about how his club’s magical season ended.

“I’ll watch,” Hyde said when asked if he’ll watch the remainder of the MLB postseason. “I’m gonna watch a little differently this year, I’m gonna watch a little irritated, to be honest with you. Still irritated, still frustrated, still pissed.”

He was later asked about potentially being named the AL Manager of the Year in November, an award he will likely win after leading the Orioles to 101 wins after the club lost 110 two years ago. But Hyde isn’t concerned about November awards and wishes his team was still playing.

“That’s nice,” he said. “I’m still pissed, to be honest with you.”

Hyde, Elias discuss 5-day layoff

The way the MLB postseason has gone has led to plenty of discourse about whether the current format is fair for the sport’s best teams.

Of the four teams that received byes in the wild-card round, two were swept in the ALDS (Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers), one has its backs against the wall (Atlanta Braves) and one advanced to the AL Championship Series (Houston Astros). With the struggles of those teams, especially the 100-win Dodgers and 101-win Orioles, some have questioned whether the five-day layoff is too long and actually served as a disadvantage.

Elias called the discussion “interesting” but said he didn’t want to use that as an “excuse.”

“I do not believe that was the difference between us winning or getting swept in the ALDS the way we did,” he said. “I don’t have a big opinion about it.”

Added Hyde: “Well, I don’t think it helps. Let’s put it that way. … I don’t know what they’re going to do about that. I think it’s a long time.”

Jackson Holliday could make Orioles’ 2024 opening day roster

Underneath the Orioles’ 101-win season is the top-ranked farm system in the sport. Jackson Holliday, who Baseball America ranks as baseball’s top prospect, climbed from Low-A Delmarva to Triple-A Norfolk in his first full professional season at just 19 years old.

Next season, he’ll no longer be a teenager, and perhaps he’ll stop being a minor leaguer, too.

“He didn’t have a full season anywhere because he moved so fast, but he hasn’t been in Triple-A terribly long but he did pretty well,” Elias said. “I think when you’re 19 and then you’re 20, it’s one year, but that’s a lot of aging and physical development. I can’t wait to see what he looks like in spring training. Look forward to having him there, he’s going to have a chance to make the team.”

John Means’ elbow is OK

Starting pitcher John Means’ elbow, which flared up during his simulated game before the ALDS, is “in good shape,” Elias said, and the left-hander will be a “full-go” in spring training.

Whether Means started one of Baltimore’s games in Texas or came out of the bullpen, not having the veteran did take a reliable arm out of the Orioles’ pitching staff for the series.

“It’s unfortunate, but it happened and it didn’t allow us to have one of our starters go in the bullpen,” Hyde said.

Team uncertain on closer for 2024

Félix Bautista, who underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction on Monday, will soon begin his rehab at the team’s complex in Sarasota, Florida, Elias said. The right-hander is expected to miss the entire 2024 season and be ready for 2025 spring training.

The Orioles got by without him over the campaign’s final six weeks, but replacing him for an entire season won’t be easy.

“That is a massive hole,” Elias said. “We’re going to bring all of our brain power towards answering that question.”

Baltimore might be an attractive destination for free agents

Elias wouldn’t commit to a higher payroll for 2024, but he did say he hopes the Orioles’ success in 2023 leads to more free agents seeing Baltimore as a place to win.

“It’s something that’s really important for me to have a good environment for players,” he said. “We talk constantly about how best to do that. I think it showed this year. I think our clubhouse was wonderful, a lot of people to credit for that, but we want this to be a great place to play.”

The Orioles entered 2023 with a $60.9 million payroll that ranked 29th of 30 MLB teams, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Elias has yet to sign a free agent to a multiyear contract during his tenure.

“Everybody from last year was very interested because of the talent we have on our team and what we’re going to look like going forward,” Hyde said. “I think it’s going to be the same way this year, where people are going to see that they enjoy playing here, this is a fun team to be on and we’re going to win.”

The 2023 season was still a success

Despite their disappointment at how it ended, both Hyde and Elias acknowledged the Orioles’ unprecedented 101-win season was still worthy of praise.

“The way it ended was awful, it sucked, and we’re wearing that still, but it was a really successful season,” Hyde said. “Overcoming so many odds and obstacles that are against us and so many people thinking that we weren’t going to be playoff team and all of a sudden we win 101 games and win the American League East, that says a lot about a lot of people in the organization, a lot of guys in that clubhouse, so I’m really proud of that.

“Unfortunately in the postseason, we just didn’t play our best and ran into a little bit of a buzz saw, but I’m going to have great memories of this team.”

Elias has frequently spoken about the rich baseball tradition in Baltimore, and he hopes the team’s fans are proud of what the 2023 team accomplished.

“I hope that the city of Baltimore remembers this group for kind of reminding the world that this is Baltimore and we do baseball here,” he said.

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Four Chicago baseball players have been named finalists for the 2023 Rawlings Gold Glove defensive awards. Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox is a finalist in center field, while the Cubs are represented by Nico Hoerner at second base, Dansby Swanson at shortstop and Ian Happ in left field.

Happ, the 2022 National League winner in left field, will defend his title against the Los Angeles Dodgers’ David Peralta and the Atlanta Braves’ Eddie Rosario. Happ played 154 games in left field for the Cubs this season and had a .989 fielding percentage.

Swanson is the defending NL Gold Glove winner at shortstop, playing last season for the Braves. In his first season with the Cubs, he had a .981 fielding percentage in 147 games at short. His 2.7 defensive wins above replacement in 2023 was fourth in the majors among all positions. Swanson is up against the New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor and the Colorado Rockies’ Ezequiel Tovar.

Hoerner had a .988 fielding percentage in 135 games at second base for the Cubs this season. His competition for the Gold Glove is the San Diego Padres’ Ha-Seong Kim and the Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryson Stott.

Robert is up for the AL Gold Glove in center field against the Seattle Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez and the Toronto Blue Jays’ Kevin Kiermaier. Robert, who won the center field Gold Glove in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, appeared in 143 games for the White Sox this season.

Anthony Rizzo, who won four Gold Gloves at first base for the Cubs, is a finalist this year with the New York Yankees. Zach McKinstry, traded in 2022 from the Cubs to the Detroit Tigers, got the nod in a utility role.

Former White Sox infielder Marcus Semien is a finalist at second base for the Texas Rangers.

Chicago native Alek Thomas, who attended Mount Carmel, is a finalist in center field for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Gold Glove finalists are determined by a combination of 75% voting among managers and coaches and 25% use of a proprietary metric known as the SABR Defensive Index (SDI).

The Gold Glove winners will be announced at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 on ESPN. Once the winners are announced, a combination of fan voting and SDI will determine the Platinum Glove winner from each league. Those winners will be revealed at the Gold Glove award ceremony on Nov. 10.

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