February 26, 2004
Chicago Baseball Fans Say Goodbye to a Bad Ball
At Harry Caray's Restaurant in Chicago, a flash of explosive charges shredded an infamous baseball into a spaghetti-like heap on Thursday as fans of the Chicago Cubs (news) publicly demolished the ball that may have cost the team its first trip to the World Series (news - web sites) in 58 years.
With an international cable-TV audience on hand and beer-drinking fans cheering in a tent set up on a closed city street and in bars around town, the ball was exploded inside a clear protective case by an Oscar-winning special effects expert.
The destruction of the ball followed weeks of hype that also raised money for juvenile diabetes research.
Not present was the Cubs fan who bobbled the ball out of play during the National League (news) playoffs last summer.
