The Chicago restaurant that served up "Foul Ball Spaghetti" made from the remains of the Bartman ball will now offer an up-close view of Sammy Sosa’s corked bat while you dine.
When no one put up enough money to meet the minimum bid in an online auction, the CEO of Harry Caray's Restaurant Group, Grant DePorter, stepped in.
He agreed to pay the highest bid of $14,407 plus a commission to Schulte Auctions. He plans to display the bat at Harry Caray's restaurant then give it to the Chicago Sports Museum.
Former Cubs pitcher Mike Remlinger put the bat up for auction last month. He said he picked it up off the field himself during the 2003 game against Tampa Bay. Some estimated the bat would bring in more than $50,000.
Sosa didn’t comment on the fact no one offered to pay big bucks for his bat, but he did say he’s shocked his former teammate put it up for sale.
"If he needed the money, [Remlinger] should have just asked me for some money," he told the Chicago Tribune through a spokesperson.
Remlinger said he tried to reach Sosa several times, and had a message for him Wednesday on ESPN’s The Waddle & Silvy Show: "What's done is done. If he still wants to give me some money that would be fine," he said.
In 2004 DePorter staged a publicity stunt at Harry Caray's to explode the ball caught by Steve Bartman in the 2003 NLCS. The next year they served up remnants to customers in a beer and vodka soaked spaghetti sauce.
