Kevin James Makes Foul-Ball Fast Pitch

By Stephen M. Silverman

Friday October 17, 2003 10:45 AM EDT

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Chicago Cubs may still be seeing red – and this doesn't mean Red Sox – over fan Steve Bartman's series-altering gesture of reaching up from the left-field stands to grab a foul-ball that otherwise would have been an easy out on October 14, but Hollywood sees a prospective movie in the incident.

"King of Queens" star Kevin James pitched such an idea to Revolution Studios, which is now grabbing James's offer and running with it, reports Reuters. No casting or start date has been announced.

The comedian, 38, now has to develop a screenplay about a guy forced to live with the repercussions of his act, a Revolution spokeswoman said on Thursday – careful to add that movie will not specifically be about Bartman, but about an everyday fan caught up in the madness of such a situation.

(Movie fans may remember that screenwriter Paul Rudnick based his 1997 comedy "In & Out" on Tom Hanks's "outing" his former drama teacher when the star won his Oscar for playing a gay lawyer in 1993's "Philadelphia.")

Before this past Tuesday night, lifelong Chicago Cubs fan Bartman was just another anonymous American. But when the 26-year-old reached up from the stands in Wrigley Field, he ended up deflecting a ball that Moises Alou might have caught, contributing to the madness of a massive Cubs collapse.

By Wednesday, when his name hit print – first in the Chicago Sun-Times – the Bartman home was overwhelmed by reporters who camped outside his house, reported the Associated Press. Police asked reporters to stop calling and ringing the family's doorbell.

Not that everyone was out for blood. The owner of a retreat in Pompano Beach, Fla., reportedly offered Bartman a free three-month stay, along with free steak dinners, free martinis and a free water taxi ride.

In a statement, released before the Cubs' defeat in Game 7, Bartman – a Little League coach and an employee of a consulting firm – made clear how sorry he was.

"Had I thought for one second that the ball was playable or had I seen Alou approaching, I would have done whatever I could to get out of the way and give Alou a chance to make the catch," the statement said.