Ferris Bueller - what game did he attend?

What game did Ferris Bueller attend?

The original post from Baseball Prospectus: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=12877

Author Larry Granillo makes the claim, based on the evidence presented in the movie, plus baseball statistics that the Cubs game Ferris and pals attended on his infamous day off was Cubs-Braves on June 5, 1985. While I have no direct evidence that this was not the game, I have evidence that Granillo's logic is faulty and this makes his conclusion dubious. Let's start by quoting the column for the pertenant points:

Quotes from the movie:
"On the screen we see Chicago first-baseman #10 holding on an Atlanta Braves player wearing #18. The announcer pipes in: "Runner on first base, nobody out. That's the first hit they've had since the fifth inning, and only the fourth hit in the game. … 0-2 the count."
Chicago pitcher #46 throws the pitch to a left-handed Atlanta hitter with a two-digit number ending in "5" and what appears to be a long last name. The batter swings at the pitch and hits a long fly ball to left. "That's a drive! Left field... twisting... and into foul territory."
The Chicago leftfielder races for the ball but it screams foul, into Ferris' hand. The announcer continues with a train of thought we must have missed: "Boy, I'm really surprised they didn't go for it in that inning. Lee Smith..."
This is the point where Principal Rooney has his brief conversation with the pizza maker. In the background, we hear one of the announcers say something about playing "a very shallow third". We then hear "There's the ball bunted foul back to the screen. Boy I don't know...""

Granillo's conclusions:
Ferris Bueller and his pals were at the June 5, 1985, tilt between the Cubs and the Braves. The foul ball that Ferris caught was hit by Atlanta rightfielder Claudell Washington (#15) in the top of the 11th inning. The game was tied at two (not scoreless, like the pizza guy claimed) and backup second-baseman Paul Zuvella (#18) was being held on first by Leon Durham (#10) after a leadoff single (the fourth hit of the game, and Atlanta's first hit since the fifth). Washington would end his at-bat with a flyball to leftfielder Davey Lopes. The next batter, Rafael Ramirez, would wind up hitting a two-run home run and the Braves would go on to win 4-2. The movie, however, cut away before that happened.

My comments:
Granillo's claims that this occurred in the top of the 11th inning because players on those rosters match up with the numbers seen in the movie, which is probably good reasoning. However, there is one breakdown in this logic. If Claudell Washington (or anybody), were to foul the ball back to the screen with a bunt attempt on an 0-2 count, that would be a strikeout and the end the at-bat. He would not have the opportunity to hit a fly ball to left field as is the case in that at bat.

I looked at the box score and inning log from that game to make sure that Granillo didn't make a simple mistake of how that at-bat ended. He did not. Washington did, in fact, fly out to left field to end his top of the 11th at-bat. So, the sequence of events that Granillo lays out is simply wrong.

Why? Not sure, but a few possibilities:
1. Wrong game. I could spare the 20 minutes it took to write this, but cannot spend hours looking through games to find the right one. Who says that it absolutely happened in 1985/86 anyway? Could have been sooner. Did he look through 1984 also?
2. Movie put video from some random game that Matthew Broderick attended with the audio from some other game. In this case, the author is wasting his time trying to find the answer to a question that is unanswerable.
3. The movie, for some reason, clipped together audio that didn't work together. More specifically, the bunt statement is incorrect.

If I had to guess, I would say #2 is most plausible although #1 is certainly possible.



UPDATE

Email chain with the author:

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Chris K
To: Larry Granillo
Sent: Tue, February 8, 2011 8:38:54 PM
Subject: Re: [bpsite] February 06, 2011 Wezen-Ball: Ferris Bueller's Day Off at Wrigley Field

i knew it didn't add up. now an asst director says it was from sept 24, 1985. sorry dude.

http://chicago.sbnation.com/chicago-cubs/2011/2/8/1983179/ferris-bueller-cubs-game-mystery-definitively-solved


From:Larry Granillo
To: Chris K
Sent: Tue, February 8, 2011 7:59:13 PM
Subject: Re: [bpsite] February 06, 2011 Wezen-Ball: Ferris Bueller's Day Off at Wrigley Field

Very fair to question 1985 strategy. But remember, 2 of those RBIs and that homer came in that 11th inning AB, so he just had a 2B and 2 RBI at the time of the AB. I believe whole-heartedly that a 1985 manager would have Ramirez bunt in that situation, even if it wsan't the smartest move...

Thanks for writing!
-- lar

On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 12:46 PM, Chris K wrote:
Thanks so much for writing. I did not expect that.

Interesting theory. My initial response would be that Ramirez had 4 RBI that game with an HR and 2B. Would he really be bunting in that situation?

Yes, I am a geek. I love this stuff. That is, I love questioning baseball strategy from 1985. Note: June of 1985 was special to me as I graduated High School that month.

http://home.comcast.net/~cpkmvk/Ferris.html


----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Larry Granillo
To: CHRIS K
Sent: Tue, February 8, 2011 1:28:46 PM
Subject: Re: [bpsite] February 06, 2011 Wezen-Ball: Ferris Bueller's Day Off at Wrigley Field

Thanks, Chris.

You're definitely right about the bunt-foul thing. I considered it. But there's enough uncertainty in the timeline of the audio, that I think it still fits. With the gaps around that line, it's very possible that they could already be in the Ramirez at-bat. And a bunt-attempt by the #2 hitter on the first pitch with one out and a runner at first in a tie game in extra innings is very likely, especially in 1985. And, since we don't have the pitch-by-pitch account, it's hard to know for sure.

Thanks!
-- lar

On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 11:35 AM, CHRIS K wrote:
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I'm not sure you are correct on the date, at least as far as the evidence goes from the movie.

You say that the count on Washington was 0-2 when he hit the foul ball that Ferris caught. Then indicate the announcer says 'There's the ball bunted foul back to the screen. Boy I don't know...' and later you say: 'Washington would end his at-bat with a flyball to leftfielder Davey Lopes.'

If he fouled a bunt back to the screen with an 0-2 count, that would be a strikeout and he would have no opportunity to fly out to LF.

So, your logic is faulty and therefore, your conclusion is probably faulty also. Washington did strikeout once in that game, but you are correct that he was out on a flyball to left in the top of the 11th.

Not sure if can argue these points as it seems clear to me. Please email me. I'm also on twitter @chriskuss.

Thanks,
Chris K


So, I guess his point is that between the statements: "Boy, I'm really surprised they didn't go for it in that inning. Lee Smith" and ""There's the ball bunted foul back to the screen. Boy I don't know..."", it is possible that Washington flew out on the 0-2 count and next hitter came to the plate and fouled the bunt attempt. I would have to check the movie to see how big of a time gap between these statements and any other clues (do we hear the next batter being announced? any audible reaction from the out?) to see if I agree.

Another point with this theory: the #2 hitter that would have been up and tried to bunt in the top of the 11th with one out and one on in a tie game, was Ramirez. In that game Ramirez had already homered and doubled with 4 RBI. Would the hot hand really be bunting in that situation?

The FINAL Word

Here is another column from a different source that seems to solve the mystery (amost): http://chicago.sbnation.com/chicago-cubs/2011/2/8/1983179/ferris-bueller-cubs-game-mystery-definitively-solved

Basically, the video from the movie is from the date that Granillo claims (June 5, 1985), but the date that Broderick and the other actors actually attended Wrigley Field was September 24, 1985. The author does not address the audio from the movie, the reference to the 0-2 count, the bunt foul, the flyout or next batter...etc..

So, I will stick to my theory that the video and audio are from two different games. And now we know that the video of the characters was from yet a different game. So, 3 games for 3 different aspects of these scenes. Thats my story and I am sticking to it.............