B/R Exclusive: Johnny Macchione, the Cubs Fan Who Threw Booze at Shane Victorino

A Ford crossover pulls up to my dad’s apartment in downtown Chicago with an American Insulation sticker on the rear window. I get in and sit next to an Italian-American kid with a jet-black, scruffy beard and a blue University of Kentucky hat.

“That’s him,” my friend tells me as we enter the car. “That’s the man himself.”

“The man” is Johnny Macchione, a 23-year-old who lives with his parents in Bartlett, Ill., a suburb an hour north of Chicago.

He continues to play recreational soccer after stints with Loris College (Dubuque, Iowa) and Elgin (Ill.) Community College, works for his father’s insulation company and loves Nana’s Hot Dogs.

He is best known, however, for tossing a beer on Phillies All-Star outfielder Shane Victorino.

“A lot of times my friends will bring it up,” says Macchione. “[They ask] ‘Hey, do you know who this guy is?’ As soon as you tell [other people] they’re like, ‘Oh. Yeah, yeah. I totally know him.’ But that’s about it.”

“My buddies still talk about it,” says Johnny’s younger brother. “I thought it was pretty funny, honestly. There was really no other way I could take it.”

His brother, who requested to have his first name omitted from this story, resembles a blond version of Pauly D from MTV’s Jersey Shore. He is taller than Johnny, probably just north of six feet. On his head rests a gray alternative Cubs hat with a neon-green logo, replacing the typical blue-and-red color scheme. He wears a large silver cross necklace, a grey zip-down hoodie and shopworn jeans.

Their hometown, Bartlett Village, is a suburb of 41,500. Two-lane highways take you from the grocery store named Supermarket to the Brunswick Bowling Lanes to the Nana’s—who serve a damn good hot dog wrapped with fries. Friend Nana on Facebook and they’ll give you one for free.

Like almost 90 percent of the suburb, Johnny is white. Like nearly three-quarters of the suburb, his parents live together. Like almost everyone in the suburb, he went to Bartlett High School and attended nearby Elgin Community College.

What distinguishes him from the 41,500 people living in Bartlett and the 2.7 million people living in Chicago is a knee-jerk reaction he had as a 21-year-old in front of 42,000 people in Wrigley Field on Aug. 12, 2009.

On a routine fly ball to deep center field off the bat of Jake Fox in the fifth inning, Philadelphia outfielder Shane Victorino slowly trotted back toward the ivy-covered wall to make the catch. But just as he squeezed his glove, he was hit, square in the face, with a golden cup of beer—Macchione's cup of beer.

“There was really no thought behind it whatsoever,” Macchione told WGN Radio’s David Kaplan days after the incident. “If there would have been a second of thought, obviously I would not have done it.”

Some images (including the one at the top of this article and a video posted from Jim Rome's Rome Is Burning show) show Macchione proceeding to point at his friend's cousin, Dan DeLaPaz, who was leaning over to point and laugh at Victorino. And, indeed, DeLaPaz was originally taken into security custody for the offense. But Macchione told Kaplan that was trying to protect the innocence of his acquaintance rather than letting him take the fall.

“I’m trying to tell them, ‘It’s not him, it’s not him, it’s not him,’” Macchione told Kaplan. “I didn’t admit it myself, but I tried saying ‘It wasn’t him, it wasn’t him,’ and they dragged him away.”

Macchione, contrary to some accounts, did not sneak out of the stadium or remain at the game. He went down to where DeLaPaz was being held until DeLaPaz was released when security officials watched a replay (evidently not realizing the two attended the game together). The posse later traveled to a local bar, Murphy’s, where they were denied because of the incident, before finally settling on Harry Caray’s to finish watching the game.

“I couldn’t fully get mad,” DeLaPaz told Kaplan, in a separate interview, speaking about his reaction to Macchione’s mea culpa before coming to suspect that Macchione had pointed him out. “I didn’t know the extent to what would come the next day.”

“I thought it was no big deal,” said Macchione. “We were out at the bars after the game and I was taking pictures with people.”

The Phillies won, 12-5, and all seemed fine overnight. The next day, though, began a manhunt for Macchione.

“I wake up the next morning and my face is all over the place,” he says, rocking back and forth on his black leather couch. “Channel 5, 9, 7, 12—there’s my picture up there, like, ‘If you know anything about this man, please contact us (the local police).’

“That was kind of scary.”

He recalls the counts cited against him: battery and illegal conduct within a sports facility. Although he smiles and speaks in an even tone, he continues to rock back and forth.

The then-21-year-old became a hot topic in various media over the ensuing days. Internet buzz was particularly cruel to him. Multiple people used message boards to slander him, calling him “an accurate representation of all Cubs fans.”

“Can’t wait to see this douche shed some crocodile tears and beg for forgiveness,” wrote one person. “Not only is he a d-bag for throwing the beer, but letting his Harry Teinowitz look-a-like friend take the fall.

“I hope he gets to spend some time in pound-you-in-the-ass prison.”

There were columnists that claimed he, not Steve Bartman, should be the scapegoat for all of the Cubs’ misfortunes.

“I was worse than Bartman, they were saying,” he said. “Bartman was doing what any fan would do reaching for a foul ball, where I was disgracing the game.

“If anything, I was helping the team out.”

Following the interview I did not see much of Johnny. His brother, my friend and I sat down to a steak dinner with his parents. Johnny stopped by for a second, but left to go to a recreational soccer game.

After the game, he went to bed. He had to get up early to deliver insulation for his father and finish his apartment search.

Last quarter my roommate asked me why I am a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.

It’s an unpaid position that requires a decent workload on top of my regular homework. I was “a martyr” according to him, working my whole life away.

I don't see it that way.

I write because I love sharing Jason Demers’ underdog story or about my encounter with the greatest Giants fan I have ever met.

I write because I want to get enough recognition to merit a job writing for a team after college.

But, most importantly, I write because I am a die-hard fan. I will love my teams until the day I die.

In that respect I am like Johnny Macchione.

“I enjoy being a Cubs fan,” he said. “I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

One day I hope to distinguish myself from the 26,000 people of Shoreview, Minn., the 2.8 million people in Minneapolis-St. Paul and the 5,200 undergraduates at Santa Clara University by writing for Sports Illustrated.

If I gathered anything from my day with Johnny Macchione it is that the best way to do that would not be to toss a beer the next time I get frustrated at a sporting event (and, trust me, there is plenty of reason to get frustrated at a sports team in Minnesota).

“I am one person out of millions of people,” he said. “It was one mistake. If I could take it back, I would.”