Jon Hamm: Story that Bill Murray tossed Cardinals hat is true

If anyone was going to knock Cardinals lover Jon Hamm off his perch, it would probably have to be Cubs die-hard Bill Murray.

The actors had a showdown of sorts at Murphy’s Bleachers after Game 5 of the World Series at nearby Wrigley Field that culminated in Murray taking Hamm’s Cardinals hat off his head and tossing it in an alley, Hamm admitted after sports radio host Dan Patrick inquired about it on his show.

“Is this story starting to get traction?” the St. Louis native laughed.

First, the back story: Hamm famously trolled Cubs fans at Games 3, 4 and 5 at Wrigley wearing a Cardinals cap with the team’s logo from 1908, the last time the Cubs had won a World Series and a source of anxiety for some curse-weary fans. The prank even inspired a bobblehead of the “Mad Men” star in the cap.

After the Cubs’ 3-2 victory over the Indians in Game 5, Hamm took the Cubs dis to another level by meeting up with Fox broadcaster Joe Buck, a St. Louis resident and son of legendary Cardinals announcer Jack Buck, at Murphy’s. Murray and family, who are from Wilmette, reportedly partied on the rooftop at Murphy’s with fellow Cubs fans Eddie Vedder and John and Joan Cusack.

As Hamm tells it, “I had been there in Chicago for (Games) 3 and 4 and 5. And as you may know, Mr. (Joe) Buck is a friend of mine and he was calling all the games for the big network. And he said, ‘Come meet us over at the place next to the stadium.’ And I was there by myself — I was watching the game by myself — so I said, ‘OK, I will.’ and I met him over there and the usual suspects are there.

“And the Murray boys — and girls, the whole Murray family was there — and Billy grabbed my hat and threw it over the wall into the alley and so I had to go through a door and pick up my hat out of the alleyway and put it back on and walk back into the party. It was very funny.”

plthompson@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @philthompson