How it all began 31 years ago!
I caught my first ball in 1977 during batting practice at a White Sox game vs. Detroit. I actually caught 2 balls that night, the first ball was caught when the security guard down the line stuck out his foot and the ball jumped over the 1st row of people and into my glove. The second ball was thrown past the ball boy by Chet Lemon. Who would have thought that getting 2 balls that night would have led to this!!
Below you will find my regular season ball totals. From 1977 through August of 1987 most of my "Ballhawking" took place at Old Comiskey Park, Wrigley Field and a few games here and there at County Stadium. In August of 1987 my mother, brother and I moved to Southern California. We lived there until August of 89 so most of those balls were retrieved at Dodger Stadium and Anaheim Stadium with a few trips to Jack Murphy Stadium thrown in. I moved back to Chicago in 1990 with occasional visits to California from 90-94. In 1994 I moved to Indiana where I met my first wife. I got to 15-20 games each year from 94-98. I also started working in minor league baseball in 1995 which curtailed the hardcore Ballhawking a little bit. In 1997 I finally got the job I always wanted .... Clubhouse manager for a minor league baseball team. I was the Clubbie for the Rockford Cubbies in 1997 where Quincy Carter was one of the players. Yes that is Quincy Carter who is best know for being a Football player.
In 2000 I moved to Florida to work for the Texas Rangers class A team in Port Charlotte and I was the clubhouse/equipment mgr. there. This by far was my favorite year in baseball with a great group of guys in the clubhouse. Kevin Mench, Travis Hafner, Aaron Harang, Colby Lewis, Travis Hughes, Nick Regilio and a couple of others have made it to the Bigs. I have been the clubbie for a few other teams since but nothing was more fun than the summer at Port Charlotte in 2000.
In 2002 I found myself in Boston living about 6 blocks from Fenway Park. Needless to say the Green Monster was calling my name. I was there from 2002 until 2004 and then moved out west.
You will find my totals on the right hand side of this page as well as the main page of my website and MLBlog.
I have caught 99 Game Home Runs which includes some memorable ones:
Sammy Sosa's 61st in 1998, Dante Bichette's 1st ML HR in 1989, Bob Boone's 100th career HR in 1988, Mike Schmidt's 523rd career HR at my 1st Dodger game in 1987, Dave Winfield's 450th HR in 1993, The last "Roof-top" HR hit at Old Comiskey Park on April 16th, 1990 hit by my fathers friend Ron Kittle, Kevin Mitchell HR in the 1989 playoffs at Wrigley Field and Derek Jeters Home Run in game 3 of the ALCS in 2003.
*caught refers to balls that were acquired by me. Although most are "caught" some are given to me or picked up in the stands. All but 3 of my Home Run balls were actually caught by me or at least run down by me in the stands!
How it all began 31 years ago!
I caught my first ball in 1977 during batting practice at a White Sox game vs. Detroit. I actually caught 2 balls that night, the first ball was caught when the security guard down the line stuck out his foot and the ball jumped over the 1st row of people and into my glove. The second ball was thrown past the ball boy by Chet Lemon. Who would have thought that getting 2 balls that night would have led to this!!
Below you will find my regular season ball totals. From 1977 through August of 1987 most of my "Ballhawking" took place at Old Comiskey Park, Wrigley Field and a few games here and there at County Stadium. In August of 1987 my mother, brother and I moved to Southern California. We lived there until August of 89 so most of those balls were retrieved at Dodger Stadium and Anaheim Stadium with a few trips to Jack Murphy Stadium thrown in. I moved back to Chicago in 1990 with occasional visits to California from 90-94. In 1994 I moved to Indiana where I met my first wife. I got to 15-20 games each year from 94-98. I also started working in minor league baseball in 1995 which curtailed the hardcore Ballhawking a little bit. In 1997 I finally got the job I always wanted .... Clubhouse manager for a minor league baseball team. I was the Clubbie for the Rockford Cubbies in 1997 where Quincy Carter was one of the players. Yes that is Quincy Carter who is best know for being a Football player.
In 2000 I moved to Florida to work for the Texas Rangers class A team in Port Charlotte and I was the clubhouse/equipment mgr. there. This by far was my favorite year in baseball with a great group of guys in the clubhouse. Kevin Mench, Travis Hafner, Aaron Harang, Colby Lewis, Travis Hughes, Nick Regilio and a couple of others have made it to the Bigs. I have been the clubbie for a few other teams since but nothing was more fun than the summer at Port Charlotte in 2000.
In 2002 I found myself in Boston living about 6 blocks from Fenway Park. Needless to say the Green Monster was calling my name. I was there from 2002 until 2004 and then moved out west.
You will find my totals on the right hand side of this page as well as the main page of my website and MLBlog.
I have caught 99 Game Home Runs which includes some memorable ones:
Sammy Sosa's 61st in 1998, Dante Bichette's 1st ML HR in 1989, Bob Boone's 100th career HR in 1988, Mike Schmidt's 523rd career HR at my 1st Dodger game in 1987, Dave Winfield's 450th HR in 1993, The last "Roof-top" HR hit at Old Comiskey Park on April 16th, 1990 hit by my fathers friend Ron Kittle, Kevin Mitchell HR in the 1989 playoffs at Wrigley Field and Derek Jeters Home Run in game 3 of the ALCS in 2003.
*caught refers to balls that were acquired by me. Although most are "caught" some are given to me or picked up in the stands. All but 3 of my Home Run balls were actually caught by me or at least run down by me in the stands!
