The Baseball
Page 21
NAME: MOE MULLINS (aka “Mr. Inside”)
Moe Mullins (Photo Credit 13.1)
Born: October 11, 1950, in Lima, OH
Occupation: Truck driver
Regular at: Wrigley Field
Total Balls Snagged: 5,441 (including 1,500 to 2,000 at Spring Training)
Game Home Runs: 241 (all from major league games)
Notable Balls: Sammy Sosa’s 62nd home run in 1998, plus five grand slams
Greatest Feat: Snagging four game home runs in one game
Did you really snag number 62? “I know I had the ball. I had it for a long time at the bottom of the pile with both hands cupped around it, and everybody was just pullin’ and pushin’ and reachin’ in there, and I’m bein’ jumped on, and you know pretty soon I had 15, 20 people on top of me. I couldn’t breathe anymore. My knuckles and hands were all swollen from bein’ dragged on the concrete—they were all bloodied up and everything—and I actually believe that I passed out for a couple seconds from lack of oxygen, and I was tellin’ myself, ‘Moe, give up the ball, it ain’t worth dyin’ for,’ but I was thinkin’ that sooner or later people are gonna start pullin’ these people off of me. Well, finally, the guy I took to court, Cunningham, got ahold of my thumb and he pulled it all the way back—I had torn ligaments in it for three years—and I’m already expended. I had no more energy. He just took it out of my hand, and he ran and everybody ran after him. He ended up going a block down and then got into a squad car because the people were chasing him. We thought that ball was worth a million dollars.”
What does your wife think about all of this? “I think she’s very appreciative of what I do. She knows that it’s like the last grasp of my youth, and it keeps me young and in shape, and although I have had some skirmishes with the law doing this, believe it or not, usually it’s unwarranted.”
Is ballhawking ever a burden? “Sometimes I can’t fall asleep, knowin’ what the wind and the weather is gonna be the next day. You know, you’re layin’ in bed thinkin’ about it, and I’m countin’ balls instead of sheep, tryin’ to fall asleep. Yes, it can be a burden at times.”
First Ball: “I was in third grade. I was comin’ home from lunch, just walkin’ down the street, and a ball came out right by the alley, and I picked it up and a bunch of guys—people that I didn’t know at the time, these old ballhawk guys—were all chasing towards me, and they said, ‘Hey, good grab, kid.’ I didn’t know that I could actually catch baseballs out there, and there was a reward for it. You could actually give the ball back and get into the park or you could sell it, and I sold balls for as little as 50 cents back then and go buy a hamburger at O’Henry’s, and hamburgers were 24 cents. I got two hamburgers for catching a ball.”
Media Highlight: Featured in several books and movies, including a documentary called Wrigley Field: Beyond the Ivy
NAME: RICH BUHRKE (aka “Mr. Outside”)
Rich Buhrke (Photo Credit 13.2)
Born: June 22, 1946, in Chicago, IL
Occupation: Security guard
Regular at: Wrigley Field, Old Comiskey Park
Total Balls Snagged: 3,476 (including 1,059 from Spring Training and 95 from the Minor Leagues)
Game Home Runs: 179 (including 4 from Spring Training)
Notable Balls: Jay Johnstone’s 100th career home run, Bill Melton’s 100th, Ron Santo’s 300th, and five grand slams
Have you ever been accused of knocking a kid over? “Oh yeah, we’ve all been accused of that, but I can honestly say that I never ran down anybody in my life, and I never will. To me, that’s not what it’s all about. I’ve hurt myself banging into seats trying to avoid people rather than running into them.”
How have you been able to attend so many games? “My son was born in ’69, and when he was just old enough to go to the ballpark, I used to take him with me. I was Mr. Mom. My wife and I exchanged roles for 10 years, and I also went to college at the time and got my degree—two degrees, actually.”
Have you given any balls away? “I supplied baseballs for Little Leagues that my son played in for years, so they’d use ’em as practice balls. Sometimes they’d use them as game balls if they were good, but I never give away my last ball. You never know in life when that is gonna be your last. I don’t care if I got 3,000, I’m not givin’ that last one away.”
Have you sold any balls? “I sold home runs for my 30th wedding anniversary, and it paid for an entire trip to Jamaica. They were game home runs—some of them signed, some of them not—and then for our 35th anniversary I paid for our whole vacation to Florida, which included the airfare, the hotel, and the car rental. Do I wish sometimes I had some of those back? Yeah, I do, but not when I consider what it was all about. It was an anniversary situation. If I had it to do all over again, I’d do it again.”
How many balls are still in your possession? “I have two full-sized black garbage cans—you know, the huge cans that you have outside—filled to the top and into the lid. I have all that and home runs. I couldn’t tell you exactly how many of those I have left.”
Do you have any superstitions? “I used to try and wear the same shirt out if I had a really good day, but that was way back.”
Did you wash the shirt between games? “Nope.”
Media Highlight: Featured in a Sports Illustrated article in 1977, interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in 1984, and featured in the documentary Ballhawks
NAME: JAY DIDION
Born: April 2, 1959, in Tucson, AZ
Occupation: Building contractor
Regular at: Oakland Coliseum, 1981–1995
Total Balls Snagged: 3,500–4,000
Game Home Runs: 112
Notable Balls: Six Rickey Henderson leadoff homers, six Mark McGwire homers, and three World Series homers
Greatest Feat: Caught three home runs on the fly during Game 3 of the 1988 American League Championship Series
Ballhawking—is it luck or skill? “I think it depends on the stadium. The Coliseum was conducive to what I did … it was devastating for me for the stadium to be remodeled. It upset my life incredibly. I went to no more games.”
Any temptation to come out of retirement? “If the Coliseum was configured correctly, I’d be so happy to go out there and compete with any of these kids.”
How was the Coliseum configured before the renovation? “It had a set of steps similar to Dodger Stadium, where you could walk down behind the fence. I developed the technique of sliding down the rail on my hands so that I didn’t have to touch the stairs. That would give me time to get down below and be able to catch the ball on the fly.”
Can you describe this technique? “I basically dove down the rail on my hands … headfirst, straight down. My feet would be in the air and I would be sliding on my hands. The rail was about 15 steps long. My left hand was my lead hand.”
Best Player Interaction: “Mark McGwire came up into the bleachers [during BP] and sat down with me for five minutes until too many people came around. He was like, ‘So, when you catch my balls, where are you?’ He was just trying to get an idea of how it worked.”
What is the most unusual way you’ve ever gotten a game home run ball? “They had a temporary ticket booth underneath the bleachers in left field. There was no roof on this booth, and it was filled with debris from the game—hot dog wrappers and sodas—and the ball went right in there, and everybody was inside that thing—probably three, four, five of us were throwing that debris around and trying to get that ball. It was like mayhem, and the longer it took, more people kept getting into this thing, and we were on our hands and knees digging through a foot of garbage. Finally I felt it inside of a malt cup, and I picked it up and said, ‘Got it!’ ”
Media Highlight: “I never did interviews.… I was too cool for school. It was one of those times in my life, you know? I knew I was the best out there, and I didn’t need to talk to the media to make myself the best.”
NAME: ARTIE LAURAIN
(aka “The Original Mayor of Right
Field”)
Artie Laurain (Photo Credit 13.3)
Born: February 28, 1939, in New York, NY
Occupation: Retired Teamster
Regular at: Yankee Stadium
Total Balls Snagged: 4,002 (plus one in Oakland that he doesn’t count because he didn’t catch it at Yankee Stadium)
Game Home Runs: 44
Notable Balls: Roger Maris’s 8th home run in 1961 and Rickey Henderson’s 35th career leadoff home run (which tied Bobby Bonds’s record)
First Ball: Tossed by Yankees catcher Bill Dickey in 1946
How did you get into ballhawking? “Bein’ poor. When we got to the game, we saw we could catch ’em. We saved ’em ’cause we loved to play hardball in Central Park or along the East River Drive.”
What motivates you to keep ballhawking? “The thrill of it. That feeling. It’s better than fishin’, better than skydivin’, it’s better than anything … better than sex. Just get there as soon as the gates open and run in and go.”
What would your wife say if she heard you say that catching a ball was better than sex? “I don’t think she’d be too happy.”
Best Player Interaction: “Babe Ruth lived at 76th Street. I lived at 77th Street. So when he rode around the block, I went on his running board. I was holdin’ right onto his mirror, and he said, ‘Okay, son,’ and patted me on the head. ‘Gotta get off of there now because you’re gonna get hurt.’ Mister Ruth’s running boards—he was a very nice man.”
Worst Injury: “Carl Yastrzemski hit a home run, and a kid put his glove in front of my face, and the ball hit me in the face. I had two black eyes. I’m lucky I didn’t break anything.”
Biggest Life Sacrifice Because of Ballhawking: “Being away from my family. Missing a lot of dinners ’cause of extra innings, and most of them were Sunday dinners, which were big years ago.”
What do you miss about the old days? “There were doubleheaders every other week, and the ballplayers were very friendly.”
How have balls changed over the years? “They go a lot farther now. They’re really juiced. Years ago the ball felt heavier when you caught it. It felt like it had more cork in it, more twine. They didn’t make it as firm.”
Media Highlight: Featured in a New York Times article in 1996
NAME: JOHN WITT
(aka “Half-Witt,” “Nit-Witt,” “Dim-Witt”)
John Witt (Photo Credit 13.4)
Born: August 25, 1969, in Melrose Park, IL
Occupation: “Professional ballhawk”
Regular at: Angel Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field, Old Comiskey Park
Total Balls Snagged: 5,071 (including 2,093 from the Minor Leagues, Spring Training, and the World Baseball Classic)
Game Home Runs: 101 (not including any from the Minor Leagues or Spring Training)
Notable Balls: Dante Bichette’s first career home run, Bob Boone’s 100th, Dave Winfield’s 450th, Mike Schmidt’s 523rd, and Sammy Sosa’s 61st in 1998
Most Money Received for a Ball: $7,500 for the Sammy Sosa homer
Are you really a professional ballhawk? “I’m seriously contemplating going back to chasing baseballs full-time, because I know that I can probably make enough money just doing that. It’s like, do I want to enjoy myself or do I want to work for a living?”
Worst Injury: “There’ve been so many. In the mid-’80s, I was in the upper deck at Old Comiskey and went over some seats backwards and messed up my back, and so I actually have a herniated disc, which causes sciatica.”
Have you ever met women as a result of ballhawking? “Definitely. At Angel Stadium, there were a couple times where I’d get baseballs and girls would be askin’ for the balls, and I’d be like, ‘No, I’m not gonna just give one away,’ and then I’d put my name and number on the ball and give it to the usher, and they’d give it to the girl, and a few times I got phone calls.”
What’s the most annoying thing that other fans do? “The ones that don’t have a glove on—you know they’re not gonna catch the ball, and they still stick their hands up in your face.”
What type of glove do you use? “Right now I’m using an $11 Walmart special.”
Greatest Moment: “I got the last rooftop home run at Old Comiskey Park. That was mainly because it was hit by Ron Kittle. He was a friend of my dad’s, and my dad had passed away about five years prior to that.”
Biggest Regret: “Not going to games and then seeing balls hit. Gary Carter hit his 300th at Wrigley, and I should’ve been there but wasn’t and I have no idea why.”
How important is baseball to you? “If baseball didn’t exist, I probably wouldn’t exist.… I’d probably be an indigent living on the streets because I gambled all my money away. Baseball for me is sanity.”
Media Highlight: Featured in a Levi’s commercial in 1990 called “501 Home Run Kings”
NAME: TRACY COLLINS (aka “T.C.”)
Tracy Collins (Photo Credit 13.5)
Born: December 28, 1967, in San Diego, CA
Occupation: Newspaper subscription salesman
Regular at: Jack Murphy Stadium, PETCO Park, Angel Stadium
Total Balls Snagged: Approximately 3,500 (including 500 or so from Spring Training)
First Ball: Doesn’t remember
Game Home Runs: 204 (including 50 or so from Spring Training)
Notable Balls: Chad Curtis’s first career home run, Terry Pendleton’s 100th, Adam Dunn’s 250th, and Bip Roberts’s walk-off grand slam on May 20, 1995
Greatest Feat: Catching two Ken Caminiti homers on the fly in one game, hit from both sides of the plate
Biggest Regret: “I dropped [Mike] Piazza’s 400th career. I jumped for it, and it hit off the top of my glove. That pissed me off. The guys above me got it.”
Worst Injury: “Water on the knee. I had that one time. They had to drain the water with a needle. I bumped into a seat during batting practice. Swelled up.”
What are your strengths as a ballhawk? “When I was a door-to-door salesman, we used to go up stairs all the time. It builds up your leg muscles good. I’m a firm believer in that. That’s what got me so good. I did door-to-door sales for like 20 years. That was like 10 years before I even started ballhawking, but it got me all ready for it.”
Any weaknesses? “I can’t scramble good, like when [the ball] bounces away, I’m not good at that. I always leave those for other people. I guess I’m too tall. I can’t bend down fast.”
What is the farthest you’ve thrown a visiting team’s home run ball back onto the field? “All the way back to the shortstop.”
Ballhawking—is it luck or skill? “Probably skill. You learn how the balls fly after a while. A lot of people say, ‘How did you know where that was gonna land?’ You learn the arc of the ball.”
What would make you enjoy baseball even more? “Six-out innings. There’s too many commercials. Instead of nine innings, I guess it’d be four or five innings or something.”
Media Highlight: Acknowledged in 1998 by Chris Berman on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight after making a nice catch at Jack Murphy Stadium
NAME: ALEX PATINO
(aka “Little Capone” as a kid)
Alex Patino (Photo Credit 13.6)
Born: July 24, 1967, in San Francisco, CA
Occupation: “Trade show installer and hustler”
Regular at: Candlestick Park, AT&T Park, Oakland Coliseum
Total Balls Snagged: Thousands
Game Home Runs: 91 (approximately 30 on the fly)
Notable Balls: Chris Iannetta’s first career home run, Jeff Kent’s home run in Game 5 of the 2002 World Series, and Barry Bonds’s 671st, 680th, and 700th career home runs
So, you count number 700 in your collection? “Yeah, I count it because I got the court document. It says, ‘This document hereby certifies that Alex Patino participated in all aspects of the litigation and lawsuit related to Barry Bonds’s 700th home run ball.’ They wrote it on the piece of paper and they framed that. So that is the ball—and
plus they gave me some money too.”
How much money? “Just say ‘undisclosed amount’ because the judge said, ‘Don’t say the money.’ ”
Worst Injury: “I got taken out by a big fat usher lady. We call her Helga. She checked me, like, I ran into her stomach. She’s about six-three, but to me she’s like six-a-hundred, and I ran into her panza. I went down, bro. I didn’t even move. My knee twisted, and I didn’t want to show it, but I was [in serious pain]. And she knew she did it too. You’ve seen those boxing videos where they get knocked out and the guy’s just looking down at you ’cause you got knocked out? That’s what it looked like.”
What motivates you to keep ballhawking? “For me it’s not just baseball. It’s collecting things wherever I go. If we go to Marine World, I’m gonna get something that was a part of something out there. No matter where I’m at—you know the garter belt at weddings? I’ve got like nine of those. It’s not just the baseballs—the baseballs just happen to be a bigger deal.”