Pelescak Joins 1,000 Ball Club
Pittsburgh Ballhawk Gets Milestone Ball From Security Guard While Waiting to Enter Progressive Field
by Alan Schuster, August 3, 2011Pelescak's 1,000th career baseball, next to an italian sausage and a beer.The myGameBalls.com 1,000 ball club welcomed its newest member on Saturday, Pittsburgh ballhawk Nick Pelescak. On the road at Progressive Field, a ballpark he considers his favorite ballhawking venue, Pelescak actually made the milestone snag before he even entered the gates. Waiting at the left field gate for the park to open and sitting on 999 career baseballs, he was hoping a long home run would bounce through the gate where he could snag it. That didn't quite happen, but a homer that didn't quite have the distance to reach the gate became his 1,000th ball when a security guard picked it up and handed it to him. Pelescak had anticipated that his milestone snag might end up being anti-climatic. "I knew it wasn't going to be a dramatic catch from a star player or a toss up from a star player either," he wrote. "It would likely be a found ball in the RF seats or a ball outside of the stadium behind the LF home run porch." Regardless of how he snagged it, the ball is currently one of only nine balls on myGameBalls.com that can legitimately be marked as a Ball #1,000. Pelescak is having another great year, currently posting a season total of 260 and hoping to make it to 400 for the second straight year. Read more about Nick Pelescak's 1,000th ball on his blog