The Ballhawk Community, as you phrase it, has good and bad points. Most of the regulars are pretty sociable with each other, and sometimes hang out together away from the ballpark. Occasionally, 2 or more will take a road trip to nearby ballparks, or independently travel to Florida for spring training and meet up. All of 'em are solid baseball fans, and most are more than adequate at baseball history. Some play in pick-up leagues.
The biggest drawback is that a few of the guys (not all, but more than 1 or 2) take their status as a Ballhawk WAY too seriously. Rules are comprised by some as to what constitutes a catch you can count in your totals, some will berate others if they're seen asking (begging, in Ballhawk-speak) for a baseball, and generally will act is if being a Ballhawk is on a par with being a member of Seal Team 6 or the Green Beret. One a number of years ago (no longer active) asked me to help him sell a lot of 100 BP catches he made for $1,000. When I informed him that you could buy smaller lots on eBay for less than half his per-ball price, he (seriously) said that his should be worth more because they were caught by a Wrigley Field Ballhawk.
The one Waveland Ave. shagger who posts on GUU occasionally, Dave Davison, is a decent guy who doesn't get too full of himself.On the minor league baseballs, I had it happen twice: One was thrown to me by Ellis Burks of the White Sox that I tracked down, and was an Official Midwest League ball (the Sox had a Midwest League team in South Bend, IN at the time). The other was a tailing Dave Henderson foul ball that I made a nice catch on in the aisle not too far from the LF corner at County Stadium that was a PCL ball.
Dave M.
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