Flash player is required to view weather conditions. Download

site web  

QUALITY TIME

Ron Jackson chats with former Wrigley Field ballhawk Johnny Rosenstein

By Ron Jackson

Dayton Daily News

Johnny Rosenstein, a 1984 Trotwood-Madison graduate, has spent a lot of afternoons at Waveland and Kenmore avenues on the north side of Chicago, 50 feet from the left-field bleachers of historic Wrigley Field. He earned a reputation as a ballhawk with the nickname "Cincinnati Johnny" because of his ever-present Reds cap. By day, he was a part of a ballpark breed chasing fly balls out of the sky during Cubs games. By night, he worked as a copy editor and sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune. He snagged 16 Sammy Sosa home run balls and hundreds more during batting practice and games. Last September, Rosenstein, 39, took a job as a night editor at cbssportsline.com in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He hung up his Wilson A2000 model glove ... reluctantly.

• "I moved near Wrigleyville in 1990, and when the strike happened (in 1995) I was very upset. One day I was riding my bike on Waveland Avenue and saw all the ballhawks out there behind the left-field wall. I told myself 'I can do that.' I played pretty competitive softball in a Jewish youth league (B'nai B'rith Youth Organization) when I was in high school (Trotwood-Madison). Standing outside of Wrigley and not spending money inside was going to be my protest against the baseball strike."

• "I became a diehard and got to know the veterans (like Andy Mielke, Moe Mullins, Dave Davison and Ken Vangeloff, the creator of the Web site Ballhawk.com.) There are six to eight diehards out there every day for the home games. Some became my friends. It's a great piece of Americana. We used to have barbecues, but the cops stopped that after the Sosa-McGwire home run race-circus in 1998 and even more so after 9-11."

• "They called me 'Cincinnati Johnny' because I sometimes wore my Cincinnati Reds cap. When I caught my first home run ball — a home run by Shawon Dunston against the Reds, I threw the ball back onto the field and the other ballhawks were stunned. I would go over to the Sheffield Avenue (right field) side when Ken Griffey Jr. batted. I love the Reds. My parents (Stu and Cherie Rosenstein of Trotwood) took me to my first Reds game at Crosley Field when I was 2 years old. I don't remember anything about that day. Later on, my parents would pull me out of class at 10 a.m. and we would always attend the Reds' opening day. I grew up reading Hal McCoy and listening to the Reds religiously. The Big Red Machine spoiled me."

• "There's no secret, no exact science in catching balls out there. Sure, there's a little strategy involved and luck. I have pretty good hand-eye coordination. During the game, you listen to the PA announcer or look at the scoreboard to see who's batting. For instance, I knew when Glenallen Hill was up, he was known for hitting balls to far left-center field. People in the bleachers would help you, just seeing where they're looking and where the gloves are going and I pick the ball up in the air. There is a rush, an excitement. Fifty percent of my balls were caught on the fly."

• "I had spare balls that I would throw back onto the field when an opponent would hit one out. I've been caught on TV pulling the switcheroo. (There is a unwritten code of honor at Wrigley, which has fans disdainfully tossing back enemy home run balls.) We would inscribe little notes on the throwback balls, scrawling things like, 'Hey, ump, we're getting bored out here.' Or we'd tell the manager, 'Dusty, Play so and so more.' "

• "Sometimes it becomes a scrum. I learned early on to stay away from those. I had a full-time job to go to. During the 1998 season, fans stretched up and down Waveland for the Sosa-Mark McGwire home run chase. A McGwire home run ball was no longer a souvenir. It was a ball worth half-a-million dollars. I never could see myself selling a baseball. You had dozens, hundreds of fans invading our playground. It wasn't fun anymore with the gang-bangers out there, saying if we caught (Sosa's) No. 62, they would chase us down and beat us up. They would smother you and jump you just to get a ($5) baseball. My buddy got caught at the bottom of a pile and couldn't breath. Waveland became a danger zone with the barricades. The ballhawks were in demand from the baseball beat writers who needed a different sidebar story. We were interviewed and featured in Sports Illustrated. I was a pretty hard-core ballhawk that year and I probably missed only four batting practices that year."

• "I've caught 16 Sammy Sosa home runs. I hear other ballhawks saying how many thousands of balls they've caught. They're like fishing stories, there's a lot of exaggeration. I quit counting after my 100th. I give balls to kids, my friends or my parents."

• "My most treasured baseball actually is one I bartered for. When Moises Alou played for the Montreal Expos, I caught one of his home run balls on the last day of the season. After the game he was boarding the bus, I went up to him and told him I had caught the ball. He wanted the ball so I gave it to him. I told him not to forget me the next year. The next year on opening day they had a special commemorative baseball in honor of Jackie Robinson. Alou threw a ball to me in a sanitary sock and I pulled it out and it was a ball with the Robinson logo. I still have it (in mint condition). It's a keepsake. I have about 200 balls boxed up."

• "There's been some celebrity sightings around Wrigleyville. I was alerted that Bono was at a wings and pizza joint around the block. I'm a fan and attended the U2 concert at Soldier Field the Saturday night before. I waited about a half hour, then got on my bike and went over there. Sure enough, here he came with his hat pulled down on a bike riding toward me. I rode up beside him, told him I appreciated his music and we talked about Wrigley and I showed him where we hung out and invited him to spend some time with us. He said, 'I'd like to, but sorry I got another show tonight.' "

• "The makeover, the planned changes at Wrigley (expand bleachers by 1,790 seats, adding five rows) doesn't make the ballhawks happy at all. It's going to cut down a high percentage of the home run balls, perhaps putting an end to ball-hawking on Waveland."