Veteran “Ballhawk”, John Witt, has caught 5,023 baseballs at professional baseball games over the past 34 baseball seasons. As a huge baseball fan, a friend to a victim of a drunk driving crash and after the events of April 9th, 2009 and the tragic death of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart he felt that there was something he had to do.
In 2009 Mr. Witt came up with the idea of raising money for MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) through his “Ballhawking”. During the 2009 season Witt grabbed 118 baseballs which lead to the donation of nearly $700.00 to the Orange County Chapter of MADD. Witt’s goal for the 2010 season is to raise more than double the 2009 total. His goal is to reach 200 baseballs caught this season and pledges of totaling at least $10 per baseball caught to raise no less than $2,000 this season.
Pledges will cover ALL Major League Baseballs and Minor League Baseballs that John Witt catches from Spring Training in March through the entire 2010 baseball season including the Playoffs and World Series. John’s overall goal is set high as he hopes to raise $10,000 for MADD. This is where we hope friends of MADD, concerned citizens, fellow ballhawks, baseball fans, baseball players, and everyone else will come through and make a pledge on each baseball that John Witt will catch this summer.
With the money that is raised through John Witt’s Ballhawking effort, will enable MADD to raise awareness and help victims of this violent crime, drunk driving. Pledge information will remain private and only a name, website/company, and pledge amount will be listed on John Witt’s website. All pledges will be handled directly by MADD Orange County, California chapter.
Making a pledge only takes a minute. If you would like to make a pledge please go to the following link: http://mlballhawk.com/Baseballs_4_MADD.html
MADD’s mission is to eliminate drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking. MADD is a 501(c)(3) charity with approximately 400 offices and 2 million members and supporters nationwide. Founded in 1980, MADD has helped save more than 330,000 lives.
2010 Balls Caught
ST Balls 1
MLB Balls 43
MiLB Balls 26
Total Balls 70
Career Totals
MLB Balls (RS) 2,963
MLB Balls (ST) 924
MLB Total 3,887
MiLB Balls 1,169
Total Balls 5,056
MLB Game HR's*= 101
*includes MLB regular season, playoffs, world series, All Star and WBC games