John Witt

John Witt (born August 25, 1969) is an American baseball collector and author. He claims to have caught over 5,000 baseballs at professional baseball games over the past 40 years. Witt is also an author, baseball columnist, and actor.

Early life Witt was born on August 25, 1969. He caught his first ball at age seven, during a Chicago White Sox game at Comiskey Park in 1977. For over two decades, Witt has worked for minor league teams as a clubhouse attendant, concession stand manager, and operations director; he has also handled marketing and sales. 101 of the MLB balls are actual game home runs from Major League baseball games.

On September 13, 1998, he grabbed Sammy Sosa's 61st home run ball at Wrigley Field in Chicago. a fellow ballhawk, for safety. Witt later sold the ball for $7,500 to a collector in Chicago, who returned the ball to Sosa one week later.

Witt has also caught other memorable and historic home run balls over the years, including Dave Winfield's 450th career home run, He also appeared in advertisements for Levi Strauss & Co. in 1990.

Charitable work In 2009 Witt worked with the Orange County, California chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving to create Baseballs 4 MADD. Pledges were made for each baseball that Witt caught during the 2009 baseball season. Catching a total of 113 in 2009, Witt helped raise $778 for MADD's mission to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime, and prevent underage drinking.

Writing Witt's book, Taking Home a Piece of the Game, was self-published through Createspace in 2009. Witt is also a columnist for the website Mygameballs.com and has written articles for various other baseball outlets.