District Boy Snags Ball Number 200
Huge Game at Nationals Park Results in Milestone Baseball
by Alan Schuster, September 28, 2009District Boy commemorates the occasion with an artistic display.The guys on the field at Nationals Park haven't had much success this year; if fact, the only real success at the stadium belongs to the guys in the bleachers. Yes, Nationals fans couldn't count on their hometown team to put up W's, but the one thing they could count on was leaving the park with pockets full of baseballs. Throughout the season, ballhawks of all experience levels have posted double-digit games at Nationals Park. Friday night was no exception as Aaron King, AKA District Boy, snagged 13 balls including his 200th of the season. It was a satisfying achievement for King, whose goal was to finish the year with at least 200. "Getting 200 balls in a season, I felt, was the appropriate next step for me after snagging 99 and 179 balls the last two seasons," he said. The 200th ball came on a toss-up from Reid Gorecki. It was his 12th ball of the day, and he snagged one more BP home run to finish the day with 13. Of the 13 balls, 5 were hit and 8 were thrown. In addition to the baseballs, King also managed to collect some other memorabilia as well. "I'd have to say that this week was the best of my baseball career," he said. "I didn't break any single-game or weekly records, but, along with 37 baseballs, I collected three batting gloves, including a Chipper Jones gamer." Now with 492 career baseballs, another big milestone is within sight. "And you guessed it, my goal for this last home series is to snag career #500," he said. "All these numbers really put in perspective for me how great other ballhawks' season and careers have been though." Of course, at only 14 years old, District Boy has a long career ahead of himself and could end up snagging just as many balls as some of the great ballhawks that he stands in awe of now. Check out District Boy's complete collection on his Member Page.