There is such a thing as a ball-hawking veteran, one of those guys who stands on Waveland Ave. outside Wrigley Field awaiting home run balls. From the Chicago Suntimes:
''A game like this, it's harder,'' Dave Miedema of Berwyn, a 10-year ball-hawking veteran, said as he stood on the Waveland sidewalk Wednesday. ''A regular game, if it's not against a popular opponent, there are only four or five people out here. And tonight, you've got seven or eight guys who know what they're doing, how to catch a baseball, how to play it. A lot of people, unless it comes right to them, are never going to get a ball. All they do is get in the way. On a night like this, you've got to be careful.''