Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette Doug Rohrkaste, 38, of Evans City, holds the three foul balls he caught at the Pirates' June 22 home game against the Washington Nationals. Click photo for larger image.

In the 30 or so years Doug Rohrkaste has attended Pirates games, he never once snagged a foul ball as a souvenir.

"Never even came close," he said.

But, in an extraordinary sequence June 22, Rohrkaste grabbed a souvenir off the bat of Jason Bay, then snared two more balls on consecutive pitches to Jack Wilson an inning later. That trifecta occurred within about 15 minutes.

"It was one of the most amazing things that ever happened to me," said Rohrkaste, 38, an Evans City resident who works in risk management for Federated Investors. "The thing that was so unusual was I never had to move more than an arm's length for any of them."

No one knows for sure if such a feat has happened before or what the mathematical odds are, but Rohrkaste has contacted the Guinness Book of World Records, which heretofore has not included a category of foul balls caught in the shortest amount of time.

Among those who specialize in collecting souvenir baseballs -- yes, baseball has such fanatics -- it's considered incredible.

"My God, that's amazing," said Zack Hample, who has gobbled up more than 2,500 home runs, foul pops, batting practice extras and the occasional goodwill gesture over the past 15 years. "I know of just a few people who've gotten three balls in a game."

Hample should know. The Manhattan native wrote the book on the subject "How to Snag Major League Baseballs."

In a day game against the Nationals June 22, Rohrkaste was perched in the club seats with a friend in Section 212, Row B, Seats 12 and 13, a little down the first-base line from home plate, about where the visitors dugout begins.

Before Bay homered in the first inning, he fouled one back right at Rohrkaste and his host, Mike Donohue.

"Here comes one," Donohue said.

And sure enough, Rohrkaste -- who didn't carry a glove to the game -- stuck out his right hand. Catching the first memento of his life would have made his day.

"I never had to get out of the seat. I had a Bloody Mary in my left hand and snagged it with my right," he said.

Rohrkaste received the obligatory applause from fellow fans who appreciated his fielding acumen and settled back down to watch the game.

Then, in the bottom of the second, Wilson fouled one back.

"Here comes another one," Donohue said.

It landed in Row A, and Rohrkaste gobbled it up.

Seconds later, on the very next delivery, Wilson sent another ball out of play.

"Here comes another one," Donohue said.

Rohrkaste was stuffing the first two in the cargo pockets of his shorts when the third one landed just in front of him.

"I barely even sat down. I didn't have time to think," he said.

Fans in adjoining sections cheered as Rohrkaste held the three trophies aloft. In no time at all, he was shaking more hands than a politician in a receiving line.

"I was being mobbed. It never really hit me how truly unusual this was until after the game, and people were still coming up to me outside the ballpark and saying, 'Hey, you're the guy who caught all those foul balls,' " Rohrkaste said.

It will be several weeks before he hears back from Guinness, which receives and processes 40,000 claims a year on various feats. And he's contacted math experts to calculate the odds of baseballs popping out like pingpong balls in a lottery machine.

In the meantime, he has the three baseballs on the mantle above his fireplace, along with the ticket stub from the game. He'd like to get the souvenirs autographed and procure any video clips, although the game was not televised locally.

"It was phenomenal," said Donohue, a season ticket-holder for 20 years who has 22 souvenir baseballs in his collection. "It was his 15 minutes of fame."

Those 15 minutes of fame were just down river from the museum of the pop artist Andy Warhol, who left the world that legacy.