Mt. Prospect pastor gets perfect sendoff

The Rev. Bernie Pietrzak might have grown up in White Sox territory, but his love of that other Chicago baseball club is true Cubby blue.

At St. Raymond Parish in Mount Prospect, where Pietrzak served for 13 years, he flew a Cubs flag and a "W" flag and called his parish bulletin column "From the Friendly Confines."

When the Cubs blew their World Series berth in 2003, he rang the church funeral bells. And he often inserted words of encouragement for his beloved Cubbies into his sermons.

So when Pietrzak was reassigned this summer from St. Raymond to St. Anne parish in Barrington, the St. Raymond community pulled off a perfect parting gift: They managed to get him a chance to throw out the first pitch at the July 30 game against Houston.

He got the news back in May when was called to what he was told was a meeting at the parish Life Center. When he arrived, the assembled students, staff and families broke out into "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

"I was literally speechless," said Pietrzak, 54. "The irony is it's usually very, very difficult to surprise me."

For several days leading up to his big major-league "debut," he practiced his pitch with local schoolchildren and even went over to Barrington High School to get the feel of pitching from a mound. It paid off. From all accounts, he threw a strike.

Pietrzak admitted he was nervous but said having his "ball caddie" - St. Raymond student Gracie Bailey - with him on the Wrigley Field mound helped put him at ease.

On a more serious note, Pietrzak said he was sad to leave St. Raymond but that St. Anne's, where he's been for about three weeks now, has been "welcoming and very gracious."

At St. Anne, he replaces longtime pastor Jack Dewes, while the Rev. Steve Dombrowski has replaced Pietrzak at St. Raymond's.