PITTSBURGH — Sometimes Joe Klimchak has to pinch himself.

Is this a dream? The Grove City resident asks, gazing around PNC Park, the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and his second home during the baseball season.

"Honestly, I feel like I'm going to wake up, and I'm going to be sitting in the 600 level of Three Rivers Stadium trying to see into the press box," Klimchak says. "It's surreal sometimes."

Klimchak, though, comes to the conclusion that all of this is real and it's not some kind of fantasy.

The 1991 Grove CityCollege graduate grew up in Aliquippa and was a left-handed pitcher for Center Area HighSchool. But his throwing arm didn't get him to PNC Park and the major leagues.

His voice, smile and charisma got him there as the Pirates' ballpark host.

It's a position Klimchak spent 12 years climbing toward and one that was created by the Bucs before this season as an experiment.

"It's a step up from last year," said Klimchak, whose only exposure to the PNC Park fans in 2005 was as host of the Baseball Quiz. "This year, it was expanded a little bit."

At the end of last season, the Pirates told Klimchak of their idea for a ballpark host —a popular position in NHL and NBA arenas, but one that's slow to blossom at major league parks.

In March, the club told Klimchak that it was going to give the position a go and that he was the man for the job.

"They said they were going to give it a shot, but with no guarantees as far as how long they would do it," he said. "I think they were going to give it at least a month. It's so new and a lot of people don't like change."

Four months later, Klimchak is a fixture at every home game.

He introduces the special guests and ceremonies before each game and still runs the Ballpark Quiz and Box of Mystery contests.

"I'm getting a lot of exposure," Klimchak said. "There's no hiding on that big video board. If you're having a down night, you can't hide."

Klimchak started with the Pirates as a backup public address announcer in 1994.

When the Bucs moved into PNC Park in 2001, his duties grew. He became a member of the scoreboard staff that is in charge of in-game graphics and statistics that appear on the Jumbotron.

He also donned a perogie suit during the popular fifth-inning races from time to time.

But nothing has compared to being ballpark host.

During All-Star weekend, Klimchak got to interview of the men he grew up idolizing, including Ozzie Smith, Gary Carter and Ferguson Jenkins. He also got to interview Chris Berman and Ozzie Guillen.

"That was my job from 5 to 7 All-Star night," Klimchak said. "I learned about that at 3 p.m. I was (in the press box) furiously going through the All-Star media guide so I'd have at least one good question to ask them."

Perhaps the most entertaining and unpredictable part of Klimchak's night these days is the Box of Mystery.

A participant is asked a multiple choice Pirates trivia question. If he gets the question right, he wins a Pirates' jacket. If he gets it wrong, he wins a Pirates' hat.

The twist is he can chose to give up the jacket or the hat and win what is in the Box of Mystery instead.

"I'm amazed at how almost everyone — almost 90 percent — who get the answer right trade it in for the Box of Mystery," Klimchak said. "It's the allure of the unknown. It could be that big prize. Unfortunately, some of the time it's clam juice or pigs feet."

Klimchak is self-employed, designing Web sites and doing freelance radio broadcasting. That gives him the flexibility to work every Pirates home game during the season.

He was the sports Informationdirector at Grove City College for 12 years, so his young family, wife Jennifer and daughter Adrienne, whom the couple adopted fromChina, are used to his erratic schedule.

"My wife is the most patient person in the world," Klimchak said. "I try to make the time at home quality time."

Klimchak said he still gets shivers when he walks down the tunnel and up the dugout steps onto the field.

"It's incredibly fun. It's an incredible thrill," he said. "I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. I can't see myself walking away from this. To me, I think this is the best gig in the ballpark."