RED LION — Aaron Rekich can remember his childhood, playing catch with his dad.

The 2000 Butler graduate and former Golden Tornado baseball player hopes to do it again June 30 at Pleasant View Elementary School in Red Lion — as part of history.

Jeff Potter, whose Potter Baseball Tour has annually come through Butler over the past few years, is teaming up with Red Lion High School coach Kevin Lawrence, the Tripletown Aces Baseball organization and the Windsor Township Recreation in an attempt to break a Guinness world record.

Most people playing catch at one site at one time.

Rekich, now executive director of the Meadville Recreation Complex, knows Potter through amateur baseball circles. That's how he received word of the record-breaking attempt.

“I love it,” Rekich said. “What a sense of community, of bringing people together, this is. If we're back to normalcy by then, the record would be well-timed, too.

“I can't think of a better way to celebrate the end of this pandemic.”

The Guinness record for most people playing catch at one time at one location is 1,944. The mark was set at a Dadfest event June 18, 2017, in Chicago, as part of a Father's Day celebration.

Before that, the record was established at a Cincinnati Reds game July 9, 2015.

“We're still planning to do this June 30,” Potter said of breaking the record. “Our tour will be in Red Lion from then until July 2. If we have to move the date back, we'll adjust our tour and do it later in the summer.”

A website is being constructed by event organizers at which interested participants may sign up to attend and play catch.

Anyone is welcome, males and females of all ages. The lone requirement is to bring a baseball and a glove.

“We're trying to spread the word in Meadville and through Butler,” Rekich said. “We may organize a bus load to bring out there.”

A full day of events are being organized for June 30, with the record-breaking game of catch slated for 6:30 p.m.

“There are rules we have to adhere to,” Potter said of the record. “A Guinness official has to be on hand to witness and verify. We have to pay $600 to bring that official in and we're going to pay. We want this record to count.”

The people playing catch must stand at least nine feet apart. A supervisor will oversee each group of 50 to make sure everyone is continually playing catch for a minimum five-minute period.

“We'll need 40 of those people (supervisors). We're organizing that group now,” Potter said. “We will have 50-person pods marked off by letters and every participant will be assigned a spot.

“For example, if you are C32, you will be in the third pod as the 32nd person.”

Rekich owns his own baseball bat business, RLCbats, and will be selling commemorative souvenir bats on site for the record-breaking day.

“The Guinness World Record is a copyright, so I can't put those words on the bats,” Rekich said. “But I'll come up with some type of wording to document the occasion.”

He's just happy to be part of it.

“It's exciting. We're celebrating baseball and community,” Rekich said.

As long as the pandemic allows community to happen.

“Whether it's June 30 or at a later date, we're going to pull this off,” Potter said.