Armed and anxious
This is the third in a series of articles profiling the 2018 inductees into the Butler County Sports Hall of FamePITTSBURGH— Pitching and Rob Fester just go together.Along with winning.Fester, 52, has pitched and won baseball games — plenty of them — for Mars High School, Point Park College and the Mars entrant in the Eagle County League.Already a member of the Mars High School and Point Park Halls of Fame, he will be inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame at the organization's annual banquet at 6 p.m. April 28 at the Lyndora American Legion Hall.“I'm very humbled by this. It's hard for me to find the right words,” Fester said. “It's really an honor and I owe it to so many great guys I've played ball with.“I could name a thousand of them.”A 1983 Mars graduate, Fester set the Planets' single-season victory record that spring with nine. He is second in school history in career wins and strikeouts.Fester went on to pitch at Point Park College and helped the team make a pair of NAIA College World Series appearances. The Pioneers were ranked third in the nation in 1985, second in 1986.He was also part of the Point Park team that won a then-collegiate record 37 consecutive games.“I got to go the World Series twice in college. I played in a two-week tournament in Russia while I played in the Pittsburgh Federation League,” Fester said. “I'll never forget that stuff.“Baseball has enabled me to experience a lot of different things in my life.”Fester has pitched in the Eagle County League — primarily with Mars — since 1982. He has been a part of 17 league championship teams in that circuit.His win total?“I have no idea,” he said. “I never kept track of that stuff. All I cared about was going out there and winning.“Looking back on it more and more, I wish I had appreciated those moments more, all of the great teammates I had and great opponents I faced. I appreciate them now. It's no longer about winning for me. It's being able to go out there and compete, hang out with the guys, still be a part of it.”Fester pitched for Mars in Eagle County from 1982-86 and from 1995 to present. He pitched for the Butler Yankees from 1987 through 1994.He's undergone two elbow, two shoulder and two knee surgeries over the years. Fester's most recent surgery was as knee replacement two years ago.“I'm a UPS man, so my job is pretty physical, too,” he said. “Those operations enabled me to go back to work and keep playing ball.“It was the combination of work and baseball that necessitated me staying healthy enough for both.”When Fester is inducted into the county Hall of Fame, he will join longtime friend and teammate Mike Sheehy. Like Fester, Sheehy enjoyed a lengthy Eagle County baseball career and was inducted into the BCSHOF in 2016.“Mike is one of my best friends,” Fester said. “Since Little League, we've been playing ball together. He's a great person and to be able to be in that Hall of Fame alongside him is very special to me.”Fester still isn't ready to call it a career.“I plan to play baseball as long as I can — or as long as they'll have me,” he said.Tickets to the BCSHOF banquet are available at Moses Jewelers at the Clearview Mall, Snack n' Pack in Butler, Saxonburg Drug, Parker's Appliance in Chicora and Maddalon Jewelers in Zelienople.
