BUTLER TWP — A celebration of baseball — and a battle for life — will take place June 30 at Alameda Park.

The Potter Baseball Tour is organizing a drive to break the Guinness world record for most people playing catch at one time. The organization is raising money for CureSearch at the same time.

Alameda Park is one of numerous sites across the country participating in the record attempt.

CureSearch is a non-profit organization that does research on pediatric cancer. Approximately 43 kids a day are diagnosed with cancer nationwide.

The Potter Tour puts together kids from Pennsylvania and neighboring states to spend a month-long trip making stops in those states to play pick-up baseball games, put on clinics and do charitable work in the communities.

“We actually learned about CureSearch during a stop in Butler,” Tour director Jeff Potter said. “Wesley Zablocki (of East Butler) was a youth ballplayer who lost his fight with cancer.

“Much of what we're doing is with his name in mind.”

Wesley, 11, died in March of 2015.

The Potter Tour had originally planned on breaking the Guinness record on June 30 of last year in Red Lion, but the COVID-19 pandemic foiled those plans. The pandemic forced Potter to adjust the record quest this year.

“We decided to do it virtually,” he said. “No one was comfortable with trying to set the record with so many people tightly lined up in one place.”

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

Even done virtually, Potter said the new record will stand if this drive surpasses that mark.

“As far as I know, it will count. I haven't heard otherwise,” he said.

Thus far, 50 locations covering at least nine states have been established for the record attempt. Everyone will begin playing catch with a partner at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

Sites are set to go in Indiana, California, Ohio, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey and Michigan, along with Pennsylvania.

Maribeth Wethli, an East Butler resident whose son, Gavin, will begin his third year with the Potter Tour this summer, is coordinating the playing-catch site at Alameda Park in Butler.

“My son knew Wesley,” Wethli said. “He played baseball with him when they were little.”

Gavin is in eighth-grade now. He will be participating in the playing-catch record that day at Alameda Park. This year's Potter Tour runs from June 29 through July 30.

Wethli said she hasn't gotten too many sign-ups yet, “but I'm just getting into getting that going.”

Anyone interested in being part of the record attempt may contact Wethli at 724-790-7092 or email her at brownidegirl1015@gmail.com.

Fee to participate is $10 for those 13 and older, $5 for those 12 and under. Participants should arrive at Alameda at 6:30 p.m. for check-in.

Simply bring a baseball and a glove and you're good to go.

“Every penny of the money raised goes right to CureSearch,” Potter emphasized. “Nobody is making any money off of this. It's all volunteer.”

The Potter Tour is accustomed to such ventures. The kids on the Tour work on community projects all day long while squeezing in baseball activities along the way.

“Twenty percent of it is baseball, 80 percent of it is community work,” Gavin said of the Tour. “You get a little tired, but we're helping people in need and that's fun for me.”

Gavin is the only Butler youth on the Potter Tour this year.

“He's always been interested in non-competitive baseball and did work with the Potter Tour when it came to town when he was younger,” Wethli said of her son. “Gavin couldn't wait to travel with them.

“It's a tremendous program. The kids stay with host families. They are well taken care of and they learn the value and importance of helping others.”

Participation in the playing catch record is not limited to gender or any age.

“If you can stand eight feet apart, throw and catch a baseball, you can do this,” Potter said. “And we're going to have virtual monitors set up so people can see other sites playing catch at the same time.

“Some places are doing pick-up ganes before or afterwards, having a cookout ... It's not just play catch for a few minutes and go home. This is about people getting together again and having a social celebration.”

Gavin, for one, can't wait to participate.

“It's for Wesley and it's for a good cause,” he said.