Novato Native Tells His Balldude Tale

Mike Pechner is known around the Bay Area as a longtime weatherman from KCBS radio. But old-timers in Novato know that his family was key to the city's incorporation back in 1960 and that Mike has been a big supporter of as well as getting the trains running again on our local tracks.

You might not know that Pechner, 64, is a huge baseball fan and tireless advocate for the Giants Community Fund, which raises money for youth baseball teams all over Northern California. Through that connection, he has become a regular "balldude" at home Giants games, shagging wayward balls while sitting on a stool in foul terrority down the foul lines.

Pechner lived in Novato from 1946 to 1966. His father, Fred, teamed with Betty Machado and only a few others to collect the 1,500 signatures to incorporate Novato in 1960. 

Pechner said he remembers playing Little league at old Piniero Field in Novato between Olive and Atherton avenues. Later he was the student manager of the Novato High varsity team. He is a 1965 NHS grad.

The Vallejo Times-Herald just did a story about Pechner, so have a look.