Zachary Benjamin Hample (born September 14, 1977) is a Major League baseball collector. He claims that he has collected more than 10,000 baseballs from major league stadiums in North America, including Alex Rodriguez's 3,000th career hit and Mike Trout's first career home run.

Hample has faced criticism from sportswriters, players, and fans, some of whom have pointed out that he has been seen bumping children out of his way in efforts to grab baseballs. He has been banned from three different stadiums.

His father was writer Stoo Hample.[1]

Baseball collection [ edit ]

Hample claims to have collected more than 10,000 baseballs from 53 different major league stadiums as of April 16, 2018, including 54 game home runs.[2]

Writing [ edit ]

Hample has written three books. The first, How to Snag Major League Baseballs, was published by Simon & Schuster in 1999 when he was a junior at Guilford College. The second, Watching Baseball Smarter, was published by Random House in 2007. His third book, The Baseball, also published by Random House, was released on March 8, 2011. Hample, a writer for minorleaguebaseball.com from 2005 to 2007, contributed the foreword to Major League Baseball: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports in 2008 and wrote the introduction for Baseball Scorekeeper in 2011.[citation needed]

Fundraising activities [ edit ]

Since 2009, Hample has been raising money for Pitch in for Baseball, a non-profit charity that provides baseball and softball equipment to underprivileged children all over the world.[22][23][24] With help from his fans, who pledge money for every baseball that he snags at Major League stadiums, and from BIGS Sunflower Seeds, who sponsored him during the 2013 season,[25] In July 2015, Hample gave Alex Rodriguez the ball from his 3,000th hit in exchange for the Yankees donating $150,000 to Pitch In For Baseball.[26][27][28] According to Pitch in for Baseball, Hample has raised "tens of thousands" of dollars for the organization.[29]

Helicopter stunt [ edit ]

On July 2, 2012, Hample attempted to break a world record by catching a baseball dropped from a helicopter 1,000 feet above LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Massachusetts.[30] Wearing catcher's gear that was donated by Rawlings, Hample established a record by catching a softball dropped from a height of 312 feet. He then caught baseballs dropped from heights of 312 feet, 562 feet, and 822 feet before the Federal Aviation Administration called off the stunt due to strong winds.[31][32] The 822-foot catch was initially thought to be 762 feet, but a discrepancy in the altimeter settings, which was captured on video and discovered months later, added 60 feet to the altitude. On July 13, 2013, Hample made another attempt at LeLacheur Park and succeeded in catching a baseball dropped from an altitude of 1,050 feet.[33][34][35]

Criticism [ edit ]

Hample has faced criticism from sportswriters, players, and fans, some of whom have pointed out that he has been seen bumping children out of his way in efforts to grab baseballs.[36][37]

Clayton Kershaw once refused to give Hample a ball; Hample tweeted that when he asked Kershaw for the ball, Kershaw told him no because Hample already had "7000 of 'em."[38]

Hample has been banned from three different baseball stadiums due to his aggressive pursuit of baseballs.[39]

Fort Bragg Game [ edit ]

Hample acquired a ticket to the Fort Bragg Game on July 3, 2016, at Fort Bragg Stadium that was meant for active duty military personnel and their friends and families.[40] After he came under widespread criticism for taking the ticket, Hample quickly announced that he would donate $100 for every ball he collected to a charity for military veterans.[41] Hample claimed to have caught 11 balls and claimed he would donate $1,100 to AMVETS.[42] He posted a lengthy apology on Twitter, which CBS sportwriter Mike Axisa stated "boils down to 'I'm sorry but I really wanted to go.'"[43][42]

Video games [ edit ]

Hample, a competitive video game player, appeared briefly in the 2007 documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. According to Twin Galaxies, he holds official world records on half a dozen classic video games including Breakout (896 points) and Arkanoid (1,658,110 points).[44][45][46]

Rubber band ball [ edit ]

Hample owns a large rubber band ball, which, according to the Daily Mail, he started building at the age of three.[47] As stated on Reddit in 2013, the ball had reached a weight of 250 pounds and was still growing.[48] In 2014 Hample appeared with the ball on the Daily Planet show on Discovery Channel Canada. The ball weighed 259 pounds and bounced more than halfway up when rolled off a forklift from a height of eight feet. The ball weighs 305 pounds as of May 2018.[citation needed]