A favorite among the MLB strikers with a power of the warning track, the notorious Ballhawk Zack Hample has once again transformed a potential into Home Run by reaching the outside wall and by ostensibly interfering with the game.
The latest incident took place at George Mr. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa on Tuesday, the New York Yankees Spring Training Center where Rays play home games in 2025 after the hurricanes damaged Tropicana Field.
With Shane Baz de Tampa Bay on the mound, the second goal of Los Angeles Angels, Kyren Paris, launched a deep fly towards the left center, where Hample easily reached the wall and hung the forecast of the left field player of the Christopher Morel rays.
The referees went to the video review, but did not find enough evidence of interference from the fans to overthrow the third Paris circuit of the young season.
Unfortunately for the Rays, it turned out to be the difference in the game because they fell, 4-3, to open their 13-game house.
Fans have traditionally smoked the capacity to transform potentials into Home Runs.
Hample (in gray) had its glove in the field of the center left while the deep fly of Paris reached the wall
Zack Hample is photographed on the program of this evening of Jay Leno in 2008
“ I am serious, this guy must be prohibited for life ” wrote a critic on X.
Another added: “It’s (sic) actually impressive how boring this guy is.”
Others felt that Morel simply failed on the ball on the warning track.
“ I hate Zack Hample as much as anyone but Morel literally jumped and missed the ball ?? One asked.
Many others have said they were guilty of “fans interference”, which is ejection reasons under MLB rules.
Hample, 47, describes himself as a pro to catch bullets at home. He wrote books on art and hung thousands of baseball bullets in stadiums across the country.
In 2013, the Yankees season holder caught two circuits in one game. And two years later, he was in the Bronx to catch the 3,000th hit of Alex Rodriguez – a home run for the stands of the right field.
“I looked down and the ball was at my feet,” he told the Associated Press at the time. “He turned away, and he almost touched my shoe.
Hample did not immediately return this ball despite the pleads of the organization of the Yankees, which was much easier to recover the 3,000th derek to throw years earlier.
Hample Pose for a photo with Alex Rodriguez # 13 New York Yankees after giving Rodriguez the ball of his 3000th blow to Yankee Stadium on July 3, 2015 in the Bronx
“My intention from the start, I imagined this scenario in one million, it was not to return it,” said Hample to journalists. “You know, just because the guy who has (Derek) the 3,000th blow to throw away, many people have called him an idiot. Many people said he was a wonderful and extremely generous person. And I really think that everything you want to make of it is your choice.
“I think someone like Derek throw or Alex Rodriguez, who has made half a billion dollars in his career, does not really need a favor of a normal civilian and a fan like me. I don’t know at the moment if I’m going to sell it. I mean, according to what the Yankees could offer, I would plan to return it.
“I do not give it back to-I do not intend to return it for a chance to meet him and full bats because I do not collect bats, I collect baseball balls. The simple fact of having this ball is so significant for me. I can’t believe I got it.
In the end, Hample offered the ball in Rodriguez and the Yankees donated $ 150,000 to launch for baseball, a charity supported by the notorious Ballhawk.
