Baseball possibly bans ball-collecting freak...

[MCEchan36]

Rumor has it from one of my sources that all Major League ballparks has banned Zack Hample (aka: that ball-collecting lunatic) from all future games, probably because of various complaints from other fans and him being dumb enough to publicize his laughable exploits. I will disseminate any details that come along the way. I sooooooooo hope this is true.


If you ever wanted to hate someone at the ballpark, here's your chance:

 

[Ace]

Oh. I thought this was about somone else. Sorry.

 

[MCEchan36]

No, not THAT freak. He was just re-upped for $16 mil by the Jints.

 

[Chi City 81]

I wonder what Zack has to say on his Web site.

 

[Angola!]

I just wasted 15 minutes of my life reading about that idiot. I always thought it was cool if you caught a ball and really lame if you were one of those people that used devices to reach over the wall and pick them up.

 

[buckweaver]

I just wasted 15 minutes of my life reading about that idiot. I always thought it was cool if you caught a ball and really lame if you were one of those people that used devices to reach over the wall and pick them up.

Agree whole-heartedly.

As a kid -- or if I have kids -- I'd never be caught dead using a cup and a rope (or any other device) to get a ball at BP. There's an art to catching BP balls, whether it's convincing a player to throw one to you, or strategically picking the right place in the left-field stands where it bounces just right.

I've got a place in mind where that kid can collect some balls. **** that ****.

 

[MCEchan36]

For all MLB beat writers that go on here: if you happen to be friendly with any players, especially NLers, PLEASE tell them about this guy and BEG them not to give Zackie boy any balls. Have them spread the word to their teammates. He must be stopped!

 

[Cousin Jeffrey]

I doubt any ban could hold up in court. It would also be a bad PR move. Not that the dude doesn't deserve one.

 

[MCEchan36]

Damn, we were just talking about that in my shop. And you know that attention ***** would also write another book and include that whole ordeal. He'd be a sports fan martyr.

 

[beefncheddar]

Wow. What a .... um, yeah.

Mustardbased's rules on the subject:
1. No asking, begging, pleading for a ball.
2. BP balls don't count.
3. Balls given to you don't count.
4. Balls caught with any bull**** device don't count.

Mustardbased's total: 1
And I can tell you pretty much anything you need to know about catching it. Was one of the thrills of my childhood.

 

[Starman]

I doubt any ban could hold up in court. It would also be a bad PR move. Not that the dude doesn't deserve one.

Oh, it most certainly WOULD hold up in court. As long as the moron can't hire a lawyer and try to prove he's being banned for race, creed, gender, etc etc or any other defendible legal status, the teams are on very safe ground.

The fine print on the back of every ticket gives them pretty much nearly unlimited authority to refuse admittance/eject any spectator who, in the club's view, is disrupting the enjoyment or safety of others.

 

[buckweaver]

See, I always liked catching them at BP. Got at least a couple dozen of them that way, and all of them by respectable measures.

And I can still tell you, in great detail, exactly which players had the courtesy to throw me a baseball before a game when I was a kid (Kirby Puckett was the first, when I was 5. I squeezed my glove too early; it dropped back down to the outfield. He laughed, jogged over to the fence, threw it back up to my dad and pointed at me, to make sure it was given to me. He smiled afterward, waved, and ran back toward center field. I'll never forget him for that.)

But going by mustard's standards, I've caught 1, too.

 

[MCEchan36]

I had one thrown to me during BP at Game 1 of the '98 Series by Andy Pettitte. It was the first time anyone had ever thrown me a ball and then I did something that would have laid Zackie-boy out in a freakin' coma: I turned around and gave it to my little sister, who was at her first baseball game ever.


A few years later, she had it autographed by Sir Sidney Ponson. D'oh!

Anyway, at times, I wonder if Zack reads (or even knows about) this site. Too bad he wouldn't pick up on any criticism, though. The dude has serious issues when it comes to letting go of both his child-hood and obsessions. He's also probably the reason why Manny Ramirez always asks to be traded: Zack's such a stalker that he's scared ManRam out of Boston.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

Rickey Henderson threw me a ball during BP when I was a kid. It was the night after Nolan Ryan notched his 5,000th strikeout. I really love that ball.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

I thought this was about Peter King.

 

[MCEchan36]

LJB, I'd hide that some place safe and secret. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple nights from now, a bald-headed geek breaks into your house, steals it, and pushes your kid down a flight of stairs just for the hell of it.

What? You don't have a kid? That's all right, he'll just take one of your neighbors' little ones and use him/her instead. ;D ;D ;D

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

You can have it (and you can push the kid down the stairs), just don't touch the rare books.

You can also have the foul ball I caught off the fearsome bat of Bob Kipper

 

[Flying Headbutt]

I thought this was about Peter King.

Hiyoooo!!!

 

[CarlSpackler]

Rickey Henderson threw me a ball during BP when I was a kid. It was the night after Nolan Ryan notched his 5,000th strikeout. I really love that ball.

Never caught a ball, although one time at County Stadium, Rickey flipped my section the bird when I was sitting the bleachers. So that was just as cool in my book.

 

[playthrough]

When I was 11 or so I caught a screaming line-drive BP homer from Darryl Strawberry that almost took my head off. Didn't move a step and it just hit my glove. I'm prouder of that than the one in-game foul ball I got that was tipped by my Dad into my lap.

As for the Hample thing, I don't see quite how a ban actually would work. Would MLB put his face on a WANTED poster and hang it at every turnstile in the league?