New Camden Yards Zach Hample Videos

[Billy F-Face3]

During the Angels series, it was pointed out that Zach Hample was there. He caught Cedric Mullins' home run. Sure enough, he was making a couple of videos about his time in Camden Yards. He has a good relationship with our Bullpen staff so he was able to help some kids get some souvenirs. He also got acknowledged by Mike Trout.

The Angels series wasn't that long ago and it was alot of fun to watch. Now we get to see the series from different perspectives inside Camden Yards.

 

[Sports Guy]

I have seen this guy mentioned a lot on Twitter. Who is he and why do people care about him?

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I have seen this guy mentioned a lot on Twitter. Who is he and why do people care about him?

Hample is a guy who's made a career off catching baseballs at Major League games.  He caught A-Rod's 3000th hit, then held onto it for a few days deciding if he should auction it off for charity or give it to A-Rod.  IIRC, he gave it to A-Rod after, like, a week of debating about what to do and creating a minor media ****storm.

I believe he also caught Mike Trout's first homer?  He's caught some other significant home runs.  He'll show up early to batting practice and catch balls hit into the stands during BP, he'll ask players to throw him balls before the game.  If it's a player who's Japanese, he'll learn how to say "Can I have that ball?" in Japanese, make a good impression and get that player to toss him a ball.

He's collected several thousands of balls and he's been doing this since the late 90s.  He rubs people the wrong way because he allegedly has got in the way of kids trying to catch balls and "shoved them out of the way" which is the popular war cry on Twitter.  People say he doesn't give kids balls, which I think used to be true but he's softened his stance on that over the years and he's given balls away.

You can also pay him to take you to a game and he'll guarantee that he'll snag you a ball.  He wrote a book on how to catch baseballs at games, giving strategies on where to be for certain players, how to ask players in their native language for balls, etc.  He's appeared on Letterman and some other shows.  

There's a whole subculture with people like this, going to stadiums to snag as many baseballs as they can and Hample is the OG, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, of the whole thing.  This craze probably doesn't exist if it's not for him.

A lot of people hate him, a few people really like him and come to his defense.  One thing he got a lot of **** for was getting into that Fort Bragg game that was meant for military members only.  He got kicked out of Coors Field last year after an usher took umbrage with him and the video he took of it went viral.  He's pretty aggressive at doing what he does.

Here's why I know so much about him; I went to college with him for a little bit so I've kept up with his exploits.  When I was a freshman, he lived on the floor below me and I got to know him a little bit.  He's definitely a quirky guy, you have to be in order to be 45 years old and bringing a glove to a ML stadium and trying to catch balls like a teenager.  

We hung out a few times, he was always cool to me.  I had an 8 Bit NES in my room with some games, he wanted to come up and play Super Mario 1 and hit this secret passageway that he'd heard about but never confirmed if it was legit or not.  We kept trying at it, eventually he did it and then wanted to do it again to take a picture of the screen as proof.  Ran down to his room, got his camera, did it again and took a picture of it.

Hample had an Arkanoid arcade game in his room and at one point, IIRC, he held the world record for points in that game.  He'd organize Scrabble games and was really good at it, I think at one point he was nationally ranked.  He also had this cassette tape of 30 songs where he'd play, like, 10 seconds of each song and quiz you on who the artist was and the name of the song.  But it wasn't good enough to say "Jimi Hendrix," it had to be "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" or else you got it wrong.  His dorm room was covered wall to wall, I mean, completely covered with magazine covers and images torn from magazines that he thought were interesting.  There wasn't a spot uncovered.

The best Hample anecdote was late one night when I was sleeping, it had to be, like, 2 or 3 am.  Someone woke me up and was like "Dude, you gotta go see what Hample did to the 2nd floor bathroom.  Just go."

So I rolled down there, groggy, opened up the door and there was bright colors everywhere.  Hard to see, hard to make out what it was at first.  But in the fashion that he'd decorated his dorm room with wall-to-wall photos of magazine covers and tear outs, he'd completely covered the entire bathroom with porn. 

So that's Zack Hample.  I have a bit of a soft spot for him since he was always cool to me.   I saw him at Camden Yards in like 2007, 2008, he remembered me, we had a nice conversation.  I get why people hate on him, he brings a lot of it on himself but overall I think he's a good dude who's maybe a little misunderstood, yet doesn't do himself any favors. 

[Sports Guy]

I mean, he’s probably douchey and he definitely shouldn’t push kids or something to get balls but people butt hurt over him are probably over the top.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Sports Guy

[Billy F-Face3]

42 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Hample is a guy who's made a career off catching baseballs at Major League games.  He caught A-Rod's 3000th hit, then held onto it for a few days deciding if he should auction it off for charity or give it to A-Rod.  IIRC, he gave it to A-Rod after, like, a week of debating about what to do and creating a minor media ****storm.

I believe he also caught Mike Trout's first homer?  He's caught some other significant home runs.  He'll show up early to batting practice and catch balls hit into the stands during BP, he'll ask players to throw him balls before the game.  If it's a player who's Japanese, he'll learn how to say "Can I have that ball?" in Japanese, make a good impression and get that player to toss him a ball.

He's collected several thousands of balls and he's been doing this since the late 90s.  He rubs people the wrong way because he allegedly has got in the way of kids trying to catch balls and "shoved them out of the way" which is the popular war cry on Twitter.  People say he doesn't give kids balls, which I think used to be true but he's softened his stance on that over the years and he's given balls away.

You can also pay him to take you to a game and he'll guarantee that he'll snag you a ball.  He wrote a book on how to catch baseballs at games, giving strategies on where to be for certain players, how to ask players in their native language for balls, etc.  He's appeared on Letterman and some other shows.  

There's a whole subculture with people like this, going to stadiums to snag as many baseballs as they can and Hample is the OG, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, of the whole thing.  This craze probably doesn't exist if it's not for him.

A lot of people hate him, a few people really like him and come to his defense.  One thing he got a lot of **** for was getting into that Fort Bragg game that was meant for military members only.  He got kicked out of Coors Field last year after an usher took umbrage with him and the video he took of it went viral.  He's pretty aggressive at doing what he does.

Here's why I know so much about him; I went to college with him for a little bit so I've kept up with his exploits.  When I was a freshman, he lived on the floor below me and I got to know him a little bit.  He's definitely a quirky guy, you have to be in order to be 45 years old and bringing a glove to a ML stadium and trying to catch balls like a teenager.  

We hung out a few times, he was always cool to me.  I had an 8 Bit NES in my room with some games, he wanted to come up and play Super Mario 1 and hit this secret passageway that he'd heard about but never confirmed if it was legit or not.  We kept trying at it, eventually he did it and then wanted to do it again to take a picture of the screen as proof.  Ran down to his room, got his camera, did it again and took a picture of it.

Hample had an Arkanoid arcade game in his room and at one point, IIRC, he held the world record for points in that game.  He'd organize Scrabble games and was really good at it, I think at one point he was nationally ranked.  He also had this cassette tape of 30 songs where he'd play, like, 10 seconds of each song and quiz you on who the artist was and the name of the song.  But it wasn't good enough to say "Jimi Hendrix," it had to be "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" or else you got it wrong.  His dorm room was covered wall to wall, I mean, completely covered with magazine covers and images torn from magazines that he thought were interesting.  There wasn't a spot uncovered.

The best Hample anecdote was late one night when I was sleeping, it had to be, like, 2 or 3 am.  Someone woke me up and was like "Dude, you gotta go see what Hample did to the 2nd floor bathroom.  Just go."

So I rolled down there, groggy, opened up the door and there was bright colors everywhere.  Hard to see, hard to make out what it was at first.  But in the fashion that he'd decorated his dorm room with wall-to-wall photos of magazine covers and tear outs, he'd completely covered the entire bathroom with porn. 

So that's Zack Hample.  I have a bit of a soft spot for him since he was always cool to me.   I saw him at Camden Yards in like 2007, 2008, he remembered me, we had a nice conversation.  I get why people hate on him, he brings a lot of it on himself but overall I think he's a good dude who's maybe a little misunderstood, yet doesn't do himself any favors. 

Dang. You've got a complete detailed dossier on him. He should have you write his biography for him.

I only posted the videos because I like seeing Camden Yards from all the different angles and seeing the crowd interacting, after having already seen the game on TV. You don't get to see things inside the stands like this when you're watching the game on TV. Only real way to get that experience is to be at the game.

And on that note... @Tony-OH  I feel that I've received an unjust down ban and doth protest!! [/kidding]

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

Dang. You've got a complete detailed dossier on him. He should have you write his biography for him.

I only posted the videos because I like seeing Camden Yards from all the different angles and seeing the crowd interacting, after having already seen the game on TV. You don't get to see things inside the stands like this when you're watching the game on TV. Only real way to get that experience is to be at the game.

And on that note... @Tony-OH  I feel that I've received an unjust down ban and doth protest!! [/kidding]

Maybe the down vote came from Hample?

[LA2]

11 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Hample is a guy who's made a career off catching baseballs at Major League games.  He caught A-Rod's 3000th hit, then held onto it for a few days deciding if he should auction it off for charity or give it to A-Rod.  IIRC, he gave it to A-Rod after, like, a week of debating about what to do and creating a minor media ****storm.

I believe he also caught Mike Trout's first homer?  He's caught some other significant home runs.  He'll show up early to batting practice and catch balls hit into the stands during BP, he'll ask players to throw him balls before the game.  If it's a player who's Japanese, he'll learn how to say "Can I have that ball?" in Japanese, make a good impression and get that player to toss him a ball.

He's collected several thousands of balls and he's been doing this since the late 90s.  He rubs people the wrong way because he allegedly has got in the way of kids trying to catch balls and "shoved them out of the way" which is the popular war cry on Twitter.  People say he doesn't give kids balls, which I think used to be true but he's softened his stance on that over the years and he's given balls away.

You can also pay him to take you to a game and he'll guarantee that he'll snag you a ball.  He wrote a book on how to catch baseballs at games, giving strategies on where to be for certain players, how to ask players in their native language for balls, etc.  He's appeared on Letterman and some other shows.  

There's a whole subculture with people like this, going to stadiums to snag as many baseballs as they can and Hample is the OG, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, of the whole thing.  This craze probably doesn't exist if it's not for him.

A lot of people hate him, a few people really like him and come to his defense.  One thing he got a lot of **** for was getting into that Fort Bragg game that was meant for military members only.  He got kicked out of Coors Field last year after an usher took umbrage with him and the video he took of it went viral.  He's pretty aggressive at doing what he does.

Here's why I know so much about him; I went to college with him for a little bit so I've kept up with his exploits.  When I was a freshman, he lived on the floor below me and I got to know him a little bit.  He's definitely a quirky guy, you have to be in order to be 45 years old and bringing a glove to a ML stadium and trying to catch balls like a teenager.  

We hung out a few times, he was always cool to me.  I had an 8 Bit NES in my room with some games, he wanted to come up and play Super Mario 1 and hit this secret passageway that he'd heard about but never confirmed if it was legit or not.  We kept trying at it, eventually he did it and then wanted to do it again to take a picture of the screen as proof.  Ran down to his room, got his camera, did it again and took a picture of it.

Hample had an Arkanoid arcade game in his room and at one point, IIRC, he held the world record for points in that game.  He'd organize Scrabble games and was really good at it, I think at one point he was nationally ranked.  He also had this cassette tape of 30 songs where he'd play, like, 10 seconds of each song and quiz you on who the artist was and the name of the song.  But it wasn't good enough to say "Jimi Hendrix," it had to be "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" or else you got it wrong.  His dorm room was covered wall to wall, I mean, completely covered with magazine covers and images torn from magazines that he thought were interesting.  There wasn't a spot uncovered.

The best Hample anecdote was late one night when I was sleeping, it had to be, like, 2 or 3 am.  Someone woke me up and was like "Dude, you gotta go see what Hample did to the 2nd floor bathroom.  Just go."

So I rolled down there, groggy, opened up the door and there was bright colors everywhere.  Hard to see, hard to make out what it was at first.  But in the fashion that he'd decorated his dorm room with wall-to-wall photos of magazine covers and tear outs, he'd completely covered the entire bathroom with porn. 

So that's Zack Hample.  I have a bit of a soft spot for him since he was always cool to me.   I saw him at Camden Yards in like 2007, 2008, he remembered me, we had a nice conversation.  I get why people hate on him, he brings a lot of it on himself but overall I think he's a good dude who's maybe a little misunderstood, yet doesn't do himself any favors. 

Nice storytelling!

[Aristotelian]

11 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Hample is a guy who's made a career off catching baseballs at Major League games.  He caught A-Rod's 3000th hit, then held onto it for a few days deciding if he should auction it off for charity or give it to A-Rod.  IIRC, he gave it to A-Rod after, like, a week of debating about what to do and creating a minor media ****storm.

I believe he also caught Mike Trout's first homer?  He's caught some other significant home runs.  He'll show up early to batting practice and catch balls hit into the stands during BP, he'll ask players to throw him balls before the game.  If it's a player who's Japanese, he'll learn how to say "Can I have that ball?" in Japanese, make a good impression and get that player to toss him a ball.

He's collected several thousands of balls and he's been doing this since the late 90s.  He rubs people the wrong way because he allegedly has got in the way of kids trying to catch balls and "shoved them out of the way" which is the popular war cry on Twitter.  People say he doesn't give kids balls, which I think used to be true but he's softened his stance on that over the years and he's given balls away.

You can also pay him to take you to a game and he'll guarantee that he'll snag you a ball.  He wrote a book on how to catch baseballs at games, giving strategies on where to be for certain players, how to ask players in their native language for balls, etc.  He's appeared on Letterman and some other shows.  

There's a whole subculture with people like this, going to stadiums to snag as many baseballs as they can and Hample is the OG, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, of the whole thing.  This craze probably doesn't exist if it's not for him.

A lot of people hate him, a few people really like him and come to his defense.  One thing he got a lot of **** for was getting into that Fort Bragg game that was meant for military members only.  He got kicked out of Coors Field last year after an usher took umbrage with him and the video he took of it went viral.  He's pretty aggressive at doing what he does.

Here's why I know so much about him; I went to college with him for a little bit so I've kept up with his exploits.  When I was a freshman, he lived on the floor below me and I got to know him a little bit.  He's definitely a quirky guy, you have to be in order to be 45 years old and bringing a glove to a ML stadium and trying to catch balls like a teenager.  

We hung out a few times, he was always cool to me.  I had an 8 Bit NES in my room with some games, he wanted to come up and play Super Mario 1 and hit this secret passageway that he'd heard about but never confirmed if it was legit or not.  We kept trying at it, eventually he did it and then wanted to do it again to take a picture of the screen as proof.  Ran down to his room, got his camera, did it again and took a picture of it.

Hample had an Arkanoid arcade game in his room and at one point, IIRC, he held the world record for points in that game.  He'd organize Scrabble games and was really good at it, I think at one point he was nationally ranked.  He also had this cassette tape of 30 songs where he'd play, like, 10 seconds of each song and quiz you on who the artist was and the name of the song.  But it wasn't good enough to say "Jimi Hendrix," it had to be "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" or else you got it wrong.  His dorm room was covered wall to wall, I mean, completely covered with magazine covers and images torn from magazines that he thought were interesting.  There wasn't a spot uncovered.

The best Hample anecdote was late one night when I was sleeping, it had to be, like, 2 or 3 am.  Someone woke me up and was like "Dude, you gotta go see what Hample did to the 2nd floor bathroom.  Just go."

So I rolled down there, groggy, opened up the door and there was bright colors everywhere.  Hard to see, hard to make out what it was at first.  But in the fashion that he'd decorated his dorm room with wall-to-wall photos of magazine covers and tear outs, he'd completely covered the entire bathroom with porn. 

So that's Zack Hample.  I have a bit of a soft spot for him since he was always cool to me.   I saw him at Camden Yards in like 2007, 2008, he remembered me, we had a nice conversation.  I get why people hate on him, he brings a lot of it on himself but overall I think he's a good dude who's maybe a little misunderstood, yet doesn't do himself any favors. 

This is way more than I ever wanted to know about Hample but pretty cool.