Zack Hample has made a name for himself as a “ballhawk”, traveling to as many stadiums as possible to catch foul balls, home run balls, balls tossed into the crowd, batting practice shots, and more.
He’s been accused of strong-arming his way in front of kids to do so, and made headlines recently after he got into a bit of a squabble with Deadspin. An endless self-promoter, he apparently wormed his way in to Sunday’s special MLB game staged at Fort Bragg. The crowd was supposed to be made up entirely of military members and their families, but Hample had reached out on social media (if we’re interpreting a screenshot correctly there, that includes Tinder) making offers to buy his way in.
And he apparently did so, bragging (no pun) about his attendance:
I just snagged a baseball at my 52nd MLB stadium. So excited to be here at Fort Bragg! pic.twitter.com/xT46d6jhIO
— Zack Hample (@zack_hample) July 3, 2016
He made an attempt to couch his mission as charity, while at the same time completely missing the point as to why people might be mad at him:
I've decided to donate $100 per baseball that I snag today to https://t.co/B7S73jb999. I'm also giving all my balls away today except one.
— Zack Hample (@zack_hample) July 3, 2016
First of all, you shouldn’t be there! Second, you’re still keeping a ball, and every ball you grab is a ball a kid or family didn’t get to catch themselves.
The response, well, was not good:
https://twitter.com/Tom_Howie_Jarv/status/749771163656749058
https://twitter.com/Bravesmeme/status/749770915777486848
Always liked you & defended you, but this is despicable. You're literally stealing from armed service members & their families.
— Dayton from Nebraska (@BravesAmerica) July 4, 2016
Even Marlins Man joined the fray:
https://twitter.com/Marlins_Man/status/749780835059064833
It went on from there. But, then, the best moment of the night, as the official Twitter account of the 82nd Airborne Division weighed in:
https://twitter.com/82ndabndiv/status/749777155597426688
Cue up the Lee Greenwood, everybody. After the game, Hample attempted to put out the firestorm:
FYI, I got my ticket through a friend whose entire unit got 'em. He was gonna bring his GF who doesn't like baseball so he took me instead.
— Zack Hample (@zack_hample) July 4, 2016
I got 11 balls today and gave 10 away. As promised, I'll be writing an $1,100 check to https://t.co/B7S73jb999. Please everyone, calm down.
— Zack Hample (@zack_hample) July 4, 2016
Those are the words of someone who very, very clearly does not get it. $1,100 to charity is nice. No disputing that. However, there are things that matter more than $1,100. He took home a ball from a game at which he had no right to attend. His is an obsession, at this point, and the way he flaunted everything he did shows such a stunning lack of self-awareness that it managed to unite just about everyone on Twitter, from the Marlins Man to the 82nd Airborne Division.
It must be incredibly difficult for someone with an obvious sense of entitlement to understand that there are just some things you don’t get to be a part of. But hey, he cut a check, which is just the same as serving, right?