Talkin' Jeffrey Maier with the Ballhawks

Sixteen years ago, Jeffrey Maier became a household name in both New York and Baltimore.

Alright, it might be a stretch to call dude a "household name", but the 12-year-old did, at the very least, get his fifteen minutes of fame.

You see, on October 9, 1996, Maier stuck his glove over the rightfield fence at Yankee Stadium and snared what would be a Derek Jeter home run ball.  It was that home run that tied up the game between the Yankees and Orioles and, ultimately, led to the Bombers having the chance to win the contest in extra innings.

And, as is customary when you're reminded of an incident like this (the Steve Bartman fiasco also comes to mind), you've gotta track down those who have "been there" and "done that" and no one epitomizes that more than baseball's premier ballhawk, New York native Zack Hample and Charm City's finest, fellow ballhawk, Tim Anderson.

HOVG:  Gentlemen, as guys spend part of your time at the ballpark trying to get your hands on baseballs...do you agree or disagree with what Jeffrey Maier did 16 years ago?

HAMPLE:  I totally disagree with what Jeffrey Maier did.

ANDERSON:  Do I agree with what he did...interfering with a ball that was in play? Absolutely not. I have never been presented with that exact situation during a game, but there have been a few times where I tracked a ball down the aisle and, as I realized it would be close to wall, made a conscious effort to make sure I was behind the wall.

HOVG:  But can you blame the kid?

ANDERSON:  Do I blame Maier for, at 12 years old, reaching out to catch a ball hit toward him? Not really. He was twelve and he didn't know; as much as I hate to say it.

HAMPLE:  I can't really blame him for interfering, though, because he was pretty young at the time, and it's only natural to reach for a ball in that situation. What bothers me about the whole thing is that (a) the ball clanked off his wrist and he has always been credited with "catching" it and (b) he has been glorified for breaking a rule that I've obeyed countless times over the years.

HOVG:  You've had something similar happen to you, Zack, have you not?

HAMPLE:  I was nearly ejected from Yankee Stadium in 1992 for ALMOST interfering. I was sitting in that exact same spot and reached over the wall for a deep fly ball off the bat of Joe Orsulak that I easily could've caught. At the very last second, I yanked my glove back, enabling Yankees right fielder Dion James to jump and make the catch...and I was STILL berated by security. As they were walking me out of the section, the highlight was shown on the jumbotron; I made them stop and watch it, and they saw for themselves that I pulled my glove back before the ball reached me. Only then did they allow me to return to my seat, so yeah, I'm pretty annoyed by the whole thing.

HOVG:  Tim, you're a fixture at Camden Yards.  Is Jeffrey Maier still a topic of conversation among Orioles fans?

ANDERSON:  Of course Maier is mentioned here around Baltimore and at Camden Yards, mostly to describe how a catch was made, or as a joke when something like it happens during the game. But it still hurts because who knows what the Orioles could have done if that call is overturned? Thank God we have redemption in 2012; this time with replay.

HOVG:  Is there anything teams can do to prevent something like what happened with Jeffrey Maier from happening again?

HAMPLE:  Ultimately, stadiums should just be built better to prevent fans from interfering. Just separate the stands from the outfield wall by a few feet a la Turner Field. That's all it takes. It's so easy. But it's rarely done.

Zack Hample has snagged 6452 baseballs at 50 different Major League stadiums since 1990. You can check out his website (The Baseball Collector) or follow him on Twitter at @zack_hample.

When Tim Anderson is not at Camden Yards, he is online contributing to both The Diamonds Edge and Baseball and Things.  You can find "Mr. Shagtastic" on Twitter at @TimmyWade94.

Is Famed Ballhawk's Streak a Farce?

It's been more than a week since the story of famed ballhawk Zack Hample getting kicked out of a Washington Nationals game for, alledgedly, selling baseballs hit the internets.

And, like everything you read online nowadays, dude's story is not without controversy.

Wednesday, after Hample teased that his story was going to be re-posted here at The Hall, I was greeted with this anonymous email.

Personally, I think the story that everyone is overlooking here is the fact that Zack's 20-year streak of snagging at least one baseball at every game he's attended should have been snapped by his ejection from the park, however Zack has failed to address it in his blog AND continues to count games toward his streak.

What gives?

Uh oh! It continues. 

His own blog posting for that game shows a picture of the field during the first inning of the second game of that day's doubleheader and states: "and here’s what my view of the field briefly looked like in the top of the 1st inning". Then shortly after he took that picture he was escorted out of the stadium.

At the end of his posts he always includes a bunch of statistics about his snagging of baseballs, including this one at the end of the 9/19/2012 game posting: "861 consecutive games with at least one ball". He definitely snagged a bunch of baseballs prior to and during the first game of the doubleheader (hence 861 consecutive game), but I don't see how any of those can count towards the second game of the doubleheader for which -- by his own blog posting -- he clearly was in attendance -- and during which he didn't snag any balls.

So, if you do post something about him, maybe you could pin him to the wall about why his consecutive game streak is now at 863 (and counting)... and if he tries to feed you some crap about it only counting as one game "because you only needed one ticket to attend both games" remind him that (a) it counts as two games in the standing for the Nationals; and (b) sometimes baseball is REALLY unfair -- just ask Armando Gallaraga (the Detroit Tigers pitcher who lost a perfect game because the first base umpire, Jim Joyce, blew the last call of the game at first base), or Bill Buckner.

The anonymous emailer makes a good point. So, naturally, I had to reach out to Hample and find out exactly what the deal was. Suffice it so say, homeboy was quick with a response and some clarification.

Heck, the baseball collector even went so far to post about it over at his site.

I’ve heard from a few people lately who’ve been asking if (and insisting that) my consecutive games streak is over. Why? Because I was ejected last week from Nationals Park during the second game of a single-admission doubleheader.

Did I snag any baseballs during the second game? No, I snagged 11 balls before and during the first game.  So, then, is my streak over? No...and I’d like to quote myself to prove it.

If you turn to page 317 of The Baseball, you’ll see the following line near the top: "Single-admission doubleheaders should be counted as one ‘game'."

Hample continues citing some other examples and insisting that "single-admission doubleheaders have always been one 'game' for me, and whenever I’ve gone and snagged a few balls and the game got rained out before it even started, that has also been a 'game'."
Alright, I get both sides of this debate...but what do you think? Should Hample man up and concede that his consecutive games was over at 861...or, should his streak continue?

Or, well...does it even matter?

Famed Ballhawk Ejected for "Selling Baseballs"

Zack Hample is a good friend of The Hall, and to say that the guy has been ballhawking for a while (he snared his first souvenir in 1990) would be an understatement.

Matter of fact, dude is currently riding a 863-game streak where he has snagged at least one ball...388 consecutive with at least two.

But, last week, an seemingly overzealous Nationals Park stadium cop tried to single-handedly end Hample's ballhawkery.  You see, for just the fifth time in his career (career?), Hample was kicked out of a game.

As he says "way back in the day, the security goons of Shea Stadium kicked me out four times for catching too many baseballs and refusing to hand them over and for refusing to obey the special set of unfair rules that they invented just for me."

Hample has since taken to his blog and laid out his case...and it's a pretty good one (complete with some great pictures!).

Here's the condensed version of what happened that "The Baseball Collector" told Deadspin immediately following his ejection last week.

I was approached by a police officer. He told me he'd gotten a call from someone who reported that I was selling baseballs. I was like, WTF, and told him very calmly that it simply wasn't true and that there must've been a mistake. Then more cops showed up. Then the head of stadium security showed up, along with his assistant and other stadium personnel. There were seven of them, and they insisted that I'd sold a baseball, which they told me is illegal to do on their private property.

I told them that I'd snagged more than 6,300 baseballs in my life and never sold one — that I was proud of never having sold one . . . that I once turned down a $10,000 offer for a Barry Bonds home run that I caught, that I'd turned down a $500 offer last year after catching the Mike Trout homer, that I give away baseballs to kids at just about every game I attend, that I've raised all that money for charity, and so on. I even offered to take a lie-detector test, but they didn't want to hear any of it. They simply insisted that I'd sold a baseball, and they ejected me from the stadium

.
Alright...all this aside (and more on this soon), Hample did get a pretty cool snapshot out of the whole ordeal.

Caleb Lloyd...The Accidental Ballhawk

Right place.  Right time.  Twice.

That about sums up the night Cincinnati Reds fan Caleb Lloyd had Monday at Great American Ball Park.  But what exactly did the 20-year-old college student do?

Dude only caught back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning as his Reds knocked off the Atlanta Braves.

"I was blessed to catch both of them," the Cincinnati native told annoucers during the game.  "I couldn't believe. Right now, I can't believe it's happened. It's some kind of dream."

I couldn't agree more...but how did that dream come about?

"The first one, I actually barehanded.  I caught it and it like bounced off the palm of my hand, and I just reached out and grabbed it," Lloyd said.  "The second one bounced behind me and bounced right into my lap."

Naturally, I had to ask my buddy, fellow baseball fan, ballhawk and author Zack Hample what he thought of Lloyd's accomplishment.

"There's really not much to say. It's was just an oddity of probability and statistics, and he got incredibly lucky," Hample said.  "There were lots of fans around him, and he played the ricochets well.  Baseball is beautiful and weird/awesome things happen all the time...I'm happy for him."

But, the big question is...would Hample have been able to pull off the feat?
"If I were at this game, I wouldn't have snagged either ball because I would've been sitting several rows back where it was emptier," the author of Watching Baseball Smarter responded.  "Funny how things work."

Anyway you slice it, Lloyd's night was pretty incredible.  As incredible as, say, what Tim Anderson pulled off last season...that's not up to me to determine.

 

 

Talkin' Bartman with the Ballhawks

October 14, 2003 is one of those dates that most baseball fans don't know off the top of their head, but tell them that that was the date when Steve Bartman missed making a play on a foul ball hit by Luis Castillo in Game Six of the 2003 NLCS...and they'll tell you EXACTLY where they were.

That's right, gang, the "Bartman Incident" is, officially, eight years old.

So, I got to thinking...how would Major League Baseball's premier ballhawks (author Zack Hample and Camden Yards fixture Tim Anderson) handle the situation if they swapped places with the Chicago Cubs scapegoat.

HOVG: You've seen the Steve Bartman clip a thousand times since it intially played out. What was the fatal flaw in him (or the people around him) NOT getting that foul ball?

ANDERSON: He didn't have a glove. Plain and simple. If he has a glove and some athletic ability, he actually OWNS one of the most infamous balls in baseball history.

HAMPLE: He should've been wearing a glove. It's THAT simple.

HOVG: How would you have handled it?

ANDERSON: I’d have handled it the same exact way. I do not blame Bartman or the people around him for going after that ball. When the ball is coming towards you, you forget there is a baseball game going on. You are worried about being hit in the face with the ball, not if Moises Alou is going to have a play on it.

HAMPLE: If I were a diehard Cubs fan, I would've held back and not reached for the ball so that Moises Alou would've had a better shot. If I were there as myself (without any allegiance to any team), I would've caught the damn thing.

ANDERSON: I hope that if one day a homerun is coming towards the front row in Camden Yards (hit by an opponent), that I would have the wherewithal to let the fielder make a play on it. That's just because I'm out there catching balls all the time and know the field. Bartman wasn't a ballhawk. He didn't know. Can't blame him.

HOVG: A couple of months after the missed catch, the ball sold for close to $115,000...only to be blown up? If you had the ball...what would you have done with it?

HAMPLE: For that much money, I would've sold it. That's what I refer to as "life-changing" money.

ANDERSON: That's tough. I'd like to say that I'd hang on to it for a year or two and then donate it to the Hall of Fame, but I'd find it hard to pass-up money like that. It would definitely pay for my college.

HOVG: You're both known primarily for catching home run balls...is there one that you wished you would had snagged? This could be any ball from the history of the game.

ANDERSON: I'd like to have my hands on a milestone homerun, whether it be from Bonds or someone's 500th or 600th. Imagine having a Babe Ruth homerun ball? Wow. But, a homerun that has been hit recently that I would like to have caught would be Derek Jeter's 3000th hit. I would have had so much fun jerking him around in negotiating for that ball.

HAMPLE: I was right there for (Jeter’s) previous at-bat, then had to move when the seats filled in.  But still, I could've gone back for Jeter's next at-bat because I know the security guard out there. I just didn't make the effort because I assumed that it wasn't going to be a home run. If I'd gone back, I would've been with three feet of the ball, and there's a 50-50 chance that I would've caught it. I'll truly never forgive myself or get over the heartbreak of that moment.

Zack Hample has snagged 5788 baseballs at 48 different major league stadiums since 1990. You can check out his website (The Baseball Collector) or follow him on Twitter at @zack_hample.

When Tim Anderson is not at Camden Yards, he is online contributing to both Sports Nickel and Baseball and That Other Good Stuff.  You can find "Mr. Shagtastic" on Twitter at @sportsnickelTim.