Fansided

Fan won’t give Alex Rodriguez 3,000th hit, home run ball

By Mike Dyce

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New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez got his 3,000th hit with a home run, and the fan who caught it has no plans on giving it back.

Next: 27 MLB Records That Will Never Be Broken

On Friday night, New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez hit a solo home run that gave him his 3,000th career hit. An incredible milestone and one he certainly wants to remember, but the fan who caught the ball won’t be giving it up.

What makes this struggle all the more interesting is that the guy who caught the ball is Zack Hample, a guy who literally wrote a book about catching home run balls.

Can you blame him for wanting to keep the piece of history for himself? No not really. People spend money every day on pieces of memorabilia and something this specific and rare would be special for any collector, especially since he got MLB to authenticate it.

On the other side it certainly is an important ball for Alex Rodriguez personally. You’d have to think there is some amount of special memorabilia that could get the ball out of his way, even though Hample turned down their initial offers. Knowing the Yankees’ fondness for Alex Rodriguez you have to wonder how hard they tried to get it.

Then of course there is the segment of the population who loathe A-Rod for his abuse of performance enhancing drugs who are thrilled to see him not get the ball, feeling robbed of a record like they feel he has robbed them by cheating his way into the record books.

He elaborated further on why he wouldn’t give Rodriguez the ball in an interview with NJ.com.

“I think that someone like Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez, who has made half a billion dollar in his career, doesn’t really need a favor from a normal civilian and a fan like me,” Hample said. “I don’t know right now if I’m going to sell it. I mean, depending on what the Yankees could offer, I would consider giving it back. I’m not giving it back for — I don’t plan to give it back for a chance to meet him and full autographed bats because I don’t collect bats, I collect baseballs. Just having this ball is so meaningful to me. I can’t believe that I got it.”

Next: Alex Rodriguez's Other MLB Records

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