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?
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