Adult Famous for Wearing His Baseball Glove to Games Takes Homer Off Face, Claims He was "Body-Slammed"

Zack Hample is a 38-year-old man who is somewhat famous for catching foul balls and home runs. He claims to have “snagged 9,079 baseballs at 51 different Major League stadiums since 1990,” on his MLB blog.

For all the positive press he’s received, there are some who would point out that he’s still a grown man wearing a baseball glove to a game and trying very, very hard to catch baseballs. They view his hobby as less of a noble quest and more of an annoyance — especially for the people in Hample’s immediate vicinity. And those people are taking great delight in what happened at Wednesday night’s Texas Rangers-New York Yankees game.

Not me, of course. I would never suggest Hample needs to leave his glove at home and relax. Never.

Here he is in his own words.

What a harrowing ordeal. Let’s go to the video for confirmation.

First, McCann.

" Foul ball guy just took a game tying homer TO THE FACE!!! @BarstoolBigCat pic.twitter.com/xIZmuYNoGA — Ryan Kovach (@Kovach1) June 30, 2016 "

Now, Didi.

Poor guy. One can only imagine how frustrating it must be to be denied the 9,080th and 9,081st game balls so Hample’s outward show of emotion is understandable.

He was clearly overcome with a sorrow so real that it overshadowed both a game-tying and game-winning home run. Who wouldn’t react like a pouting child in that situation?

You see, baseball is not about the incredible athletes squaring up 98 mph fastballs to blast crucial home runs in front of a raucous home crowd. No, no. Baseball is about a man just shy of 40 hustling around like Matthew Dellavedova trying to box out others to catch those home runs.

The behavior of the jubilant Yankees fans celebrating a much-needed victory was, if anything, grossly insensitive considering Hample’s fragile state. I hope they reflect on their actions today and vow to do better in the future.