Last night, Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel introduced the sports world to the infamous sports memorabilia collector known as the “Ball Hawk”.
Zack Hample travels to over 100 MLB games in the regular season catching home run baseballs. he was 12 years old, a pitcher from his beloved New York Mets lobbed him a ball in the stands before a game at Shea Stadium, inspiring a passion that three decades later has made him one of the most polarizing fans in sports. Now 39, Hample has made ball-hawking his life’s work, hauling in nearly 10,000 baseballs over the years. He has written three books on this obsession turned profession, runs a YouTube page about his hobby and even started a business in which he will, for a fee, accompany you to a game and guarantee you walk away with at least one ball.
His career is not without controversy. Hample’s dedication to catching a foul ball or home run – which can lead to a tantrum if he doesn’t succeed – seems too obsessive to many. REAL SPORTS correspondent Bernard Goldberg meets the man the New York Post called the most hated fan in baseball and learns more about the hobby that earned him the title. Check out the trailer below. You can check this episode out on HBO’s GO app.
