In Zack's defense, $500 is probably the majority of his book royalties.

I don't know much about the ballhawking stuff, but I got curious that this Zack guy came to defend himself and mentioned the Conan interview so I found it online and watched it. The interview didn't seem bad, the charity was mentioned and explained a bit, but its funny that he stated on here that he doesn't snag balls from kids but said in the interview that he'll sit next to families and little kids because its easier to get a ball :lol

This just got real funny. Lol

Hample,

Don't think we all hate you. Some of us would be doing the same thing as yourself, except in different ways.

Apparently one of the members here has taken issue with your methods, and although they are calculated efforts they seem morally bankrupt.

Nevertheless, we all respect your right to do what you do however we feel your efforts should be less short sighted then "There's the ball, get the ball" and more "There's the ball, let me get out of the way of the kid and let him catch it on his own".

 

Unfortunately your "Profession" is very much in the same light as our local Miami Hurricanes team, shamed, tarred and eventually feathered on the national scope.

 

From the mocking of Conan O'Brien to these very message boards, your antics and ways are less encouraged and more admonished based on your own testimony.

 

Who in the right mind would sit next to a family with small kids to catch more baseballs. Visit the parks because you love them, catch a single ball as a memento of that evening and find another way for others to reward and help you charity wise then picking up baseballs.

 

Why not hold pledge drives at stadiums with team support, planned well in advance. Have supporters pay a certain dollar amount per run scored at a game attended, and a bonus for a ball caught.

 

If you were to do things like that, teams will not only aid you in the charity end but also welcome you with open arms into clubhouses and players. I'm sure the Marlins Community Foundation would love you to speak to kids on how to catch a ball, and may even offer free tickets and air time to help raise money for a worthy cause, such as breast cancer research around Mothers Day, and the next month for Father's Day.

 

In other words, until your actions are more modern and adult like in nature you will be seen more as a greedy pest among spectators and less Charitable Zach Hample.

 

Face it, the mental image most have of you is similar to this

 

Rather then this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcpDcrZFFJM

If I'm a 6 year old kid who goes to a baseball game only a few times a year, do I get more joy from having a player toss a ball to me or do I get more joy from Zack Hample handing me a ball that he got in batting practice? Are the two remotely similar?

 

Sure, kids will be happy to a certain degree if they get any ball at all (even if handed to them by another fan), but for every ball you get to first, you are depriving a little kid of some potential joy.

I agree completely with penguino.

 

Children hawk balls and care about such. Adults, other than those who are attention-whores have rather more important things to concern themselves with.

 

Perhaps Zack will share a link to IRS Form 990 for 2009 and 2010 (the form charitable 401( c)(3) organizations are required to file annually) for "Pitch In For Baseball" and indicate which contributions were due to his efforts so that we can see how much money that he's responsible for has been raised and spent.

... - The 2009 990 is available on some sources, wasn't able to see the 2010 archived .... i'm fairly sure that you've probably already taken a look at them

 

Kind of funny the boast that he donated $500 to get their webpage off the ground ..... like $500 is how much it costs to develop a webpage .... or that the webpage didn't exist previously (it did) or has been really active since to 2009 (it hasn't) ..... on the 990s you can see that they had website development on their "Depreciation of Assets Not Held For Investment" going back to at least 2007

 

Overall a good charity though

 

As for Zack - i'm super impressed at your ability to grab baseballs .... you should come out here for a fall league game - with only like 600 people in the stands and really great access to players you could easily add to your collection ... it would be so cool ... plus it would be easy for me to recognize you standing out amongst all the pre-teens .... we could have a beer and joke about all the good times ...... a complete laugh riot to be had by all

Great pics. Love seeing the new ballpark getting closer and closer to completion.

 

I don't know how this became a thread about a ball hawker, but meh.

 

The only ball hawker who truly pisses me off is Happy Youngster. Any guy who catches a first home run ball from a player (Chris Coghlan) and demands a thousand things in return that nobody would be able to accommodate is a complete an utter jerk.

 

I have no opinion on what Hample does. His love of balls is his deal.

I do respect the organization you are giving the money to though. I used to play (and more recently work with) for what would've been considered a normal upper middle class little league, and we had trouble providing even the most basic baseball equipment to others. That near $5600 this season could bring a lot of nice equipment to help children get a better baseball experience.

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http://www.mlb.com/photos/gallery.jsp?content_id=25697294&c_id=fla&imgId=2

http://www.mlb.com/p...fla&imgId=2

 

Looks like the "M" in gmail

 

Anything to do with the naming??

http://www.mlb.com/p...fla&imgId=2

 

Looks like the "M" in gmail

 

Anything to do with the naming??

 

No, has to do with the commerative letter there putting around the plazas from the Orange Bowl

http://www.mlb.com/p...fla&imgId=2

 

Looks like the "M" in gmail

 

Anything to do with the naming??

 

No, has to do with the commerative letter there putting around the plazas from the Orange Bowl

 

I guess I don't get it. How does the letter "M" tie into the Orange Bowl?? It wasn't known as the Miami Orange Bowl, was it? I always heard Orange Bowl, and that doesn't look like a "W"

On the west side of the old Orange Bowl, the lettering read "Miami Orange Bowl", so there's where the "M" comes in.

http://www.mlb.com/p...fla&imgId=2

 

Looks like the "M" in gmail

 

Anything to do with the naming??

 

No, has to do with the commerative letter there putting around the plazas from the Orange Bowl

 

I guess I don't get it. How does the letter "M" tie into the Orange Bowl?? It wasn't known as the Miami Orange Bowl, was it? I always heard Orange Bowl, and that doesn't look like a "W"

It indeed was the Miami Orange Bowl. Most people called it the Orange Bowl for short, I guess.

While the home run feature sucks total ass, the Miami Orange Bowl letters will be awesome. The same goes for the exterior light installations.

Maybe its because im not from Miami and have no sentimental value to the Orange Bowl, but i prefer the Home run feature over letters that, other than in location, have nothing to do with baseball. I much prefer something baseball oriented or Marlins related outside. if you know what i mean.

Maybe its because im not from Miami and have no sentimental value to the Orange Bowl, but i prefer the Home run feature over letters that, other than in location, have nothing to do with baseball. I much prefer something baseball oriented or Marlins related outside. if you know what i mean.

 

 

I'm from Miami but have very little, if not zero, sentimental value to the Orange Bowl because I was never a big football fan, never went to UM, etc... But, I do understand and remember alot of the history and tradition on those grounds. I also know many people made a big stink about the Orange Bowl coming down... if thats the case then I agree we at least need something to commemorate it and I actually like the letters idea quite a bit.

 

Just saying that its a solid idea in my eyes even if your not an orange bowl fan to begin with.

Good point, I didnt know many people were pissed about it coming down. I just thought there could be better way to commemorate the Bowl thats not as focal.

Too much history in the OB for it not to be recognized. Dolphins perfect season, 5 national titles for the Canes, Vince Lombardi's last game with the Packers in Super Bowl II, Namath's guarantee in Super Bowl III (f*** the Jets!), the two Steelers-Cowboys Super Bowls with Lynn Swann making circus catches in both, Doug Fluties hail mary, JFK gave a speech there, etc. The thing stood for 70 years and was certainly the most famous stadium here. I'll take comemorating that over a goofy homerun feature any day.

Maybe its because im not from Miami and have no sentimental value to the Orange Bowl, but i prefer the Home run feature over letters that, other than in location, have nothing to do with baseball. I much prefer something baseball oriented or Marlins related outside. if you know what i mean.

 

 

Huh?

 

The only thing that contraption has to do with baseball is that it goes off after home runs.

Maybe its because im not from Miami and have no sentimental value to the Orange Bowl, but i prefer the Home run feature over letters that, other than in location, have nothing to do with baseball. I much prefer something baseball oriented or Marlins related outside. if you know what i mean.

 

 

Huh?

 

The only thing that contraption has to do with baseball is that it goes off after home runs.

 

 

Exactly like I said. Home-run feature is baseball. Miami orange bowl is football. So what I said is exactly relevant.

Too much history in the OB for it not to be recognized. Dolphins perfect season, 5 national titles for the Canes, Vince Lombardi's last game with the Packers in Super Bowl II, Namath's guarantee in Super Bowl III (f*** the Jets!), the two Steelers-Cowboys Super Bowls with Lynn Swann making circus catches in both, Doug Fluties hail mary, JFK gave a speech there, etc. The thing stood for 70 years and was certainly the most famous stadium here. I'll take comemorating that over a goofy homerun feature any day.

 

 

See, I did not know that the Dolphins used to play there. I'm not a great football fan outside the Carolina Panthers. I thought the Orange Bowl was just a college stadium.

Don't forget fella's, the Original Miami Marlins played there in the 50's I believe.