Fan refuses to give ball from 3,000th hit back to Rodriguez

NEW YORK, June 19 (UPI) -- The fan who caught the baseball from Alex Rodriguez's record 3,000th hit -- which was a home run -- on Friday night will not return it to the Yankees slugger.

Zack Hample, of New York City, ended up with the ball at Yankee Stadium Friday night -- and you might call him an expert in doing just that. He claims he has caught more than 8,000 baseballs in his 37 years as a fan, and has even written a book on the topic.

In the bottom of the first inning Friday, Hample was sitting in the right field stands when Rodriguez's record-setting ball came over the fence. He documented the catch on Twitter and promptly declined to give it back to the Yanks' designated hitter.

"Here's A-Rod's 3,000th hit/ball. Told the Yankees I'm keeping it," he tweeted. "Got it authenticated by MLB. This is un-REAL."

In baseball history, the vast majority of milestone balls like the one Hample caught Friday were returned to the player who hit it. This happened when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record in 1974, when Mark McGwire broke Ruth's single season home run record in 1998, and on numerous other occasions.

However, there have been times the ball doesn't make it back to the player -- such as the one hit into the right field stands in San Francisco in 2007 that carried slugger Barry Bonds past Aaron's home run mark.

"This night has been a whirlwind. I think I've only seen about one inning of the game," Hample tweeted later after catching the ball.

Earlier Friday, Hample tweeted a photo of another baseball he got his hands on during batting practice -- pointing out that it had apparently been used by Major League Baseball during the 2014 playoffs.

"My intention all along, I've been imagining this scenario as a 1-in-a-million, was not to give it back," Hample said in an ESPN report. "Because the guy who got (Derek) Jeter's 3,000th hit, a lot of people called him an idiot. A lot of people said that he was a wonderful person and extremely generous (for giving it back to Jeter). And I really think that, whatever you want to do with it is your choice."

Hample indicated that his reason for keeping the baseball has to do with his belief that it means more to him than it does to Rodriguez.

"I think that someone like Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez, who has made half a billion dollars in his career, doesn't really need a favor from a normal civilian and a fan like me," he said. "Depending on what the Yankees could offer, I would consider giving it back."

"As far as we are concerned, we have done everything we could to engage this guy in some type of discussion about some type of exchange," Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo said. "He had none of anything we were saying. He wouldn't engage at all."

Some experts have speculated that Hample might be able to get between $50,000 and $100,000 for the ball at auction.