On Sunday, the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves met at the one-night-only ballpark on the North Carolina military base.
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So what was gloryhound ballhawk Zack Hample doing there?
That’s the nagging question left over from MLB’s patriotic festivities.
But the man who snagged the ball from ARod’s 3,000th hit and Mike Trout’s first home run catches only controversy in the wake of showing up to the military appreciation night.
“Oh yes! Martin Prado just tossed this to me after the 3rd inning”, he wrote on Twitter during the game.
Hample, 38, shouldn’t have been allowed inside the game between the Marlins and Braves at Fort Bragg because tickets to the game were non-transferrable and those who attended and didn’t fall in either of those categories could be removed, fans said.
If you’re unfamiliar with Hample, he’s what you need to know: He goes around the country chasing MLB baseballs.
Hample, catching flak instead of free baseballs for a change, insisted Sunday night that everything was above board.
Hample countered that he donated money to a military charity and gave away all but one of the balls he caught.
But many, including the 82nd Airborne Division, which is headquartered on the base, were not to happy he had gotten into the game.
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The $5 million stadium was financed by Major League Baseball and the players’ association, constructed on an abandoned golf course.
