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Notorious ball hawk somehow crashes Fort Bragg game

chris cwik
Staff writer

In an attempt to honor military members, the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves played a game at Fort Bragg military base Sunday night. It was the first time ever a baseball game was played on an active military base and, because of that, tickets were limited to Department of Defense employees and their family members.

Turns out, not everyone decided to follow the rules. Notorious ball hawk Zack Hample somehow got tickets to the event. Yes, that’s the same Hample who caught Alex Rodriguez’s 3,000th hit. He has also literally written the book on getting balls at baseball games.

Hample happily posted pictures of the commemorative balls he received on his Twitter page.

This, of course, led to a couple questions. Since the event was limited to military personnel only, some wondered how Hample was able to acquire a ticket to the game.

According to SlaterScoops.com, Hample reportedly offered $1,000 for a ticket on social media. Based on the screenshot in that article, Hample may have used Tinder, which is normally a dating site, in order to obtain tickets.

For what it’s worth, Hample claims he received the ticket from a friend who is in the military.

Hample also claims he received 11 balls during the game, 10 of which he gave away. He promised to donate $100 per ball to AMVETS.org.

In a strange twist, Marlins Man, who normally attends almost every single Sunday Night Baseball game, got involved. With his Marlins playing, it seemed like a can’t-miss game for him to attend. Turns out, Marlins Man did have a ticket for the event, but backed out when he found out the event was for military personnel only.


Upon seeing Hample’s tweets from the game, Marlins Man urged him to give all the balls he received away, and immediately leave the contest.


Yeah, it’s fair to say things got a bit bizarre.

Now, in fairness to Hample, it’s certainly possible he has a friend in the military who offered to take him to the game. And, if the event was truly for military personnel and their friends and family, Hample has a right to be there.

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But if he purchased the ticket and took the spot of someone in the military, well … the 82nd Airborne Division already weighed in on that.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik