Yankees trade $150K charity donation for A-Rod’s 3000th-hit ball – CBSSports.com

You’ll recall that Yankees DH Alex Rodriguez homered off Justin Verlander on June 19 and in doing so recorded the 3,000th hit of his career. You’ll also recall that said home run ball was retrieved by an enterprising sort named Zack Hample, who actually wrote a book on catching home run balls and foul balls.

That, of course, brought us to this …

Here’s A-Rod’s 3,000th hit/ball. Told the @Yankees I’m keeping it. Got it authenticated by @MLB. This is un-REAL. pic.twitter.com/qEo2qX9Iru

— Zack Hample (@zack_hample) June 20, 2015

Initially, it appeared that Hample would keep the ball and perhaps auction it (as he would be perfectly within his rights to do). Now, though, the Yankees and Hample have agreed to an exchange. Here’s the Friday statement from the team:

The New York Yankees have announced that they will hold a press conference today at 5:30 p.m. in the press conference room at Yankee Stadium during which Zack Hample, the fan who retrieved Alex Rodriguez’s 3,000^th hit on June 19, will present the ball to Rodriguez.

In addition, the New York Yankees will donate $150,000 to Pitch In For Baseball, a charity which Hample has supported since 2009 that is dedicated to maximizing the ability to play baseball in underserved communities.

Founded in 2005, Pitch In For Baseball (PIFB) collects and redistributes new and gently-used baseball and softball equipment to communities in need across the globe. To date, PIFB has distributed equipment and uniforms to more than 80 countries worldwide and more than 450 communities around the United States, impacting over 500,000 children in need. Based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, PIFB is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. To learn more about Pitch In For Baseball, visit www.pifb.org.

Hample and A-Rod met in the bowels of Yankee Stadium at a press conference on Friday to complete the exchange. Here is the photographic evidence:

¡Ahí está #AROD3K! pic.twitter.com/akT3wVgSwD

— Marly Rivera ~ ESPN (@MarlyRiveraESPN) July 3, 2015

Hample joked that his comments about keeping the ball were dumb and ill-advised, and A-Rod responded in the most A-Rod way possible:

A-Rod: “I have a PhD in saying dumb things over the years”

— Marly Rivera ~ ESPN (@MarlyRiveraESPN) July 3, 2015

Pretty nifty ending to the mini-saga. Hample took some heat for his presumed selfishness during the whole process (as though any fan “owes” it to any player to hand over a souvenir ball), but this wound up doing a good turn for a good organization.