He's Got Some Balls

 

Who is Zack Hample, you ask?

I'll tell you.

I learned a little bit about him on YouTube a year or two ago.  His vlogs would show up as he went from baseball park to baseball park trying to catch balls in the stands.   Admittedly, I got curiously enthralled and wanted to know a little bit more about this guy and his rather bizarre hobby.

Lo and behold, last week on my YouTube feed, I see that somebody else was that interested and took the time to develop a 90 minute documentary on the guy.   And, lo and behold, I was captivated.

Oh, sure, the guy is weird.   He does have a job working in his mom's antique book shop.   But he somehow manages to go all over the US, watching baseball games and catching home runs in the stands.  Heck, they show him so many times doing just that in the Yankee Stadium bleachers that he could change his name to Steinbrenner.

The documentary, which can be rented on Amazon Prime, follows Zack around as he attempts to achieve the feat of "catching" 10,000 baseballs.   In the middle of that quest, he somehow manages to grab the ball Alex Rodriguez hit for #3000.   A-Rod wanted to buy the ball back but Zack deliberated for two weeks before he sold it.  Indeed, he used the money for charity.

Zack is what they call a "ballhawk."  And, because he always seems to be around, other such ballhawks despise him and his notoriety.   Hence, the "vs. the World" part.  

This is a character study like none other you have seen.   Let's face it, he's a weird guy.  The walls of one room in his apartment are papered with celebrity headshots.   The wallpaper is in his bathroom is made up of business cards. And, just for the hell of it, he's got as furniture a 2080 pound ball of rubber bands.

Now the movie doesn't shy away from the fact that Zack should find another direction in life.   And, towards the end, you think he will.

Except now he's in quest of getting as many home run balls as possible.  Plus he keeps making new vlogs on the subject.

Zack Hample is one odd excuse for a celebrity.   But an interesting one, nonetheless.   And that makes for one compelling documentary.

LEN'S RATING:  Three-and-a-half stars.

Dinner last night:  Leftover tortellini and meatballs.