MLB

Notorious ball-hawking fan has own plan for A-Rod’s 3,000th hit

Alex Rodriguez is doing a great job of reaching milestones this season, but he’s not having much luck collecting keepsakes.

Zack Hample, who said he had caught over 8,000 balls at major league stadiums before he came up with Rodriguez’s 3,000th hit in the first inning on Friday when it landed in the stands in right-center, doesn’t intend to hand it over.

“I’ve always said if I catch a ball that’s [worth] life-changing money, I would consider selling it, so obviously, that’s what this is,” Hample said after the Yankees offered a chance to meet Rodriguez, get some bats and autographs and appear on the YES Network. “I don’t think this is a million dollar baseball. I do not plan on giving it back to Alex Rodriguez. If I choose to sell it, he’s welcome to come bid on it. But I don’t think that A-Rod deserves a favor from a normal civilian like me.”

Hample was led away by team security after catching the ball in Section 103 and said it was the 32nd home run he has caught at a major league game. Hample is the author of the book “How to Snag Major League Baseballs” and insisted he never has sold a ball.

After the game, Hample met with Yankees president Randy Levine and COO Lonn Trost.

“It was a good conversation,” Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo said. “Nothing been done as far as a transaction. … He still has the ball.”

Rodriguez said he was OK with that.

“Nothing I’ve done in my career could ever compare to winning the championship in 2009 and I don’t have a ball, I don’t have a bat, but I do have a memory and the memory lives forever,” Rodriguez said. “It’s kind of the same way I feel about the ball.”

“My intention all along, imagining this scenario as one-in-a-million, was not to give it back,” said Hample, a 37-year-old from Manhattan who has had season tickets in Section 103 since last season. “Just because the guy who got [Derek] Jeter’s 3,000th hit, a lot of people called him an idiot.”

That was Christian Lopez, who came up with Jeter’s historic hit, also a home run at the Stadium, on July 9, 2011.

“It was the right decision for me,” said Lopez, who met Jeter, got access to a suite at the Stadium and other memorabilia. “I had a great time. I’m sorry if some people think I’m an idiot.”

Rodriguez seemingly doesn’t think so.

“The thing I was thinking about is where is [Jeter’s] guy?” Rodriguez said. “Where is that guy? I wasn’t so lucky.”

Hample has some detractors of his own.

“He’s not a real fan,” said Nannette Simmons from Brooklyn, who has been coming to the Stadium since 2000. “He comes to batting practice and he’s all over the place, collecting balls. I’m so angry.”

So was Anthony Duran of Queens, who, like Simmons has seats above Hample, in Section 203.

“He’s always the first one in,” Duran said after seeing Hample being ushered through the stadium by security with the ball. “He runs, grabbing all the balls. If you check his bag, he’s probably has 10-15 balls in there. Who else is gonna get it?”

On this night, no one.

Hample also has a website and said he caught Mike Trout’s first home run and the last homer the Mets ever hit at Shea Stadium.

“I never dreamed I’d be in this position,” Hample said. “If I decide to keep it, A-Rod is welcome to come visit me in my apartment. A-Rod might hate me, just like he has his haters out there. But whoever would have hit this ball, I think I would have to keep it. I’m aware people are annoyed. I have plenty of my own haters, so I can relate to A-Rod.”