Zack Hample, the man who caught Alex Rodriguez’s 3,000th hit, suffered several scratches to his neck Wednesday at Yankee Stadium fighting for a ball during batting practice before the Yankees’ matchup with the Orioles.
Hample told NJ Media the man fighting him for the ball "was basically throwing punches and absolutely assaulting me like a maniac."
MORE: Rosanne's Star-Bungled Banner 25 years later
Unfortunately the answer to "Have you ever gotten into a fight for a ball?" is now yes. I was flat-out assaulted. pic.twitter.com/MADnmIiTBy
— Zack Hample (@zack_hample) July 22, 2015I'm scraped up in various places. The @Yankees Stadium medical staff says these are fingernail scratches: pic.twitter.com/EqO773iZj1
— Zack Hample (@zack_hample) July 22, 2015"For 10, 15, 20 seconds, he was trying to injure me," Hample said.
The Yankees released a statement on the incident that read:
An incident took place between Zack Hample and another fan during batting practice when an Orioles player attempted to toss a ball into the right-field stands. After a brief altercation, the two parties were separated.
After carefully reviewing video recordings of the incident — in which no punches were thrown and there was not a clear determination of who was the aggressor — Yankees operations personnel reassigned the other fan, along with his father, to a different seat location within the stadium. Reports were also taken by security officials.
After receiving treatment for his injuries, Hample returned to his season-ticket seat in right field where he caught Ryan Flaherty’s third-inning home run.
Well, I might've had some pre-game "issues," but I caught Ryan Flaherty's 3rd-inning homer. Take THAT, universe!! pic.twitter.com/MEe2CCCxVS
— Zack Hample (@zack_hample) July 23, 2015