Ballhawk League – Week 3
Its time to update the Ballhawk League standings for the third week of the season. Would someone be able to close ground on Zack Hample? Who led in hit balls caught, thrown balls caught, or device balls received? Who had the best average of balls per game?
Read on to find out.
Week 3 featured another stand out performance by Zack Hample who snagged 30 balls. Erik Jabs comes in second place with 21 balls, aided by an 11 ball performance on Tuesday. Alex was the only other ballhawk to reach double digits in week 3.
Below are the complete week 3 standings:
WEEK 3 LEADERS:
Total Balls:
1) Zack Hample 30
2) Erik Jabs 21
3) Alex 13
Average (balls per game)
1) Alex 6.50
2) Zack Hample 6.00
3) Erik Jabs 5.25
Games attended:
1) Zack Hample 5
2) Erik Jabs 4
3) John Witt/Rockpile Ranter 3
Hit balls snagged:
1) John Witt 7
2) Erik Jabs 6
3) District Boy 2
Thrown balls snagged:
1) Zack Hample 20
2) Erik Jabs 15
3) Alex 13
Device balls snagged:
1) Zack Hample 9
2) Donnie 2
3) Gary Kowal 1
_________________________________________________________________
On to the season statistics….
Some notes:
*Hample holds on to the top spot and widens his lead on his nearest competitors with another first place finish in week 3.
*The top 4 ballhawks all now have snagged 50 balls or more. There is quite a race developing for the #2 spot.
*Hample has a chance to break 100 balls in April.
*No reports have been submitted by Shawn and Matt for the second consecutive week. If they do not submit an update next week, they will be dismissed from the ballhawk league.
*Zack’s glove trick skills have paid off, netting 27 balls, more than 3x that of the runner up in the category. Only fitting for the glove trick inventor.
*Donny Haltom moves into the top 5 in the league
Here’s the complete season standings to date:
The archive:
TOP BALLHAWK:
Week 1: The Happy Youngster 38 (Runner Up: Zack Hample 31)
Week 2: Zack Hample 27 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 21)
Week 3: Zack Hample 30 (Runner Up: Erik Jabs 21)
mlblogscountingbaseballs
Last place! Oh Yeah!
I say kick him out. Its stupid to lie about how many you get at a game, whats the point of it. Im not absolutly,definatly sure, but by the look of the standings, its obvious who it is. This is supposed to be fun, not to cheat to win.
yea, its obvious?
how about maybe someone is actually good? And maybe somebody really knows there stadium?
I say confront the person, and give him a chance to come clean. If they say they aren’t lying, then let them stay until proven otherwise.
Padreleigh
The person in question has emailed me and vehemently denied any misreporting of their stats
To eliminate any doubts about people that routinely have big days, what about this rule…
Any ballhawk snagging more than (7? 8? 9?) balls in a game, should provide photographic proof of the snagged balls at the stadium with a ticket stub. This will eliminate any doubt that other ballhawks may have.
Give me your feedback.
Erik
Honestly, what’s the point in lying? There’s no money on the line and nothing to win. That being said, baseball is a gentleman’s game and given the recent scandals involving all sorts of cheating from corked bats to steroids, we should treat cheaters no differently.
Inflating stats sevenfold is ridiculous. If it were an extra ball or two, I could see there being a chance of a mistake. Being that there is such a huge discrepancy between counts I’d say that the preponderance of the evidence is leaning towards stat inflation. I vote removal, or at least a one month suspension.
Donny in Houston
http://lonestar.mlblogs.com
If he is cheating, then get rid of him. Like you said, it’s about honesty brotha…
- Donnie
http://donnieanks.mlblogs.com/
while we are making random accusations….
I think that John Witt lies about his numbers
Erik, since I have photos on my blog, do I have to have a group photo of all the balls? Because I try to have a photo for each ball I get, but sometimes I don’t. So what should I do if I get 7+ balls?
http://riveravenue.mlblogs.com
Alex
So much for anonymity, huh?
Donny in Houston
http://lonestar.mlblogs.com
Alright ….. Let’s start with why I brought this to Eriks attention. On Saturday I saw Warren come to the park just before gates opened and then leave. He did make it back some of BP HOWEVER this is where the story, what is in his blog and some things differ.
We will start with the 9th inning of the game when we were officially introduced to each other. I asked him how he did today and he said that he got 7 balls. He also proceeded to tell me that 2 of the balls that he got were via the glove trick because the ushers in the LF pavilion let him do it in the Bullpen. I don’t know if that is true but it is unlikely and I can surely find out knowing all of the ushers there.
Either way there were no balls recorded for the Ballhawk League that he got using a device. The in his Blog it says he only got 6 balls not 7. Ok big deal because he took one away.
Now onto the balls that he got near the bullpen. After the first group of Mariners batters hit (3 lefties) I went around to left field and was not to far from Warren. My reason for watching him was the fact that his numbers were high and we haven’t really heard much about the balls he got. I just wanted to see how he got what he said he did and honestly if he could get that many.
Anyway, I was about 20 feet to his right when Soliz threw him the ball in the bullpen. There was no ball thrown to him by Jakubauskas in a 5 minute period following that ball. How is this? Because Soliz threw him the ball at the END of BP. There was not a Mariner player in site! There were also NO BALLS hit to the bullpen within the last 5-10 minutes of BP that bounced to where someone could have caught them. The simple deduction here is the fact that he said that he got the ball that bounced in he got the ball from Soliz. That was AFTER BP so it is simply not possible and a LIE!
I simply had questions about the numbers and wanted to protect the integrity of the Ballhawk League. I think that I have done that.
Saying that after his childish post on his MLBlog I will simply say that I think you can take what I have written and the childish tyraid and see what is true.
For myself, hell I went to a game on Sunday, made no attempt at getting a ball and still told Erik that I went to a game which did count in the Ballhawk League Stats.
Thats all for me!
John
Major League Ballhawk
http://ballhawk.mlblogs.com
One side note and then I am done with this …… I was around Jakubauskas almost the entire time in the left field corner. Ironically Chris was a member of the Fullerton Flyers an Independant Basball team in the Golden Baseball League in 2006. I just happened to be the Clubhouse manager for that team and know Chris. I was talking to him on and off while he was shagging balls in left field. He threw 3 balls into the stands . Actually handed 2 balls to kids alot younger than 16 and threw one ball into the stands and there was no one around that looked even remotely like Warren.
I have no reason to lie especially when this is simply for fun. I catch every ball that I get, if I get shut out who give a crap I have been shut out plenty of times and will be shut out again I am sure. It was simply brought up that things were fishy, I provided information to the Commish, he brought it out , it needed further proof which I feel I gave.
I suggest that it ends here. If we give him the benefit of the doubt thats cool. Simply I did not bring it up for me, it is rare that I get more than 4 or 5 balls because I catch 75-85% of what I get each night. Again I brought it up to protect the integrity of the league!
MLBallhawk
I left out the word almost where I said I catch every ball that I get ….. it should be I catch ALMOST every ball that I get.
Yeah, but taking a pic of all of the balls wouldnt help because you could just use balls that you snagged at previous games for the picture
Oh and Puck Collector is DEFINITELY padding his stats
What is the stadium in question for YankeeHater?
Look, if there are big differences between what he is reporting here, and what he is reporting on his blog, and it is evident that hee’s lying, then kick him out. but if there’s not enough proof to remove him from the league, he stays.
and what is his blog?
Erik,
How is the ankle doing brother? I was thinking of you yesterday after I was nearly crushed at the COPA while getting Mariano Rivera to autograph a ball for me. As I was exiting the area (or trying to) I had to hop over a couple of seats and came down on the left ankle hard. Nothing rolled and no ‘major’ swelling…yet. (IT was worth it, I love Rivera and his crazy stats…(I thank God everyday that my ‘primary’ goal is not collecting autos, but getting ROMLB’s….
When do you think you’ll be back off of the DL? As far as the dishonesty in the league goes it is unfortunate that folks would want to lie. I think any averages above Zack’s would be ‘unheard’ of in most cases. He is the SNAG MASTER….
Mike in Detroit
my offer stands for all of you,
don’t believe me?
follow me every game from here to September and realize maybe I am just good and honest about what I do.
Seriously
None of you (including the guy who started this ****) know anything about me or what I can and can’t do.
John- I said that I had gotten 6. I don’t know where you came up with your number 7. But when I read that you said that I reported 7x more than what I got, I (being much better than you at math as well as snagging) figure that to be 6/7 of a ball. Next time you are able to, or see me, snag part of a ball, let me know. That would be cool to see. Congrats that you know Chris. I’m glad that you have one friend since you paid off your wife with $7,500. What I said about the glove trick is that I had used it in the bullpen this season, not that particular day. You could have easily e-mailed me on my blog and asked me about it if you needed clarification.You are a full grown man and you are cyber bullying a 16 year old kid and encouraging others to do the same. Your a tough guy.
Erik- I think that you have dealt with this extremely poorly. I have asked several times for you to remove the accusations from the blog due to the lack of evidence.
Mike- Yes! Zack is the SNAG MASTER! I would have never gotten into this if it wasn’t for him. But I am honest about what I do. If I had gone to a game and missed BP, which will definitely happen, my average would go down a lot. Also, look at my stats as a whole. I have had some awesome games this year. I started out amazingly and almost reached my career high (16) all of my first 3 games. If you read my blog, you would see that I have not been keeping that up. I am out on the west coast, and until one of you come out here, and actually watch me only get 1 or 2 balls at a game, please don’t question my honesty or make accusations that you have no evidence to back up.
Puck collector- HAHAHA thanks for keeping the mood light. I’m sure you’ll get rid of that goose egg when the NHL playoffs end. my blog is
yankeehater626.mlblogs.com
I actually started it just over a week ago at Erik’s request for the sole reason of preventing people from questioning my stats. As I already wrote to Erik, my only camera is a web cam, and it is not worth the hundreds of dollars for a digital camera to me for some people 3,000 miles to believe me. Frankly, IDGAF. I might be able to borrow a camera from a friend every once and a while when I go with one to a game, but I am not gonna worry about it passed that. If you want to only give me 6 balls when I get 7+, go for it, but talk about ruining the integrity of the league.
I would appreciate this ending here, as I have more important things to do then defend myself to you. Please do not leave anymore threatening or questioning comments on this blog. If you want to specifically talk with me about a certain game, wait until the weekend, and do it on MY BLOG: yankeehater626.mlblogs.com
I did not say 7X …. I said that I saw you get 1. It came at the end of BP …. you said you got more after it and those were simply not possible for you to get on that day at the time you said!
THE END!
Jabbs. I’m in, I’ve just been putting in 40 hour weeks at work AND going to the games. I have –NO– time to blog about the stats… until tonight. I’ll have my stats up very, very soon. Please leave a comment on my blog with your email address so I can get the stats to you ASAP… they’ll also be in my blogs tonight.
IM IN! IM IN! I promise I didnt forget!
Oh yeah… the above comment belongs to
SHAWN
at http://realtalk.mlblogs.com
Waren, just for the comment about johns wife, you should be kicked out of the league. true or not i dont give a ****, but that is crossing the line, and it’s uncalled for
John could have just said on the blog that you were cheating, but instead he told the commish, and then you start mudslinging back at him! all you had to say was that you weren’t cheating, and that john made a mistake!
If you saw somebody cheating, you probably would have raised concern to the commish, just as John did.
If you are telling the truth about you snagging totals, fine, then JOhn MADE A MISTAKE! HE’S HUMAN! Move on from it.
And John has what over 300 baseballs, including Sammy Sosa’s 61st in ’98. He is probably as good as Zack, maybe better because he doesnt “beg” for balls like Zack does. so if you’re not better than Zack, then your not better than John.
All,
I think we need to focus on why we do what we do. It’s all about the fun of the chase and the love of the game.
There is waaaayyyy too much stress in the world to be stressing over all of this.
Now get back out there and snag some baseballs…..Oh and GO Tigers….
Mike in Detroit
All,
I think we need to focus on why we do what we do. It’s all about the fun of the chase and the love of the game.
There is waaaayyyy too much stress in the world to be stressing over all of this.
Now get back out there and snag some baseballs…..Oh and GO Tigers….
Mike in Detroit
Puck is right on in his comment, the wife thing was a bit childish. Also the post on his MLBlog was a bit childish as well. I simply asked about someones stats (Warren) others had the same concern I did. Maybe the only issue was the fact that it could have been handled via email and not in the League Standings post. Big deal, from what was said and read through his MLBlog it brought concerns. I simply said what I saw that day when asked. Most of us are adults here (scary isn’t it) but just like the players on the field we are adults playing a kids game.
… lolBy the way Puck thanks for the words on me possibly being better than Zack. In the Ballhawking world you have the best ever in Moe and Rich in Chicago, you have Zack who is probably the best in getting players to give up balls. I probably fall somewhere in the top 10-15. Simply put there are 2 different kind of Ballhawks, Old Schoolers catch or chase down most of what they get and the (looking for a hip new term here) New breed of Ballhawks simply go for the most balls they can get using whatever means they come up with. There is no right way or wrong way to Ballhawk (unless you live in Chicago). The only thing that is mandatory is that you HAVE FUN DOING IT!!The great thing is that Zack with his book and TV appearances and the rest of us with the things that we have had written and done have put Ballhawking on the map! Yes Warren it’s the book that I should have written 10 years sooner, I have even told Zack that, and we both laugh about it. So let’s get back to complaining about security, the size of the crowds and how we missed the 5 other balls we should have caught! It’s still just a game!
Either way what was brought up did not warrant all of the MEAN things that were said from Warren. If I was/am wrong then I apologize. I could always stir it up again and say I don’t think I was totally wrong but I won’t stir it up like that
On a side note I hope that everyone will take a lookg at my MLBlog. As Zack has teamed up with Pitch In For Baseball to raise money with his Ballhawking, I have done the same with the Orange County California chapter of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). I hope that everyone will pledge at least a penny per ball for both Zack and myself! I have pledged $.10 per ball for Zack and know that he will be returning the favor. To make a pledge to help MADD raise awareness and money to STOP DRUNK DRIVING please check out my website at http://www.mlballhawk.com and click on the link BASEBALLS 4 MADD!I also encourage any or all of you to do the same thing!! It is a great way that we can all give back to our communities!! Thanks Zack for bringing a whole new aspect to Ballhawking!!Johnhttp://ballhawk.mlblogs.com
First, let me say that I am an attorney and I deal with disputed facts and he said/she said every day. When the facts can’t be discerned from fiction, I tend to look at the attitude, demeanor, and overall class a person exhibits to determine who is telling the truth and who is full of it. Nine times out of ten it becomes painfully obvious who is telling the truth and who has something to hide. Now if I apply that logic to the current situation, we have one who had first hand knowledge to back up the questions we all had, so he went through proper channels and asked the commish what to do. Then we have another who has resorted to the lowest common denominator and started name calling and dragging family into it. Let me say that one of you has a lot of growing up to do and another has earned the right to rest on his laurels.
That being said, in order to turn this back towards a positive note: John and Zack, you can both put me down for a nickel per ball to each of your charities. I’ll go through the proper channels and sign up on your websites/blogs.
Donny in Houston
http://lonestar.mlblogs.com
Thanks Donny! I am sure that both Pitch In For Baseball and MADD will appreciate it as much as we both do!
John
Major League Ballhawk
http://ballhawk.mlblogs.com
http://mlballhawk.com/baseballs_4_madd.html
Let’s end the drama. I sent an email around to those not involved. We’ll vote to keep the ballhawk or boot them and move on.
AMEN BROTHA!!
Hey, everyone-
I’m very late to the discussion because I was busier than hell (and on the road) for the last week. I’m back now in NYC for 36 hours, but anyway, I don’t know what to make of this whole situation. I wasn’t there. I don’t want to take sides. I just want to say that it’s possible for people to average more balls per game than me. Nick Yohanek (aka “Happy Youngster”) is VERY good at getting baseballs…perhaps the best I’ve ever seen. And there are others as well who have the potential to snag 10+ balls per game if/when they’re at a stadium that doesn’t suck. I just wish I didn’t have to deal with sucky Shea all those years because then my home run totals would’ve been much higher by now. Anyway, yes, this is all about having fun, so let’s get back to that…and I really AM honored that you all believe the stats I report and don’t question me. I know I’ve been doing this for a long time, and that my collection is well documented, but still, it would be hard to prove EVERY single ball so it’s cool to part of the “circle of trust.” Good luck to you all and let’s keep this league going…
-Zack
http://snaggingbaseballs.mlblogs.com/
**Bowing Down To Zack**
We’re not worthy …. we’re not worthy ………lol
See you in MAY Zack! I’ll be watching you too!!Just Kidding!Johnhttp://ballhawk.mlblogs.com
really donny? i think you’d be a little pissed if someone said that you were a liar to people all over the country.
also…zack…i have potential to snag 10+ balls per a game, but that doesn’t mean it always happens. It had just worked out for my a few times this season and that has driven up my average.
on a side note, the 2 stats people seem to not look at are games attended and competition factor.
games attended – i haven’t been to many games this year, so obviously, a couple good games will drive up my average
competition factor- no one has brought this up, but to defend myself against further questioning, the reason why it is high is because the angels get 40,000+ on almost a nightly basis, but that is usually only between the 3rd and 7 innings.
John- I am glad that you are doing something productive with your snagging. I was also going to do something similar with a program called best buddies that helps special education students. Unfortunately, now that my stats have (without proper reason) been called into question, I will have great difficulty getting pledges. This is one of those examples of thinking that your actions only have consequences for one person, when they actually effect a large number of people. I have been the victim of these accusations and all of this negative feedback, and I am pretty mad. Please, everyone else consider this before you make any accusations.
Yes, Warren, really. You say that “someone said you were a liar to people all over the country”. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t John email his concerns privately to the commish? It was never brought public by John. The situation was raised anonymouslyby Erik and only one comment referenced the fact that it was obvious who it was. Your blog slamming John was posted to mlblogs right about the same time you posted just the third comment in this blog. No one called you a liar to people all over the country. You made this a big deal before John ever said a word.
Donny in Houston
http://lonestar.mlblogs.com
Erik, my email is waiting politely in your inbox. Thank you.
http://realtalk.mlblogs.com
Shawn
Erik,
I just recently noticed the note “No reports submitted by Shawn and Matt.” I’m wondering who the Matt is. Is it me? There are many Matts out there, I know. I have commented on your blog before, though I never really joined the league… though it is very entertaining. Is it too late? Either way, I think this league is really cool and you’re a stellar individual for getting it all started.
~Matt
http://bloggingboutbaseball.mlblogs.com/
Here’s my suggestion for next season’s Ballhawk club. Break this thing down into age groups. Also, if you are going to call someone out as a cheater/stat padder, do so via email first instead of calling someone out on this blog. I tired of reading this immature childish crap. Knock it the F’ck off. Snag some balls, tell the truth. It ain’t hard people…D
http://baseballsnatcher.mlblogs.com/
Yes! Age groups would be a lot better.
**** you all
******** *****!
Allow me to translate…..
“I hope you all enjoy your season.”