Hample, Zack 1977–

Personal

Born September 14, 1977, in New York, NY; son of Stu (a writer) and Naomi (a bookseller) Hample. Education: Guilford College, B.A., 2000. Religion: "Jewish/agnostic." Hobbies and other interests: "Baseball, people, musical discovery, reminiscing, staying up late, throwing things, playing with kids at grown-up parties, sesame chicken, Arkanoid, singing the instrumental part, hand-eye coordination, Scrabble, dissing people in my journal, going through red lights on my bike."

Addresses

Office —Argosy Book Store, 116 E. 59th St., New York, NY 10022. E-mail —[email protected].

Career

Guilford College, Greensboro, NC, enrollment representative, 2001; Frozen Ropes Baseball Center, New York, NY, instructor, 2002; Columbia Broadcasting Service, Inc. (CBS), New York, NY, production assistant, 2003; Argosy Book Store, New York, NY, Web master and sales associate, 2003–05; Major League Baseball Advanced Media, New York, NY, baseball writers, 2005–.

Awards, Honors

$1,000 for breaking the world record on Arkanoid (a video game from 1986), Twin Galaxies, 2000.

Writings

How to Snag Major League Baseballs: More than 100 Tested Tricks That Really Work, Aladdin Paperbacks (New York, NY), 1999.

Work in Progress

How to Watch Baseball Better, 2006; How to Snag Major League Baseballs, Volume II, 2007; But I Hate Walking (children's book), 2008.

Sidelights

Zack Hample told Something about the Author: "I've collected 2,542 baseballs at major league games. When I was younger, people used to tease me for being obsessed with something so dorky. But now that I have a book published on the subject, I'm not such a dork. Funny how that works.

"Now all I have to do is write something about my 189-pound rubber band ball."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Sports Illustrated, April 9, 2001, Rick Kelly, "A Ballsy Fan: If You Would Listen to Zack Hample, You'd Come Home with a Ball Every Game," p. 100.

ONLINE

Zack Hample Web site, http://www.zackhample.com (June 25, 2005).