Controversial baseballer Alex Rodriguez got the home-run ball he smashed for his 3,000th career hit on Friday after the New York Yankees made a deal with the fan who caught it.
Zack Hample presented the ball to Rodriguez prior to the Yankees’ home game against Tampa Bay.
The Yankees are to donate US$150,000 to Pitch In For Baseball, a charity Hample has supported since 2009 that provides equipment and promotes youth baseball in underprivileged areas around the world.
Photo: AFP
Rodriguez also gave him a signed jersey and bat.
Rodriguez became just the 29th Major League Baseball player to reach 3,000 hits when he belted a homer against Detroit at Yankee Stadium on June 19.
Hample, a collector who says he has caught more than 30 home-run balls — and snagged about 8,000 overall, including foul balls, batting practice balls and out-of-play balls thrown to him by players or field attendants — initially said he did not plan to give the ball to Rodriguez.
On Friday he said he was sorry about “a couple of stupid things, negative things” he said about Rodriguez on Twitter.
“I have a PhD in saying dumb things over the years,” Rodriguez responded.
A-Rod is back this season after serving a 162-game suspension for doping violations linked to the Biogenesis steroid scandal.
Since returning, Rodriguez has been gradually winning back once-hostile fans, but response to his achievement of a spate of milestones has been mixed.
However, on Friday it was announced that the Yankees and Rodriguez had resolved a disagreement over financial bonuses due to him for historic statistical accomplishments.
Since May, Rodriguez and the team had been at odds over a US$6 million bonus payment that he believed he was owed for tying Willie Mays for fourth on the all-time home-run list.
The Yankees had argued the bonus was at their discretion, and they opted out because his drug-tainted past means the achievement is not marketable.
In a deal announced jointly by Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association, the Yankees have agreed to pay US$3.5 million to charity. A total of US$1 million is to be divided among the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, Boys & Girls Club of Tampa and Pitch In For Baseball, with the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Foundation receiving US$2.5 million.
Not only will the Yankees save US$2.5 million from the original US$6 million bonus figure, they will save more than US$2 million in luxury tax they would have owed had the payment gone to Rodriguez himself.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is to consult Rodriguez in deciding exactly which initiatives the US$2.5 million payment to the Urban Youth Foundation will benefit.
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