Fellow MLBlogger Zack Hample on the Tonight Show and even I made it on TV

On Wednesday I went to the Tonight show to see fellow Ballhawk and MLBloggers Zack Hample. I have talked to Zack via email and MLBlogs for 5 or 6 years now. We talked on the phone earlier this week and finally we were both going to be in the same place at the same time to meet.

We got there in plenty of time to use the tickets I had got off of TVTIX.com . Zack was going to try to put us on the studio list however they had told him only two guests and we felt that we would get in with our tickets anyway which we did.  Here is a picture of the line to get into the Tonight show to see Zack Hample. They all were there for Zack weren't they? Sorry about the quality of these 2 photos as they were taken with my cell phone.

Once we in the studio we had to turn off all of our phones, cameras etc. John Melendez (Stuttering John from the Howard Stern Show) came out and warmed up the audience by giving away some stuff and Jay Leno came out and told us to make sure we laughed during the monologue.

In the second segment of the show after the monologue John Melendez came out to host "What the Audience Wants To Know". All of the questions obviously were set ups for jokes but it was pretty funny. All of the people they had asking the questions were right in front of me which gave me the opportunity to get on TV. I figured that some people might notice if me if I was holding a baseball. As you can see in this photo there I am behind Melendez holding a baseball on my lap. I couldn't make it to obvious by holding it up or I might have gotten in trouble with the production crew. So I just held it on my leg where you could easily see it.

No I really am not bald although in this picture it might look that way. After this segment Dana Carvey came out. He was on for the next two segments and most likely ran a little long causing the shortening of Zacks segment. Dana Carvey was hilarious doing impressions of everything going on in politics right now and he even chimed in during Zacks segment making fun of the people at Shea that had evidently thrown Zack out a few times over the years.

Finally it was Zack's turn and I think Zack did a pretty good job. After the show he told me that he was not nervous at all. He said that even Dana Carvey said something to him about him not being nervous. I told Zack that he is a seasoned pro and it just comes natural to a Ballhawk.

It was definitely cool seeing a fellow Ballhawk get his 15 minutes of fame on the BIG STAGE!

After the show we met up with Zack across the street at of all places a Shell station. We talked, shared stories and took a few photos as well. I even haded Zack a small stack of Tonight Show tickets which he didn't even know were available. I then had him sign a few of them and he OK'ed putting one or two on Ebay. So stay tuned for that ........ most likely it will be a Major League Baseball along with a Tonight Show Ticket signed by the WORLDS GREATEST BASEBALL FAN ZACK HAMPLE! I guess I should have worn a hat and tucked my shirt in! This picture was taken by Zack's girlfriend Jona. They could have photoshoped it! There were some funny moments with the audience gasping at the number of baseballs that he has caught. I did hear a few people laugh and say what a dork etc. but all of us that chase baseballs know that there has to be some DORK in us to continue Ballhawking!

The funniest thing was the fact that Jay said he holds the WORLD RECORD for catching baseballs. When Zack came out after the show he just laughed and told me that even he told them that wasn't really true but they said that they were just going with it. Who really cares anyway, those of us that are "Ballhawks" are just glad to see our hobby getting recognized!

Great Job Zack and as you said we definitely need to do something together whether it is a documentry , book or even a reality show!