Fan who caught A-Rod's 3,000th hit: 'My intention all along ... was not to give it back'

Alex Rodriguez will probably never see the baseball he crushed for his 3,000th hit.

That's because the person who caught it just so happens to be a record-holder in his own right.

In his first at-bat against the Detroit Tigers on Friday, the New York Yankees slugger clubbed the first pitch he saw over the right-center field wall off Justin Verlander.

Related: A-Rod homers to become 29th player in history to reach 3,000 hits

The man who got his mitt on it, Zack Hample, told Yankees officials that he intends to keep the ball and had MLB authenticate it for him. And for those who think prying the baseball away from Hample will be easy, think again.

Hample is more than just an everyday baseball collector - it's his life's work. He has written three books: "How to Snag Major League Baseballs," "Watching Baseball Smarter," and "The Baseball," but that's just the beginning.

In fact, Hample is the (very) proud owner of more than 8,000 baseballs that he's amassed from 51 different major league stadiums since 1990. So when he was approached by team officials about a trade, he was in anything but a negotiating mood.

"My intention all along, I've been imagining this scenario as a one-in-a-million, was not to give it back," Hample told reporters. "You know, just because the guy who got (Derek) Jeter's 3,000th hit, a lot of people called him an idiot. A lot of people said that he was a wonderful person and extremely generous.

"And I really think that, whatever you want to do with it is your choice."

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

Following the 7-2 win over the Tigers, A-Rod joked that he wished someone else would have caught the ball. But Rodriguez doesn't seem too concerned about the ball, highlighting a World Series title as the moment of his career he's most fond of.

"I don't have a ball, I don't have a bat, I have a memory," A-Rod said. "That lives forever."

Despite A-Rod saying he doesn't mind not having the ball, team officials did everything they could to engage Hample in discussion for a trade. But regardless of their efforts, the noted collector is standing by his decision, leaving only a margin of hope that A-Rod will ever get his hands on the ball.

"I think that someone like Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez, who has made half a billion dollars in his career, doesn't really need a favor from a normal civilian and a fan like me," Hample said. "I don't know right now if I'm going to sell it. I mean, depending on what the Yankees could offer, I would consider giving it back.

"I'm not giving it back for - I don't plan to give it back for a chance to meet him and full autographed bats because I don't collect bats, I collect baseballs," he added. "Just having this ball is so meaningful to me. I can't believe that I got it."