New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez responds to questions during a news interview after the Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers 7-2 in a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers on Friday, June 19, 2015, in New York. Rodriguez had a home run for his 3,000th career hit. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
(Frank Franklin II/AP)

Yankees star Alex Rodriguez achieved a milestone on Friday night and in the most spectacular way possible. The player recorded his 3,000th hit and, wouldn’t you know, it was a home run.

“It’s a magical number,” Rodriguez told reporters after the Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-2, at home. “I’m very happy to be in the club.”

Even happier, though, is the fan who caught the orb of history.

Hample, who Yahoo Sports describes as a “notorious ballhawk,” very quickly and very publicly declared on Twitter that he planned to keep the ball, and not give it to A-Rod as a career souvenir.

“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 told NJ.com on Friday. “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. Just having this ball is so meaningful to me. I can’t believe that I got it.”

Hample’s decision predictably has caused quite a bit of consternation among Yankees fans and even Rodriguez himself who thinks Hample should have handed it over, much like Christian Lopez, the man who caught Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit, did in 2011.

“The thing I was thinking about is, where’s Jeets’ guy?” Rodriguez said (via The New York Daily News), referring to Lopez and Jeter. “The guy that caught (his) ball? That’s the guy that I needed here. Where is that guy? I wasn’t so lucky.”

Hample, 37, quickly rose to infamy on Twitter, as well. While some people defended him for the same reasons Hample himself gave, others had more disparaging things to say, which only seemed to fuel Hample’s fervor. The man does not hate attention.

Besides not giving the ball back to A-Rod for free, it’s unclear what Hample’s plans are for the ball.

“I’d love to hear everyone’s suggestions for what I should do with the ball,” he wrote on his blog on Saturday. “Be specific and creative. I told the Yankees that I was planning to keep it, but now I’m considering other options.”