In the midst of SeatGeek's coverage of Alex Rodriguez's chase to 600 home runs and where the ball is most likely to land, we caught up with Zack Hample, a baseball fan, published author, owner of over 4500 baseballs, and one of the best ball snaggers in the world. Hample has snagged at least one ball in every game he has went to since 1993, including the last Mets home run to ever be hit at Shea Stadium, and Barry Bond's 724th career home run. Given Hample's pedigree, we thought it would be more than appropriate to get some pointers from him on how to catch A-Rod's 600th home run.

For Hample, catching balls is all about lateral movement. If the ballpark allows for space to move left and right, Hample believes he has a good shot at snagging the ball. Standing room only sections in the outfield are the best place to be, since they allow the most movement and the opportunity to chase down the ball.

Some of Hample's favorite stadiums include Camden Yards in Baltimore, Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and Progressive Field in Cleveland - where the Yankees and A-Rod play this week.

While most fans were disappointed that Rodriguez couldn't hit home run 600 on the Yankees past home stand, Hample probably didn't mind.

Hample doesn't like Yankee Stadium, because there are no cross-aisles, and no room to move laterally. While SeatGeek and Hit Tracker predicted that the most likely section that A-Rod would hit 600 in (Section 136) and the most likely seat (Section 135, Row 18, Seat 6), that information is not as useful for snaggers like Hample when in Yankee Stadium in comparison to other stadiums. If you are stuck in the middle of a row, you are constricted in your ability to move left or right to catch the ball. Instead, the ball must be hit directly at you in order for you to have a chance at catching it, which makes being in "The Money Seat" that much more important.

Hample has actually never caught a home run ball without having to move left or right to get to it. In fact, it really is more luck than anything else to catch a baseball that is hit right at you. Fortunately, "The Money Seat" at Progressive Field is an aisle seat - Section 181, Row J, the aisle seat in between sections 180 and 181. An aisle seat leaves room for whoever is sitting in the end to get up and run into the aisle to snag the home run ball.

Yet, even if A-Rod hits his 600th home run at Progressive Field but it is not near "The Money Seat", fans still have a better chance at catching it in Cleveland than at Yankee Stadium in New York.

Progressive Field is much more fan friendly for ball snaggers, because there is much more area in the outfield for fans to try and get their hands on a ball. In addition to the bleachers, there is also the "Home Run Porch" down the left field line, a standing room only section and ball snagger's haven. While Progressive Field has a lot of real estate, Yankee Stadium has less bleachers, and less room to catch a ball. For that reason, Progressive Field is one of Hample's favorite stadiums, while Yankee Stadium is fairly low on his list.

Aside from the aformentioned, there are a few other factors that affect a snagger's ability to get balls.

• Stands layout (i.e., if there are cross-aisles and/or room to move laterally)
• Standing room only sections which allow for maximum side-to-side movement
• Whether or not security allows fans to move around the stadium
• How crowded the stands are (more people equals more competition)

At this point, it is up in the air whether or not Hample will travel to Progressive. If he does, I'm personally pretty confident that he can come home with A-Rod's 600th home run, provided the ball is hit remotely near him. Hample said he was only five feet away from snagging Ken Griffey, Jr.'s 600th home run, so it may be with a vengeance that he tries to snag Rodriguez's 600th.

Hample has never sold any of the balls he has caught - he has either kept them or given them away to a nearby kid at the stadium. But what if he caught A-Rod's 600th, which is predicted to resell for over $100,000?

"I would sell it", Hample admitted. "I would give half of it to charity, buy my girlfriend a Mini Cooper, and then that would leave a little left for me."

I guess for Hample it's more about the thrill of snagging than it is the money.

Special thanks to Zack Hample for the interview. Zack is the author of "How to Snag Major League Baseballs" and "Watching Baseball Smarter". While he snags baseballs as a hobby, he is also doing it for a good cause, and money is being pledged to the charity Pitch in For Baseball for every ball he snags in the 2010 season. Click here for more information.

UPDATE - Alex Rodriguez just hit his 600th home run, into Monument Park in centerfield at Yankee Stadium, on August 4th versus the Toronto Blue Jays. His home run gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the game, which is the sixth game played since A-Rod went for 600 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

The home run landed in an area where there are no seats in Yankee Stadium; unfortunately, no Indians or Yankees fans were able to cash in on the ball.

A-Rod’s 500th Home Run Sold for +$100K – His 600th is Approaching and We Calculated Where at Progressive Field it is Most Likely to Land…

Overview

Alex Rodriguez is now one home run away from 600 career home runs and we have the updated landing spot prediction for Progressive Field! While he was three home runs away from joining the 600 Home Run Club, SeatGeek teamed with Hit Tracker and released a report in which the most likely section in Yankee Stadium where A-Rod may hit the home run was predicted, as well as the most likely seat - "The Money Seat". Yankees fans, however, were not able to witness history in Yankee Stadium, as A-Rod did not hit 600 in New York. Now, the Yankees and A-Rod head to Cleveland, where they play the Indians at Progressive Field for four games. We wanted to provide the fans with an updated prediction for Progressive Field, where it's looking like the milestone home run may occur. Now we have the much anticipated report updated for Progressive Field!

We have also included prices for Cleveland Indians tickets for games during the Yankees v. Indians series and prices for tickets in the most likely outfield sections (for reference see the original Yankee Stadium report here).

A-Rod’s 600th Home Run: The Prediction

Using the same methodology that he used before for Yankee Stadium, Hit Tracker's founder Greg Rybarczyk was able to predict the most likely sections in Progressive Field, based on A-Rod's scatter plot over the past 4.5 seasons, as well as the sizes of each section in the outfield. Again, if you want a shot at catching the milestone ball, we suggest grabbing a seat in one of these sections below that have the highest percentage chance of the ball landing there!

The most likely sections at Progressive Field are: 1. Section 182 (15.9% chance) 2. Section 181 (12.5%) 3. Section 183 (10.2%) 4. Section 184 (8.0%) 5. Section 180 (7.7%)

A-Rod’s 600th Home Run: “The Money Seat”

Hit Tracker was able to predict an average path of flight for A-Rod's home run balls while using their database of his home runs. The ball that travels along that pass was to land in Section 135, Row 18, Seat 6 in Yankee Stadium. However, in Progressive Field, that path concludes in the aisle, specifically Section 181, Row J, the aisle seat between section 180 and section 181. The fan in the “The Money Seat” has the highest probability of catching the ball! Please note that even though Section 182 has the highest probability by section, the single most likely seat is located in Section 181.

The Layout of Progressive Field Gives Fans in the Most Likely Sections a Great Chance at Catching the Ball

We interviewed Zack Hample, arguably the best ball snagger in the world and author of two books on the topic included his most famous work 'Watching Baseball Smarter' (please note we are not an affiliate). Hample has caught thousands of balls in his lifetime, including the last Mets home run hit at Shea Stadium and Barry Bonds' 724th home run. In this interview, Hample stated, "Lateral movement is the key to catching home run balls and Progressive Field has a layout that makes this possible. As a result, Progressive is one of the  best stadiums to snag home runs."

Progressive Field in Cleveland allows for more room to move left and right (as opposed to being confined to the seat you are sitting in), and thus gives fans who are not positioned in the exact seat more of an opportunity to catch the milestone home run ball. Aside from "The Money Seat" and Section 182, another good spot to wait for the home run ball is the party porch in left field (8.9% chance of the ball landing there), which is also known as the Home Run Porch.

Historically, seats in the most likely sections for A-Rod’s 600th to land at Progressive Field have gone for below the overall season average for tickets at Progressive.  The most likely section (182) has the lowest average ticket prices of the three at 55% below the season average (section 181 is historically 47% below the season average).  As noted in the chart above, the average ticket price for tickets in Section 182 at Progressive is $18.45, the section which has the highest probability of A-Rod’s 600th HR ball landing there, is $18.45. This is based on historical data, but we also looked at the average current listing prices in this section to see the price that you could actually buy a ticket for today on the secondary market. Fortunately, it looks like you can still get into these sections for pretty cheap, which is great for fans looking to snag number 600 (much cheaper than what we saw for price for Yankees tickets).

As you can see, the secondary ticket market is not reacting much to A-Rod's 600th home run out in left field, as you can currently get tickets in the left field bleachers below the season average and below face value in many cases. However, if you check out our new detailed team data pages, you will see that Indians ticket prices are overall much higher on average, which we would expect with the Yankees in town. Note that we do not have another Yankees at Cleveland series to compare to, so we can't determine the incremental rise due to A-Rod's imminent 600th.

A-Rod’s 600th Home Run: The Timing

The Yankees have four games in a row versus Cleveland, followed by three versus the Rays in Tampa Bay. It is likely that he will hit one in the next seven road games - specifically there is a 65% chance he hits number 600 in Cleveland. In the event that he does not hit a home run in Cleveland, we will have an updated report for Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay.  For Yankee fans, hang onto hope, there is just under a 20% chance that he has not hit number 600 before returning for the next home stand.

Summary

• For the best shot at cashing in on A-Rod's 600th home run, try to get tickets in sections 181,182, or 183
• "The Money Seat" is located in section 181, row J, the aisle seat between section 180 and section 181
• Aisle seats are best, because they allow the best opportunity to move laterally throughout your section
• Sections 181, 182, and 183 are being listed below the season average for those sections and, in many cases, below face value
• A-Rods home run ball is expected to sell for between $100,000 and $150,000 at auction based on discussions with SCP Auctions
• There is a 65% chance A-Rod hits his 600th during the upcoming Cleveland series, making this the most likely stretch for the milestone to occur
• The person that catches the ball will likely turn a profit of over $100,000 if they decide to sell it at auction

Best of luck catching the ball. For further inquiries, reach out to justin[at]seatgeek.com.

About SeatGeek
SeatGeek.com is the only site that forecasts how sports and concert ticket prices move on the secondary ticket market and it allows fans to search multiple sites, discover ticket deals, and find sold out tickets.

UPDATE: Cleveland's WEWS NewsNet 5 took our predictions with them to Progressive Field and interviewed fans in the bleachers. See what they had to say about their chances of catching A-Rod's 600th, and what they would do if they caught the ball.