Fishman, Zabinsky Display Humorous Natures (Part I)

This is the first of a three-part series on the YouTube success of two former Sharon High baseball captains, Jake Fishman ’13 and David Zabinsky ’11. Known as ‘BugCatcherJLF’ and ‘Harry Highpants’, respectively, they each have produced wildly popular humorous videos that have garnered over 150,000 total views apiece.

Followers of the Sharon High baseball team over the past few years recognize the names Jake Fishman and David Zabinsky for their excellence during their Eagle careers, but their exploits away from the diamond, producing entertaining videos, have attracted the attention of hundreds of thousands of others worldwide.

Fishman, 18, the ace left-handed pitcher and stalwart hitter on this past year’s Sharon team, has garnered over 167,000 YouTube views over the past year narrating Pokemon games.

Zabinsky, a fearsome hitter and shortstop on the 2011 Eagles squad who turned 20 last month, has earned nearly as many views for two videos of his gesticulations while umpiring Sharon Little League games.

The former teammates (2010-11), both of whom now play college baseball, have each recently reached milestones: Fishman’s YouTube channel, BugCatcherJLF, eclipsed 1,000 subscribers earlier this month, and a major Japanese TV station asked Zabinsky last week the air the videos, dubbed ‘Harry Highpants’.

Fishman said, “The most enjoyable part about it is having people comment on the videos, saying how much they like them. And when other [prominent] YouTubers recognize me, and say, ‘You make great videos’ – that feels really good.”

Of his videos being aired in the Far East, Zabinsky said, “I was quite surprised when TV ASAHI e-mailed me. I wasn’t aware my videos had international appeal. I'm happy that people from all over will enjoy them; it’s a really cool feeling.”

The second part of this article, which can be found on Yoni Monat's Blog on Sharon Patch, is a look at Fishman’s Pokemon videos.