Starting at a young age, Tony and Linda Hamilton knew that they had a special son when it came to the baseball field. Playing shortstop, the position in which the most athletic player on the team plays during the first years of baseball, Josh Hamilton would leave welts and bruises on his first baseman's hands. It got so bad that teammates began to refuse to play first base and Josh was forced to play with older kids, which did not solve a thing.
By the time high school came around, Josh was not only the star on the Athens Drive High School team but also was rapidly ascending to be the number one prospect in the nation. Hamilton was aware of what he could accomplish with his skills, but he did not allow that to blind him from being a good person and making right decisions. Hamilton would kiss his mother and grandmother before every single game and befriended Ashley Pittman. Pittman, born with down syndrome, was the team manager who after the state semi-final loss was seen crying heavily on the team bus ride home. Hamilton took it upon himself to sit with Pittman and try to make him feel better, as it turned out Pittman thought he had done something to cause the team to lose. Hamilton told him that they win as a team and lose as a team, which caused Pittman to stop crying immediately as he looked at Hamilton and smiled saying, "Does that mean I'm a part of the team?" When Hamilton informed him that of course he was,Pittman broke down again, but this time in joyous manner and gave Hamilton a huge hug.
On the field Hamilton was as dominant as they come, a size 19 shoe wearing left hander that topped out at 96 while also hitting .556 with 11 home runs and only striking out 4 times. On the mound Hamilton was nearly unstoppable compiling a 7-1 record while striking out 83 batters in 47 innings. The most astonishing feat in high school may have occurred during his sophomore year when he had not pitched all year due to extreme growing pains but in the playoffs threw four shutout innings to lead his team to victory.
Hamilton eventually was drafted number 1 overall by the Tampa Bay Rays in 1999 and began a promising career. In 2000, Hamilton proved why he was the number one pick as he was named Minor League Player of the Year, played in the futures game, and was the MVP of the South Atlantic All-Star Game. Sadly, for Hamilton,this was the beginning of the downward spiral.
In the off-season before the 2001 season Hamilton was in a car accident with his parents and began spending large portions of time at a local tattoo parlor that led to his drug and alcohol abuse and his eventual first trip to a rehab center. By the end of the 2002 season,one that was cut short by injuries, Tampa Bay had sent Hamilton to the Betty Ford Rehabilitation Center in order to get help with recovery.
2003 got off to a rocky start as well for Hamilton as he failed his first drug test of Spring Training and missed multiple team and organizational events. Hamilton ended up missing the entire season due to "personal reasons". In 2004, Hamilton was suspended the entire season due to failing an additional two tests.
By this point in his life,Hamilton was deeply addicted to alcohol and crack while also intermingling marijuana and pills. In an article on ESPN.com (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2926447) Hamilton discusses a time when he suddenly awoke from a trance and was walking down the middle of a 2 lane highway with cars zooming past him on both sides. He had consumed so many drugs that his mind had stopped working, but his body continued. It turns out he had ran out of gas on his way to his drug dealer's house and decided he should walk the remainder of the way. There are many more stories of Hamilton doing crazy things while high including getting tattoos that he no longer can remember what the majority of them represent or burning the back of his hand with four lit cigarettes because he was mad at a person in rehab, but thanks to a confrontation by his grandmother he began to turn things around in 2005.
Hamilton's baseball career began to take off and turn around in 2007 when selected by the Chicago Cubs in the rule 5 draft and traded to the Cincinnati Reds. Hamilton had an explosive and successful spring which lead to the Reds having him active on their 25 man roster on Opening Day. When Hamilton's name was announced on Opening Day, the sellout crowd at Great American Ballpark gave Hamilton a standing ovation that lasted nearly 25 seconds.
In that same ESPN article Hamilton acknowledges his feelings on that opening day,"I'll never forget Opening Day in Cincinnati.When they called my name during introductions and a sellout crowd stood and cheered, I looking into the stands and saw Katie and our two kids - Sierra, who'snearly 2,and my 6-year-old stepdaughter,Julia - and my parents and Katie's parents. I had to swallow hard to keep from breaking down right there. They were all crying, but I had to at least try to keep it together.
I pinch-hit in the eighth inning of that game against the Cubs, and Lou Piniella decided to make a pitching change before I got to the plate. The crowd stood and cheered me for what seemed like forever. It was the best sound I've ever heard. When I got into the box, Cubs catcher Michael Barrett looked up at me from his crouch and said,"You deserve it, Josh. Take it all in, brother. I'm happy for you."
Hamilton went on to make a run at the NL Rookie of the Year award but not without help from his family and Johnny Narron. Narron was the Reds bench who had also coached Hamilton when he was 15. He took Josh under his supervision with the Reds and put many precautionary measures into action. Narron would collect Hamilton's meal money on the road and only give him enough for one meal at a time because they did not want him walking around with hundreds of dollars of cash. His wife would drop him off and pick him up from the stadium before and after all games in order to make sure he did not drift from the correct path.
Playing in the majors did come with a price as now everyone knew of Hamilton's past struggles and playing on the road was always rough. At one stop in St. Louis a fan stood up and yelled "Hey, I'm Josh Hamilton and I'm a drug addict!" Hamilton responded by turning to the stands and joked back "Tell me something I don't know!" The fun loving and happy Hamilton from high school was beginning to return.
Twice since 2009 Hamilton has admitted to slipping up and drinking. The first was in March of 2009 when photos were taken of him shirtless in a bar and witnesses claimed to hear him asking where he could find cocaine and claiming to be heading to a strip club afterwards. The second was in February of 2012 when he went to a bar by himself for a few drinks before calling Ian Kinsler to come get him. While relapses are common nature for recovering addicts,throughout his career Hamilton's teammates have made it as easy on him as possible. While playing for the Reds, it was standard for rookies to carry all of the beer on to the plane but Hamilton was allowed to be removed from this task,and when the Rangers clinched a playoff spot they celebrated with Ginger Ale as opposed to Champagne to help Josh avoid alcohol.
This past off season, Hamilton signed a monster deal with Angels and will for the first time be on his own to fight his addiction. Johnny Narron was with him for his stints with the Reds and Rangers but he is now the hitting coach for the Milwaukee Brewers. All the pressure to maintain sobriety falls back onto Hamilton's shoulders.
We can guarantee that Hamilton will be in the news at some point this season, lets just hope that it is because he has a shot at MVP and not just that he had a shot.
No comments:
Post a Comment