Jul 15 2008
28
28 Home Runs in one round of the Home Run Derby last night. 28! Incredible, Josh Hamilton set a new record for home runs in a single round of the Home Run Derby. Yesterdays story I thought it would be a good Derby but not that good. Josh Hamilton is now one of the biggest stars in Major League Baseball.
What a performance and great show of hitting the ball in “The House That Ruth Built”. That was a great chapter in the even greater story that is Josh Hamilton. What you know from last night is that Josh Hamilton is a Texas Ranger, for now, and one of the great young home run hitters around.
What you may not know is the how Hamilton was drafted Number 1 overall by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Many baseball scouts considered him one of the greatest prospects they had ever seen. One even compared Hamilton to Mickey Mantle. What praise to be given as a young baseball player. The path to the Major League was supposed to be a simple walk through a few minor league stops.
That is when the trouble started for Hamilton, he fell into a Drug and Alcohol addiction that caused him his contract. He was released from Tampa Bay and seemed to be a lost cause. (I choose not to speak more of his troubles in detail because this is a positive story.) Hamilton entered a rehabilitaion center and fought his demons. The tattoo’s on his arms are a reminder of his troubled past.
From a number one pick overall to trying to fight his way back into the game, he made it back. Last season proved to be the “Re-Modeling” of his career and last night the “Grand Re-Opening” of the potentially great career of Josh Hamilton. To stand at home plate in Yankee Stadium and have the New York fans chanting his name, must have been the greatest feeling for Hamilton. It was a great moment for those who watched the Derby.
It does not seem that the Rangers can hold onto Hamiltons sky-rocketing career. He most likely will not end his career in a Texas Ranger uniform and it seems the Yankee fans made him feel like one of their own, perhaps pin-stripes are in his future? Or maybe another suiter? Regardless, this is an amazing story that has just had another remarkable chapter added to it.
J.M.Saucedo
