For several years from 2009-2102 or so, Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton was one of the most exciting players in baseball to watch. There was the home run derby at the all star game where he put on an amazing show, there was the four home run game in Baltimore, there was the MVP award, there was the post season hits and the diving catches in the outfield. And Rangers fans rejoiced that he was one of us.
Then came the signing with the Angels, the “baseball town” comments, and the lack of production that he experienced with the Angels. He was no longer the player that he was nor the player the Angels hoped they were getting. Things got so bad for the team and Hamilton, that the Angels were willing to give him back to the Rangers and foot most of the bill for his salary.
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So a broken Josh Hamilton came back home to Texas, back to finish his career with the franchise he had been a superstar with, but as expected, he has just been too banged up to produce much of anything for the ball-club. The Rangers new the reward outweighed the risk since they were paying Josh next to nothing.
Now, with the (most likely) career ending knee surgery he underwent this week, it appears that the Rangers will cut him and then try to re sign him on a minor league deal. The thing we should be most concerned about when it comes to Hamilton is not can he produce, but can he make it in life? I root for the guy to comeback and be a small contributor to the club, because I’m afraid of what will happen to him when baseball is taken completely away. We all know of the struggles he has had ongoing with drugs and alcohol, and I hope he can live every day winning his struggle.
I tip my hat to a man that really gave his all to the Texas Rangers for most of the time he spent with them, a man who overcame impossible odds to play in the major leagues, a man who made Texas Rangers baseball fun to watch during his glory days. Josh Hamilton may be done with baseball, but he has a lot of life left to live, and I hope he finds something else he loves to do when it is officially over for him.
