When trying to decide who the best center fielder in the history of the Texas Rangers organization is, a few different names popped into my head, but in my opinion, none of them truly belong in the discussion with Josh Hamilton.
I’ll never forget watching the 2008 Home Run Derby where Hamilton jacked one home run after another, finishing with 28 in the first round.
I remember being at the ballpark and pulling out my phone to film a grand slam by Hamilton. I wish I still had that video.
I will never forget watching him hit four home runs against Baltimore.
I have several fond memories of watching Hamilton swing a bat and run into walls to make great catches, which was the source of several of his injuries.
Hamilton first came to Texas in 2008 where he spent the next five years. His time with the club came to an ugly ending when he signed with the Angels and put a bad taste in the mouths of Rangers fans by calling Arlington a “football town.”
His time with the Angels didn’t go as he or the club had hoped for and Hamilton burned bridges with that franchise as well.
He landed back in Texas, but was never the same.
Throughout his career, Hamilton battled his demons. He has a past full of drugs and alcohol that he couldn’t seem to shake, and even recently he has been indicted on a felony charge of injury to a minor, his daughter.
While with the team, he wrote a book called, “Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back.”
The story was a great one, but it’s not his whole story. Unfortunately, Hamilton’s story doesn’t seem to have such a happy ending.
With that being said though, what he did on the field tells a different story – a story that in my mind, makes him the best to ever place center field for the Rangers.
As a Ranger, Hamilton had a batting average of .302 with 814 hits, 150 home runs, 531 RBIs and 441 runs.
When his MLB career was all said and done, he had a batting average of .290, 1,134 hits, 200 home runs, 701 RBIs and 609 runs scored.
He was an All-Star in all five years of his first stint with the Rangers. He was the 2010 American League MVP before being name the ALCS MVP.
That year, he was also the AL batting champion.
Hamilton won three Silver Slugger Awards and was the American League’s RBI leader in 2008.
This past August, I was at Globe Life Park when Hamilton was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame.
Sure, Hamilton had his flaws, but who doesn’t? Those flaws don’t take away what he accomplished on the field, and in my book, the Rangers have never had a better center fielder.
Nathan Hague is the sports editor for the Marshall News Messenger
