I was absolutely thrilled to learn that Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton had been selected as the Most Valuable Player in the American League. His comeback from drug and alcohol addiction, is one of the most amazing and inspiring that I had ever come across.
Two years ago, I had the opportunity to interview him, while I was hosting evening shows for the Fan 590 in Toronto. The native of Raleigh, North Carolina,was so candid with me about the depth of his addictive behaviour, that I was stunned that he could not only comeback and have a normal life, but that he could return to become a super-star in Major League Baseball.
How open was Hamilton with me about his struggles with his demons ? It didn’t seem that many details were left out. When I asked him what was the absolute rock bottom of his addiction, he certainly painted a scary picture. The former Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays top pick in the 1999 amateur draft, said he found himself lying on the side of a road by himself, not really knowing how he got there. His wife Katie, was on the verge of leaving him, but his grandmother,and the family minister intervened, and asked that she not leave him, and instead try to help him through his difficulties. She followed the ministers suggestion, and Hamilton turned to Christianity. A Cincinnati Reds center fielder in 2007, Hamilton credits his minister, grandmother, wife, and his faith in Christian beliefs, as the reasons for his comeback from this crippling illness, and his rise to the very top of his profession, culminating in his being named the MVP of this season’s American League Championship Series,and now the regular season MVP.
As noted in ESPNDallas.com, he was out of baseball from 2003 to 2005, and struggled with eight encounters in rehabilitation for addiction. He did have a small set back in 2009, when some photos emerged of him shirtless in a bar in Tempe,Arizona,with several women. Hamilton admitted to drinking that night, and getting drunk. He was quoted in Wikipedia, as saying that he had very little memory of that evening,and not knowing of the content of the photos from that night. Some of the other data that jump off the page about this past year as well, include that he is the first AL player with a minimum of a .359 average, 40 doubles, 30 home runs and 100 RBI’s since Lou Gehrig in 1934. This is even more impressive with the fact that he missed most of the final month of the regular season with two fractured ribs. Hamilton also led the majors with a .359 batting average,and a .633 slugging percentage. He was a clutch performer, batting .370 with two outs,highest in the majors, and also led the American League in hitting .369 with runners in scoring position. Previously, he was a winner of the 2008 All-Star Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium, and led the AL with 130 RBI’s.
Anyone who can find the strength to come back from what seems to have been the bottom of the barrel of despair, and rise to the pinnacle of his profession, is my hero and a role model to anyone and everyone. Josh Hamilton fits that description perfectly.