Josh Hamilton = Superhuman

I know I have been lax on the blog updates.. but I’ve been busy with several exciting projects I will talk about soon.  But I had to share this…

For those who don’t know who Josh Hamilton is, he was the #1 Baseball Draft Pick by my Tampa Bay Rays in 1999.  Hope were high for him as he was labeled the next A-Rod, but a car wreck and a fall into drug addiction put his career and life in jeopardy.  After the Rays gave him chance after chance, he was banned from baseball and told to go clean up his life before he even made it out of the minors.  The story is well publicized, he almost died, and ended up on his grandmother’s front porch, starving and begging for help.  She nursed him back to health, and he slowly kicked his heroine addiction.

During his journey back, Josh even appeared on AE’s Flip This House, where he worked for Richard Davis’ construction team while Richard taught him life lessons.  At the end of the show, Josh began playing independent baseball again.

After three years out of organized baseball, Hamilton began his slow climb back, eventually landing with the Rangers in the major leagues this year.  Never one to hide his past, he has always been open about his demons, and advised young people to not make the same mistakes he did.

We all love a story of redemption, and Josh’s rookie year has been breakout.  The one time phenom even made the all-star team!

So fast-forward to last night.  After years of struggle, mistakes, and a long journey back, Josh Hamilton entered the major league home run derby. And in what was probably one of the most redeeming nights of his life, Josh lit the world on fire on the grandest of stages: the soon-to-be defunct “House That Ruth Built” (Yankee Stadium).

So take a few minutes and watch the video below and revel in a man’s moment… his resurrection to all that he was supposed to be. Josh Hamilton blasted a record 28… wait… 28!!!…  homers in the first round, with some of them being some of the biggest bombs I have ever seen in Yankee Stadium.  My only regret is that he doesn’t play for Rays.