If i told you I was sorry....

[LSN80]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/bi...gizes-to-Tampa-Bay-Rays-for-p?urn=mlb-wp22748

Josh Hamilton felt the need to say it.

For those who aren't familar, Haamilton is the reigning American League player of the year for the Texas Rangers, whose team just defeated his former team, The Tampa Bay Rays, three games to one to advance to the American League Championship series. We may see good sportsmanship and handshakes following a series of this magnitude, but an apology along with regret? Why? Hamilton gives his own explanation:

"I was thinking about it in the outfield last night. With all of the stress and everything of the elimination game yesterday, you know, thinking about and actually made some amends with trainers and with staff from the other side, from the Rays' side, because I don't think I ever had, as far as what I did and when I was here and my time. And they put a lot of time and effort into me, so just made an apology, a few yesterday. And thinking about it for the fans' aspect of it yesterday, they were all expecting to see me with the Rays in Tropicana, in the outfield. But it doesn't work out that way all the time."

Hamilton was the first overall draft pick for the Rays back in 1999, and was considered to be the best outfield prospect to come along in some time, with all the talent in the world. Yet despite starring in the Rays minor league system his first two years, Hamilton never played a game for the Rays major league squad. Why?

Hamilton, along with the parents who had quit their jobs to travel with him, was injured in a car accident in 2001, and with the pain and frustration too much to bear, turned to alocohol and drugs instead. Eight rehabs and five years later, Hamilton was left off Tampa Bay's roster altogether, and subsequently picked up by Cincinatti. It was during that time that Hamilton got clean, but it wasn't rehab, a program, or a detox that got Hamilton clean. SO what did? In his own words, in 2007:

Addiction is a humbling experience. Getting it under control is even more humbling. I got better for one reason: I surrendered. Instead of asking to be bailed out, instead of making deals with God by saying, "If you get me out of this mess, I'll stop doing what I'm doing," I asked for help. I wouldn't do that before. I'd been the Devil Rays' No. 1 pick in the 1999 draft, supposedly a five-tool prospect. I was a big, strong man, and I was supposed to be able to handle my problems myself. That didn't work out so well. But it's a God thing.Jesus brought me back from the brink and that faith is what keeps me going. I'll always have those cravings and desires, but I now have through Christ the ability to resist."

It's an interesting story, to say the least. Not many people go from being crack addicts with multiple near-death experiences to become one of the best players in the highest level of their chosen sport. Hamilton is thanking God, along with his grandmother, for getting him clean. If you believe him, he went from using and abusing drugs, alcohol, and prescription pills on a daily basis for 5 years to clean after a miracle encounter with God. It's a feel-good story for sure, but how realistic is it?

The other issue thar arises here is his former team. Hamilton was given alot of money, including a 4 million dollar signing bonus. Hamilton, because of his skill and the investment the Rays had put in him, was given chance after chance. Following Hamilton's suspension in 2004 for violating MLB's drug policy for the third time(MLB has since toughened his policy immensely), Rays management said the following:

The organization is going forward without him.We're still hopeful(22 year old) Hamilton will develop, you always hold optimism when you have someone with his God-given talent. We have alot of young talent on this ballclub, and Josh Hamilton is physically as talented as any of those young men and would have a chance to be the biggest piece to a championship club.

And Hamilton certainly did develop, it was just for a different team. The team that drafted him and paid him 4 million just to sign, along with their fans, was forced to sit back and watch as Hamilton developed for Cincinatti for a mere $100,000, and then be traded back to the same league to Texas, where he's been a multi-time all-star and MVP, and one series away from back to back World Series appearances. We see many a first round pick in any given sport wash out because of lack of talent, poor work ethic, or other extraneous factors, but few come back later to have the exorbitant amount of success Hamilton has had. With that being said, I have to wonder about more then just his story....

Does Josh Hamilton owe his former team and its fans more then an apology? Does he owe them anything at all?

When you hear about stories such as Hamilton's recovery, how much stock do you put into them? Why?

Any other thoughts or discussion on this story is welcome.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Does Josh Hamilton owe his former team and its fans more then an apology? Does he owe them anything at all?

Technically, I guess he doesn't owe them an apology, but it's commendable he would offer one, given that he's been one of those big-shot, fawned over ballplayers who knew it was his manifest destiny to become a big star. He managed to derail himself for long periods of time, yet recovered partially because he was given so much help. My problem, though, is the limitless patience and understanding he received was probably due more to his ability to hit a round ball with a wooden stick, rather than his qualities as a human being. Too much had been invested in him to simply give up on him, as had been done with so many "regular" people.

As for his former team and their fans, I doubt his apology means much to them.....why should it? His apology and $2 will buy them a Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I'm sure they would rather he had become a star player for their team.

When you hear about stories such as Hamilton's recovery, how much stock do you put into them? Why?

When he was playing in the New York-Pennsylvania League in '99, we went to a game of his in upstate New York. Problem was, he didn't play that day because of his latest drug-riddled escapade. In fact, he played in only 16 games that season because he was so out of control he couldn't perform. The newspaper accounts of his latest adventures kept talking about him as "this player so blessed with talent" and fawned over him as if someone tied him down and injected drugs into his system, rather than him accomplishing it all by his lonesome.

So, he's made great strides toward recovery? That's great. An apology won't make up for all the time, money, and other people's hopes and dreams for him, but it's at least good to know he acknowledges the damage he's left behind by issuing it. It puts him ahead of many other spoiled athletes who easily manage to forget the debris they've left in their wake.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Does he actually owe them anything? Not at all. This is one thing about sports fans that I've never completely understood or grasped. They seem to think that they have some sort of ownership claim to the athletes that play for whichever sports teams they support. I get that some of them are living vicariously through the guy. I also get that there would be no league or team or anything without the fans themselves, but this is taking things too far. It's true that Hamilton was given lots of chances, no one is disputing that. At the same time, however, he wasn't given all these chances purely out of the goodness of the hearts of the MLB brass and his team. He was given so many chances because he's good at what he does, he's a talented athlete that helps make everyone up in the front office lots of money. That's what it always comes down to in the end. The fans didn't hold his hand while he was going through all this. The fans didn't comfort his family as he dealt with and struggled with addictions that threatened his career and his life.

As far as Hamilton goes, yeah he's screwed up. He hasn't made excuses for it, he hasn't tried to lay the blame on others for his own choices. He's made mistakes and has managed to come back from them. He credits God for giving him the strength to overcome his addictions. How realistic is it? Not unrealistic at all if you think about it. Most rehab programs include therapy in which an addict has to look inside themselves, to ask deeply personal and maybe even painful questions in order to get the the root of what ultimately made them addicts in the first place. Some are able to do that through religious faith. Traditional rehab doesn't work for everyone, there are more than enough people that consistently fall of the wagon to prove that. For Hamilton, belief in God was a key to him recovering from his addictions. Whether or not anyone else believes it is irrelevant. He's clean, he's healthy, he seems to be happy and he's gone on to have a great career. What more can anyone ask?

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

It's awesome that he apologized. He didn't owe them that. The Rays are the best-run team in the Majors. What does he need to say "sorry you guys weren't even more stacked with young talent"?

I believe Hamilton because he's been clean and seems to be a real stand up guy. I love Hamilton and the Rangers.