From this point on, Josh Hamilton will be forever referenced to as "The Hammer" on Crooked Straight. I have no idea what his nick name really is, as it could easily already be "The Hammer," but that's what I'm calling him.
Last night he put on an amazing display of power that I could only see the likes of Andro McGwire, Corked-Bat Sammy, or Clear and Cream Barry doing. I don't even think Griffey in his prime could have put 28 balls out of the park in one round of the homerun derby.
If you haven't heard, Hamilton was drafted #1 overall in 2000 by the Tampa Bay Rays.
That's where his story takes a twist. After about a season in the minors he became addicted to crack while recovering from an injury. Basically he hung out with bikers in Florida who were doing coke, which led to crack, which led to waking up in a trailer park and not knowing where he was.
At that point he dropped out of baseball for four years to smoke crack and party, only to come back last year and ball out for the Reds in 90 games of limited play.The Rangers saw enough promise in him to trade their top pitching prospect for him and it's paying immediate dividends.
His story was so intriguing that it kept me on my Bellagio toilet seat for an extra 25 minutes to read about it in SI.
Crack is wack. Here's a highlight of last night's performance.
1 comment:
He gave baseball the shot in the arm it needs.
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