Josh Hamilton: A Human Being First- An Athlete Second

I recently read an article on ESPN written by Josh Hamilton. It was from last year when he was with the Cincinnati Reds and I suspect after last nights home run derby I won’t be the only one who read it nor will I be the only one writing something about a truly remarkable person. Josh Hamilton’s story is gut-wrenching, but really we’ve heard this story before. We’ve heard the story about a great athlete nearly ruining his life because of drugs only to somehow turn their life around. But Josh Hamilton’s story is different. Or maybe it’s just different to me.

I’ve never been addicted to drugs nor have I known anybody who has suffered from drug addiction. When I was reading the article not only could I not imagine what Hamilton went through, but I don’t know what I would do if someone I cared about suffered the way he did. What really moves me about Hamilton is that he knows every problem he had during his battle with drugs was self-inflicted.  

We all have problems. We’ve all made mistakes. For all the mistakes I’ve made in my life as minor as they may have been, I don’t think I will have ever learned from my mistakes in the way that Josh Hamilton has learned from his. The simple realization Hamilton could have had would be, “Drugs nearly ruined my life so I won’t do drugs any more.” But Hamilton appears to understand that because he is a public figure he now can share his story and help others suffering from drug addiction. Hamilton isn’t going to magically make someone stop doing drugs, but what he can do is say, “I’ve been there.” He can give people hope, and it may only be a glimmer of hope but keep in mind there are millions of people who care about someone who has a drug addiction and that hope as small as it may be may just be enough. I hope it is.

We’ll never see anything like what Hamilton did the other night. I’m not talking about the 28 home runs, I’m talking about millions of people simultaneously feeling genuinely happy for one individual. We all knew we would be hearing about Hamilton’s story throughout the evening, but what we didn’t know was how Hamilton would make us feel.

I was left with a feeling that for one night, on baseball’s biggest stage a man was bigger than the game and it had very little to do with his talent. It was all about an imperfect man living in a truly perfect moment. I’m sure he had flashbacks to the dark places he had been. I’m sure he felt in some ways he didn’t deserve 55,000 plus New Yorkers chanting his name. But that moment was his, you simply had to feel that last night was designed for Josh Hamilton.

Hamilton credits his faith in God for helping turn his life around. I’m not entirely religious and if that is what helped Josh Hamilton turn his life around who am I to say he is wrong. I will say this, when I read the article and he claimed Jesus helped him through his struggles I could only think of the scene in “Field of Dreams” toward the end of the film. Joe Jackson is walking into the cornfield when Kevin Costner’s character, Ray, says, “It was you.” To which Joe Jackson replies, “No Ray, it was you.” I’m sure many people or maybe even something else helped Josh Hamilton to get where he is today, but to me, it was you Josh…It was you.