Josh Hamilton News

Josh Hamilton is the Star-Telegram Sportsman of the Year
0 Comment
December 25
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
 
"It was exactly a year ago today, Christmas Day 2007, that I began telling Josh Hamilton's story to anyone who would listen. The timing was no coincidence, just as the timing of today's column isn't. There is no better time than Christmas Day to introduce the Star-Telegram's Sportsman of the Year. It is the one day of the year the Texas Rangers' outfielder cherishes more than any other, so perhaps you'll understand Josh's gentle reminder when I told him how special this Christmas must be for him and his family after the wonderful year he'd just experienced. "If you really think about it, Christmas is special anyway, no matter what kind of year you had," Hamilton said by phone from his home ..."
Josh Hamilton hopes early start means faster finish
0 Comment
December 16
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
 
"There's no rest for Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton. A busy off-season has been highlighted by promotional tours for his book and a visit to the White House to meet with President Bush. But the fun is about to come to an end. The All-Star outfielder will be heading to Arizona on Jan. 4 to try to better prepare himself for his second season with the Rangers. "I'm coming out, getting away from everything and really focusing on coming into camp in shape," Hamilton said in a Monday teleconference. "It also helps me to have guys at the facility to help push me. It's something I haven't done the last couple of off-seasons. You don't want anyone to try and outdo you." Hamilton will work out ..."
Josh Hamilton won't play in World Baseball Classic
0 Comment
December 16
Dallas Morning News
 
"Josh Hamilton will spend the winter and spring focusing on the Texas Rangers rather than Team USA. Hamilton recently told an inquiring representative of USA Baseball that he'd prefer not to play in the World Baseball Classic in 2009. Hamilton said Monday he wouldn't rule out playing in a future WBC, but for now wants to work on better establishing himself as a major leaguer. "I'd be all for playing for my country," Hamilton said, "but personally and professionally where I'm at right now and playing full-time for the first time last year, I just think it [not playing] is the best situation for me." In his first season with the Rangers, Hamilton led the team in games played and batted .304 ..."
Hamilton to decline WBC invitation
0 Comment
December 15
SI.com
 
"Scratch Josh Hamilton from the U.S. lineup in the World Baseball Classic in March. The Texas Rangers outfielder, who manager Davey Johnson wanted as his cleanup hitter, told SI.com he intends to decline a Team USA invitation in order to prepare for the regular season. "If I had four or five years under my belt, I think I would do it," said Hamilton, who last season led the American League in RBIs and total bases in his second big league season. "I think I would be better served by going to spring training and by getting that work in, because I missed so much time." Hamilton missed the 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons, as well as half of the 2006 season, because of a drug addiction that led to ..."
Texas Rangers' Michael Young, Josh Hamilton earn honors
0 Comment
October 25
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
 
"One of the top honors given each year by the Major League Baseball Players Association was bestowed Friday upon Texas Rangers shortstop Michael Young, who is the Marvin Miller Man of the Year. The award, given since 1997 to the player who combines on-field performance with significant contributions to the community, is the first for a Rangers player. Young and his wife, Cristina Barbosa-Young, have been heavily involved in Wipe Out Kids' Cancer since 2002. Among other charity work, Young started the Young Heroes Scholarship program, which gives college aid and laptop computers to cancer survivors, in 2006. "We are at a point where we want to do everything we can to give back," Young said ..."
Book reveals Josh Hamilton's harrowing, heartening story
0 Comment
October 22
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
 
"The first book about the comeback of Josh Hamilton was going to be published regardless of how well he performed in his first season as center fielder for the Texas Rangers. Baseball just isn't the most important thing in Hamilton's life, and he didn't want the recently released Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back (with co-author Tim Keown, $23.99, Faith Books) to be a baseball book. For the most part, it's not. The story, as most Rangers fans know by now, is about a can't-miss No. 1 overall draft pick succumbing to the evils of drug addiction, later discovering sobriety through faith and finally realizing his major-league potential. But this book isn't 256 pages of the same ..."
Josh Hamilton roots for Rays without feeling left out
0 Comment
October 22
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
 
"The approach Josh Hamilton takes to life, fortified by a faith strong enough to beat drug addiction and resurrect a baseball career, doesn't allow him to play the what-if game. Not even with the organization that drafted him first overall in 1999 making its World Series debut tonight. What if he hadn't fallen into the trap of substance abuse? What if he hadn't been left unprotected in the 2006 Rule 5 draft? "Not at all," Hamilton said. "That's not my plan. It's God's plan. I'm doing exactly what I need to be doing." So, the Texas Rangers' center fielder was right where he was supposed to be Tuesday, telling his story and promoting his book, Beyond Belief, to a crowd of 4,862 at the mammoth ..."
Rangers' Hamilton named AL's top player by peers
0 Comment
October 22
Dallas Morning News
 
"Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton won a Players Choice Award on Tuesday as the American League's Most Outstanding Player. Getting such an award from his peers "means more than anything," Hamilton said. The Major League Baseball Players Association votes on the award. Hamilton batted .304 with 32 homers and an AL-best 130 RBIs. He beat out two other finalists, Minnesota's Justin Morneau and Boston's Dustin Pedroia, for the award. Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals beat out Atlanta's Chipper Jones and Philadelphia's Ryan Howard for the NL award. Pujols took hit.357 with 37 home runs and 116 RBI. Hamilton spoke about his life story to a crowd of about 4,800 on Tuesday at Prestonwood ..."
Best yet to come from Texas Rangers star Josh Hamilton
0 Comment
September 27
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
 
"Some members of the Texas Rangers believe that second baseman Ian Kinsler was the team's MVP until a sports hernia ended his season last month. It's difficult to argue that, no, Josh Hamilton was the MVP over Kinsler because even Hamilton supports Kinsler's case. Hamilton, though, is still plugging away at the end of a season in which the overriding concern was finding a way to keep the center fielder healthy. In the process of playing all but three games this season, Hamilton has posted numbers that should place him on every MVP ballot while dealing with the onset of superstardom. But the most impressive number he has posted so far is 154 games played, including Friday night's game at ..."
Hamilton's honesty refreshing
0 Comment
July 18
Rocky Mountain News
 columnist Tracy Ringolsby
""I pray the more successful I am, the more people will listen," he said. Hamilton understands what such bigger-than-life figures as Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have failed to grasp - the public wants to forgive. It wants to have a reason to care for its fallen stars. All it takes is the star to admit his mistakes, which Hamilton has done. "I've been honest about everything," he said. "I've taken responsibility. I haven't made excuses." He has, however, made an impact on the lives of others."
Josh Hamilton signals the start of baseball's comeback
0 Comment
July 17
Orange County Register
 columnist Marcia C. Smith
"We’ve followed the incredible comeback of Josh Hamilton, the former first-round draft pick who recovered from drug addiction to become a Texas Rangers All-Star with a shot at the Triple Crown. But are we also following the comeback of baseball itself? In the last decade baseball has suffered its image setbacks. Its modern-day home runs records were rewritten with asterisks. A number of its supposed future Hall of Famers were getting chased by suspicious clouds – and in several infamous cases, legal charges – relating to performance-enhancing drug use. The Mitchell Report, which was released in December, named enough names to substantiate baseball’s performance-enhancing drug problem. ..."
Hamilton's Derby deed should help Texas Rangers
2 Comment
July 17
Dallas Morning News
 columnist Evan Grant
"In the history of the Texas Rangers, I believe there have been four seminal moments. In 1972, Judge Tom VanderGriff gave the franchise life. In 1973, David Clyde gave the organization a pulse. In 1989, Nolan Ryan gave the organization legitimacy. The fourth moment happened Monday. Josh Hamilton gave the Rangers relevancy. Hamilton’s performance at the All-Star Home Run Derby was about his amazing story, first and foremost. Whether others relate via faith, family, friends, a 12-step program or anything else, the message that Hamilton brings to everybody — there is a way to pick yourself up from the purgatory of substance abuse — is the most important thing that could come out of ..."
Josh Hamilton has ’em talking
0 Comment
July 16
Boston Herald
 
"The buzz still was thick in the Yankee Stadium air. “I’m glad I was there to see it,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “It was like a video game,” Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis said. “It was one of most amazing things I’ve seen,” added Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. They were all talking about Josh Hamilton’s performance in the first round of Monday night’s Home Run Derby, in which the Texas Rangers outfielder hit 28 long balls, including a few to heretofore unreachable parts of Yankee Stadium."
New York embraces Josh Hamilton
0 Comment
July 16
Fort Worth Star-Telegram