I spent most of the day Monday reading. I love to read, but I definitely don't spend hours on end reading. The longest book that I had read in one sitting may be Green Eggs and Ham. But I love biographies, especially athletes biographies. I know many don't see athletic biographies as higher reader, but I dig it.
When I was a senior in high school I heard the tragic tale of Josh Hamilton, the number one draft pick from the 1999 MLB Draft. He was considered a can't miss prospect, one with his head on straight, humble, and with everything in order. And he torched the Minor Leagues in his first two years, so much so in fact that his parent team, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, strongly considered calling up "their future" at the tender age of 19. They didn't, and soon after, things began to unravel for him. He was in a scary car wreck with his parents during spring training, on the same day that the Rays told him that he would be in the Minors for a bit longer. He had a resulting back issue, forcing him to rest. His parents, who had traveled with the team his first two years in the Minors, went back to North Carolina to nurse their injuries, so for the first time, he was alone, and without baseball. He decided to get a tattoo, and after getting several tattoos in a short period of time, got introduced to alcohol and cocaine by the tattoo artist. He would eventually spiral downward, fail several drug tests, get bounced from rehab to rehab, and get suspended from baseball for an extended period of time.
That was the story as I knew it my senior year of high school. And that was the story for awhile. He was a drug addict, alcoholic, deadbeat dad and husband, prodigal son, and estranged grandchild. All of that resulted on him losing all of the athletic ability and strength that he had.
After a failing marriage, nights spent on dirty trailer floors with crack dealers, losing the trust of everyone around him, and having his story told at seminars as a cautionary tale, Hamilton hit rock bottom. After a night of extreme drug use and wandering aimlessly, he ended up on the front porch of his Granny. She was the only one left who would take him in. And she loved him unconditionally. Hamilton had become a believer early on in his drug use, but just allowed Satan to take control. But he began to look to God. He opened a Bible in his granny's spare room, and began to read. And let it soak in. He began to detox, and had dreams of beating up Satan with a bat but never finishing him off, and eventually losing strength and giving up. But after a short time with his granny, he had another dream, but God came to his rescue, and Satan was defeated.
The next time I heard about Josh Hamilton was in January of 2007. He had finally kicked the addictions and was getting back into baseball. He had lost almost all of his chances, but was trying a comeback. He was sober for two months in 2006 and the Rays let him play for a low level independent ball team, which is as low as you can get in professional baseball. In early 07, MLB had their Rule 5 Draft. This is a draft where any player who was signed to a big league contract who wasn't on a big league's 40-man roster(anything below the bigs, essentially) could re-drafted. Usually, this draft isnt a big deal. Nobody notable or really promising comes of this draft. But the Cubs drafted Hamilton and traded his rights to the Reds. A rule with this draft is that a drafted player has to be placed on their new teams big league roster, or they get sent back to their original team. So Hamilton was going to be a big leaguer.
For non-baseball or non-sports people, that may have seemed like alot of babble. Basically, the former addict, the former joke, the former cautionary tale was going to be a big leaguer. But this time, he was following God, and seeking to put people around him to hold him to a higher standard. He had the team essentially hire a babysitter who took his meal money, traveled everywhere with him, and never left him alone. He was being drug tested 3 times a week, never failing one. One more failed test and he was banned from baseball for good. When he made his debut with the Reds, the fans gave him 4 standing ovations. He was finally the feel good story. And every reporter and fan who wanted to hear the story got it. And he always lets them know where his power came from.
My favorite and probably everyone elses favorite Josh Hamilton moment came in July of last year. I was at Xtreme Fitness in Campbellsville running on a treadmill and watching the Home Run Derby on one of the tvs. When Josh started training again, he had a vivid dream of being at Yankee Stadium in the Homerun Derby and seeing him hit balls out, and then being interviewed by a femial reporter. At this point, Hamilton was my favorite player in the game. But Hamilton stepped into Yankee Stadium and put on a show that no one will forget. Instead of having a coach or teammate throw him pitches for the Derby, he brought along a man in his 70's who used to throw him batting practice as a kid. He told this man when he was still in high school that if he ever competed in the Derby that he would let him pitch to him. Hamilton put on the greatest show in Derby history. In the Derby, you get 10 outs, and an out is any swing that is not a homerun. At one point, he hit 13 straight homeruns. He finished with 28 in the first round, a record. The last time he was in Yankee Stadium he heard chants of "Josh smokes crack", but this time they were chanting "Ha-mil-ton." Afterwards, he was interviewed on the field by Erin Andrews, ESPN's female correspondent. He told the world about his relationship with Christ and how God is His strength.
So I was excited to read his book, if you can tell. And sorry for the extremely long post, which may be longer than the book itself. But I can man up and say that there were times in the book when I was in tears reading about his struggles and recovery. I highly recommend the book. I read all 250-plus pages in one sitting, and wish there was more. If not the book, check out the link at the bottom of this post. Early into the 2007 season, while he was still with the Reds and before the Derby and his All-Star appearance, he wrote a guest letter/article for ESPN:The Magazine. It's not terribly long, so if you get the chance, check it out. This book also excites me because of the ballplayers at WKU. I had talked to them before about Josh's testimony, and they were all intrigued. on Western's sports website, they have been doing profiles of each of the senior players leading up to the season. Each of them were asked the same questions about themselves. One of the questions was "What book have you recently read or enjoyed reading?" Every single senior on the team said Beyond Belief by Josh Hamilton. It excites me to know that these guys are hearing an incredible testimony from a guy more talented than them, who seemed to have everything, but who wasn't following God. That excites me more than anything. If you read the article below, there is an incredible addition to the story at the end of the article that is in the book. If you read the article, let me know and I can fill you in.
