Josh Hamilton is a man on fire. The Texas Rangers slugger is batting .400 with 18 home runs and 44 RBI. He is currently on pace to hit 86 home runs and 210 RBI's for the season. It's not even June and Hamilton has practically put the MVP race out of reach. The Rangers have the 2nd best record in baseball due in large part to their all world center fielder. Some would even argue Josh Hamilton is the best player in baseball. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
If you're a cynic like me that has listened to countless confessions, testimonials, and court cases you're thinking Josh Hamilton is on steroids. When a player starts putting up video game like numbers a red flag instantly goes up because we've seen this before. Every time we try to give a baseball player the benefit of the doubt we get smacked in the face with a harsh dose of reality. The sad and honest truth is baseball players are human, not heroes. They face immense pressure to perform on the field and the better they play the more money they make. Wouldn't you take an extra pill or a shot of something if you could earn hundreds of millions of dollars?
The one thing Josh Hamilton has going in his defense is that he's not your average player. Hamilton won the MVP in 2010 and has led the Rangers to the World Series in consecutive years. His battle with substance abuse has been well chronicled and his path to the majors was long and arduous. Perhaps Josh sees his baseball career as a blessing and won't do anything to jeopardize it.
Then again he is in the last year of his contract and the market for someone with his skill set is 24 to 30 million dollars. Even if money isn't important to you those kind of numbers will catch your attention. By all accounts Josh Hamilton seems like a genuine guy and I have no proof to the contrary, but I'd rather be proven wrong after the fact as opposed to gullible from the start. If it seems too good to be true it usually is.
Hamilton gets drug tested 3 times a week because of his past. Its the only way he was allowed back in MLB.
ReplyDelete@Ghost Writer: Thanks for the read. Three times is an awful lot. Probably too much to circumvent the rules. Maybe he is clean, but I'm still too jaded from the BALCO fallout to completely give him the benefit of the doubt. In his defense he has slowed his pace down considerably which is a sign he's not going to do the impossible.
ReplyDeletei think he's on 'roids too. nobody's wrists are naturally that big. human growth hormone and 'roids make everything grow - not just muscles.
ReplyDeletethere are probably undetectable 'roids that players use, right?
i think pujols is on 'roids too.
my favorite players are ichiro and juan pierre.
@Benjie: Thanks for the read. I'm a big Ichiro fan as well. He's definitely on something and as we all know the technology advances everyday and I'm sure they have a substance out there right now that is undetectable by drug tests, or isn't an officially banned substance yet.
ReplyDeleteJosh Hamilton just reported to Angels camp 20-30 pounds lighter than his usual reporting weight with the Rangers. Draw your own conclusions.
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