Major League Baseball

Hamilton's comeback near completion

Published Oct. 5, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Five at-bats. That's it.

Before the fifth inning last Saturday night, Josh Hamilton had five at-bats in four weeks.

Hamilton missed almost all of September because of broken ribs, and broken ribs aren't known to heal quickly or painlessly. They really hurt when he swings and misses. So, Hamilton tries not to miss. He usually does a pretty good job.

The Texas Rangers had already clinched the American League West, but last weekend's series with the Angels was important to Hamilton. He needed to show he was ready for the postseason. And in his next-to-last tune-up, he started 0-for-2 against Ervin Santana.

A warning sign? No, more like an anomaly. Remember what we've learned during this tragic-turned-triumphant career: Josh Hamilton hits, no matter how long the layoff.

Sure enough, Santana grooved a 1-1 fastball. Hamilton's bat generated a sound last heard when your big oak tree was struck by lightning.

“The home run he hit,” teammate David Murphy marveled three days later, “He didn't play any rehab games or anything. It's not that easy to come back and do something like that.”

It isn't. But no one in baseball makes a comeback quite like Josh Hamilton.

The MVP candidate was at Tropicana Field on Tuesday, preparing for Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. The 29-year-old's narrative — limitless potential, crippling addiction, inspiring revival — has reached the postseason for the first time.

It's appropriate that his first playoff at-bat will come here.

The Rays (then known as the Devil Rays) made Hamilton the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 amateur draft. He was a good kid from a good family in North Carolina. He was going to be a star in the Tampa Bay outfield, alongside Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli. And he’d be the best of the group.

Sadly, it didn't happen that way. Hamilton missed time because of injuries. Then, he discovered the hard drugs and alcohol that temporarily ruined his career and personal life.

He didn't play a game in 2003. Or the year after that. Or the year after that. In the middle of Hamilton's absence — on Feb. 18, 2004 — Major League Baseball formally suspended him for violating the league's drug policy.

It wasn't until 2006, after multiple stays in drug rehab centers, that Hamilton finally restarted his career. In June of that year, MLB lifted its suspension. Hamilton was cleared to play in Tampa Bay's extended spring training program — the lowest rung of organized professional baseball in the U.S.

But the level of play didn't matter to a man whose life had been ravaged by addiction. He was just happy to take batting practice.

“I remember I was at the complex,” Hamilton said Tuesday, in reference to the Rays' former spring base, not far from Tropicana Field. “There was a lot of media there. I think I was using Crawford's bat. He sent a couple bats over for me to use, and I just remember it was like I hadn't left the game.

“I mean, it was just fun and powerful and homers and line drives … I was where I was supposed to be, back playing the game.”

Hamilton's only regular-season games that year came with a Class A farm club, the Hudson Valley Renegades. By the time he reported to Fishkill, N.Y., in early July, the Rays' first-round pick from that year had already torn through the league and moved to the next level.

His name: Evan Longoria.

Rookie pitcher Jeremy Hellickson is the only current Ray who overlapped with Hamilton at Hudson Valley. Hellickson couldn't remember Hamilton being asked about the drug use. His new teammates knew the contours of the story, anyway.

Besides, their interest was in watching.

“He was like a little kid out there,” Hellickson said. “Being away from the game for so long, missing everything, missing being a teammate, I guess he wanted to talk baseball as much as possible.

“When you watched him take BP, it was like an All-Star coming down to rehab. He wasn't there too long, but that's what it was like. I was just a fan, basically. Being away for so long and still having the skills he had was something special.”

Hamilton didn't hang around Hudson Valley very long.

Another injury, one that required knee surgery, cut short his season after 15 games. His numbers — .260, no home runs — weren't overwhelming. So, the Tampa Bay front office left him unprotected on the roster that offseason.

That led to the series of moves that have shaped Hamilton's rebirth.

The Cincinnati Reds acquired him via the 2006 Rule 5 draft and made him a part-time outfielder. After one season, the Reds traded him to Texas, where he's made three All-Star teams in three years.

On Tuesday, he sat before a room of reporters and answered every question, baseball-related or otherwise. He was wearing a necklace, with a cross that hung directly beneath the “T” on his red warm-up top.

It's been a little more than one year since Deadspin.com published photos of a drunken Hamilton in a Phoenix-area bar. Since then, his public image has been clean. He even avoided the Rangers' division-clinching celebration because alcohol was involved.

“I made some mistakes,” he said Tuesday. “God's grace and mercy allowed me to use another avenue and path to get me to where he wanted me to be. So, I can't think about the what-ifs. All I can think about is moving forward in the future.

“Mentally, spiritually, family — all those things are in a good place. I think that showed on the field this year. When those things are where they need to be, God first, really pursuing that relationship with Christ, everything else in my life is taken care of. It's just been a really good year.”

Fans in Texas have embraced Hamilton in spite of his flaws.

One member of the organization believes he's the Rangers' “most popular player.” He might have a greater following than if he were a slugger whose backstory was unknown. He's not perfect — just like the fans.

“Everybody has their vices in life, and everybody knows his,” said Murphy, a teammate of Hamilton's for three years. “You shouldn't look at somebody by the mistakes they've made, but the effort they make to come back from those mistakes. His is a great story, when you think about it in that sense.”

But Hamilton has limped to the starting blocks of his first postseason. He appeared in only three of the team's final 27 games. He's wearing a flak jacket that amounts to a souped-up undershirt with extra padding around the ribcage.

“The ribs, I'd be lying if I said that it didn't hurt,” Hamilton said. “It does. But mind over matter. When I think about the little bit of pain I'm in, I think about Christ on the cross and what he bore for us. So, that puts things in perspective tremendously.

“But you know, it's just that time of the year. You suck it up. You get after it. I want to be there for my teammates. I want to be in the lineup.”

When I asked veteran reliever Darren Oliver on Tuesday for his assessment of Hamilton's health, he offered a simple suggestion: “Watch BP.”

So I did. And I saw the show for myself. One unsuspecting pitch was swatted to the faraway scoreboard in right field.

Hamilton's health is crucial to the Rangers' World Series hopes. But his presence here is the more important triumph.

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