Josh Hamilton doesn't care what the fans have to say about him, or even whether his team wins or loses, according to a recent column by T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times.
"You cannot push my buttons," Hamilton repeatedly said, according to Simers.
Texas Rangers fans may finally have some insight into Hamilton’s carefree attitude at the end of last season while his performance plummeted, along with the Rangers’ chances to win the AL West.
Hamilton has continued to struggle after signing a huge free agent contract with the Los Angeles Angels. Entering the weekend, he is hitting .213 with four home runs and 11 RBI, and that’s after hitting two homers in the last two games.
Asked if his nonchalant attitude about his production turns off fans, Hamilton had a blunt answer:
"I don’t care," Hamilton said.
"I hear it from the stands every night. You have to come to the understanding that people like to bring up your weaknesses and failures and throw them in your face.
"But it doesn’t get to me what anyone says. When you have the mind-set of what I have been forgiven for already, these people, these human beings bringing up things that God has already forgiven me for, it has no effect on me whatsoever.”
Hamilton also seemed to say he doesn’t care about wins and losses, or at least his personal performance.
"I know this is going to sound bad, and you can spin it whatever way you want, but when I was able to take the result part of the game out if of it I learned something," Hamilton said.
"I know the game is based on results and the world wants to see results. But if I can take that out of the equation, play hard and prepare to the best of my abilities, the results are going to be there.
"I don’t live day-to-day by those results, which allows me to live a less stressful life."
Some of this may explain Hamilton’s nonchalant attitude about dropping a pop-fly in the final game in Oakland last season that cost the Rangers the AL West title.
Hamilton had a good natured back-and-forth recently with Oakland fans who honored his miscue with a Josh Hamilton Appreciation Night. Hamilton even ate one of the Butterfinger candy bars tossed to him.
"I’ve had people screaming at me when I’m at the plate, ‘Wipe that smile off your face," Hamilton told Simers. "If I’m not smiling, you don't want me out there. I want to play the game how I’ve grown up my whole life playing it, and that’s with a smile. You do your best when you’re relaxed."
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire
