OK, the headline was in bad taste.
Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton might slip off the wagon on rare occasions, but he was the legal life of the party last night in Baltimore.
Four home runs, a double, 18 total bases. Baltimore fans even gave him a standing O after his fourth big bop.
A FOX Sports story says that “this was not a night to lament what Hamilton might have become if he had not lost years of his career to injuries, addictions and suspensions.”
Fans shouldn’t lament anything. Hamilton is who he is because he is who he is.
He might not have hit those homers last night if not for his relapse in February. Maybe the relapse made him focus more. Maybe if he hadn’t gone to that bar in February he would have stayed home and choked to death on a chicken bone.
Some sports fans say Babe Ruth would have hit 1,000 home runs if he’d laid off the hot dogs and beer during his career. Maybe the hot dogs and beer made him comfortable at the plate.
The point is, Hamilton is a bad-ass. And the Texas Rangers, after decades of disarray and failed promise, have finally established themselves as an elite team with only one goal left to accomplish (see frustrated fan’s rant below).
