He was a Nelson Cruz catch from being MVP of the 2011 World Series.
A season later he dropped a popup to help lose the AL West, then was hapless and hitless in a wild card loss.
His epic power display in the 2008 Home Run Derby still resonates.
So do his off-the-wagon hiccups, drunk on beer in a Sherlock’s stall and covered in whipped cream in an Arizona bar.
He was an MVP that took a franchise to its proudest peak.
He was a hypocrite that tested fans’ faith and humiliated the organization.
One of the best players.
One of the biggest enigmas.
Never been a player cheered louder at Globe Life Park.
Never been a player booed louder at Globe Life Park.
Now, on his 38th birthday and years removed from his glory days in Arlington, Josh Hamilton will be enshrined into the Texas Rangers’ Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be Aug. 17 in the stadium he once owned.
Color me conflicted, as I dab the slime off my goose bumps.
“It’s a great honor,” Hamilton said via conference call with DFW media after Monday’s announcement. “If I were to think about 15 or 20 years ago, if I’d be in any Hall of Fame at this point in my life, I’d have said no. So obviously, I gotta thank the good Lord above and the Rangers, where I had the best years of my career. And all the fans. It’s just very humbling … Thinking about good memories, good times in my life, and times where the Rangers stuck with me through some things and took a chance on me in other areas.”
We interrupt this episode of “all the feels” with a harsh reminder, which spewed from the same mind and mouth in February 2013. The Rangers’ newest Hall of Famer, remember, left in free agency to sign with the rival Angels. Oh, and lifted his leg on DFW on his way out.
“There are baseball fans in Texas, but it’s not a true baseball town,” Hamilton said at his introductory press conference in Anaheim. “It’s always been a football town. They’re supportive of baseball, but they also got a little spoiled at the same time pretty quickly. You think about three to four years ago (before two straight World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011). It’s like, come on man, are you happier there again?”
Fans flocked to Arlington to hear his testimony and buy his book, Beyond Belief.
Fans flocked to Arlington for the Devil’s return as an Angel, showering him with unprecedented boos and “baseball town” signs.
In no way am I challenging Hamilton’s production between the lines. He was a five-tool stud that transformed the Rangers into the best team in baseball over 2010-11. He won a batting crown, an MVP, and ALCS MVP and was a five-time All-Star that gave maximum effort, at least until the end of 2012. He hit four homers in one game in 2012, tying AL records with five extra-base hits and 18 total bases. If we’re ranking all-time Rangers on athleticism, power, speed and the ability to change a game and lift a team, Hamilton is right up there with Pudge Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez.
He was the most dynamic player in the Rangers’ most successful era.
But compared to the other members of the team’s Hall of Fame, does he deserve to belong?
The area he mocked as a baseball town will now be his eternal baseball home. Something just doesn’t feel right about that, like a fitted cap that looks great and initially feels good but is ultimately a half-size too small, resulting in a nauseating headache.
Look, I realize the Rangers’ Hall of Fame isn’t exclusively choir boys. Gonzalez once refused to play because his pants were too baggy. Pudge and Ruben Sierra are bathed in steroid rumors. Fergie Jenkins was arrested for smuggling drugs into Canada, Kenny Rogers punched a cameraman and John Wetteland … ugh.
(Speaking of scandalous stars, if Hamilton is in the Rangers’ Hall of Fame why not A-Rod? Like Hamilton, he took a departing shot at the organization by belittling his teammates as “24 kids.” But while he was here, he was also a monster. Lest we forget, in A-Rod’s three seasons in Arlington he missed only one game, won an MVP (was 6th and 2nd in voting the other two seasons), made every All-Star team, won Gold Gloves, led baseball in homers and averaged 52 dingers, 131 RBI, .305 and an OPS of 1.010.)
Leaving Texas, by the way, isn’t an unpardonable sin. Emmitt Smith played for the Cardinals. Mike Modano was a Red Wing. Rolando Blackman and Derek Harper (albeit via trades) suited up for the Knicks.
None of them, however, turned DFW into their personal, verbal toilet. Upon retirement, all of them called the Metroplex “home” and were no-brainer inductees into their teams’ hallowed shrines.
Hamilton?
He hasn’t been to a Rangers game since he played in the 2015 season finale. He spends his time these days working on his ranch near College Station and living at his home in Keller, keeping up with his daughters and ignoring the sport he once dominated.
“I’ve been making up for lost time with my girls, being dad,” Hamilton said. “Hadn’t really thought much of baseball. It’s one of things where I never cared too much about watching the game, but I loved playing it more than anything.”
Alas, he did admit to having regrets about his time in Arlington. Ooh, this is it, right? The apologies for the lying and the drinking and the aloofness and the insult and …
“The only thing I regret is not being able to be healthy when I came back to Texas,” he said of his 50-game return to the Rangers in 2015 after flaming out in Anaheim. “If I look back and could wish something, it was that right there, if I could have been healthy in ’16 and ’17 and finish playing like I wanted to play.”
Typical Hamilton, even his second thoughts are lathered in three coats of bemusement.
I am delighted he’s in the Rangers’ Hall of Fame.
I am disgusted he’s in the Rangers’ Hall of Fame.