allan simpson column

Frank,

I'm not usually a fan of your threads and links, but this is a good one!

i'm very happy for josh. it can be done, with hard work and some desire. you can keep those demons at bay.

Hamilton keeps pain under wraps
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070317&conten...pt2007news&fext=.jsp

Hamilton's Red-letter spring is made for Hollywood

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/columns/story?...rk_jayson&id=2792609


There's another side to Hamilton story
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/columns/story?...ips_steve&id=2792089

that last story really looks at a different side of this. one at first glance i didn't think of. what kind of message are the reds sending? although they have a history with narron. interesting.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Martin:
Hamilton keeps pain under wraps
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070317&conten...pt2007news&fext=.jsp

From the article: an addiction to cocaine and arthroscopic knee surgery,

I hope I mis-read the second addiction

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Martin:
Hamilton's Red-letter spring is made for Hollywood

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/columns/story?...rk_jayson&id=2792609

A quote from the second article: Hamilton says, "that just lets you know that it's a God thing, because to be out of baseball that long and to come back, and to still have the ability I have, it's just one of those things that lets me know that this is what I'm supposed to do."

This is a great story. I hope he continues to overcome and succeed.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Martin:
There's another side to Hamilton story
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/columns/story?...ips_steve&id=2792089

From the third link:The decision to acquire Hamilton and give him a chance to be a major league player without doing anything to earn it over the past four seasons makes a statement to current Reds major leaguers and especially to the organization's minor league players. This one decision contradicts everything the organization claims is important.

Wow! Another perspective that makes a lot of sense.

Frank, thanks for finding and posting these links. It is a complex situation, to be sure. But it needs to be read.

For what it's worth, Josh is a real decent guy, who got caught up in the drug world. Through mutual friends in the baseball world, I happend to talk to him for about 10 minutes in Jan. He seems like he is generally sorry for everything. I think that he reached bottom a while ago, and realized that he has two choices, either succomb for ever to drugs or get busy trying to play the game he loves. Baseball won out, (hopefully).