Tonight, watching Josh Hamilton at bat in the first round of the Home Run Derby, brought back memories of making a point to watch the Derby when the likes of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were involved; you know, before the steroid scandals, back when I had respect for the game and enjoyed it enough to collect baseball cards. Wonder how much my half dozen or so Mark McGwire cards would run for now that his legacy has been tarnished so heavily; maybe that could work in my favor and make my former favorite baseball player's cards even more valuable.
Hamilton nearly made the sport relevant to me again. His performance was a storybook one. Out of the game for 3 years, the exten tof his trainin being going to the batting cages here and there. Dealt with his fair share of demons, most notably drugs. Came back without really having gone up against major league pitching prior. Having a lovable 71 year old goof of a pitcher for batting practice that pitched to him at the Derby. Being an MVP candidate.
It's a good thing that those tattoos of his would be too much a pain (literally) to have removed. Hamilton will alway have that reminder of the demons he bested there on his arms; try going back to that way of life when you wear the regret of that period of your life on your sleeves, literally. And I doubt he wants another tattoo gotten when high.
But, as my dad put it in a surprising moment of brilliance, as he joined me halfway through Hamilton's 28 homerun first round performance, "If the Pirates got him, they'd trade him the next day." Sad thing is, that's true. Following the Pirates casually through what I catch on ESPN and FSN (when they regretably change the subject from the Penguins and Steelers to the Pirates; yes, regretably, even though the first two are currently in the off-season, they still dominate the airwaves and for good reason), it has become clear to me that any player I see that makes a name for himself on the Pirates, or does anything positive on the team is as good as gone before the trade deadline each and every year. When Stan Savran discussed this on-end on Sportsbeat because callers kept bringing it up, I was not the least bit surprised. The Pirates do their best to run the team like the Steelers run theirs, by letting the high profile names go, all the while getting a great, unsung return for that departure. Yet, as is evidenced by the Pirates inability to even go .500 in any recent season, this simply is not the case. Mayhaps they are struggling just above obscurity now, like the Steelers were in their early years, and poising themselves for a breakout, once again like the Steelers. Doubtful.
All things considered, here's to you Josh Hamilton, for forcing me to stop and watch when you stepped up to the plate at the Home Run Derby. Ever since I became disillusioned with the sport of baseball and, as a result, stopped looking forward to the Home Run Derby and watching it almost in its entirety, no player succeeded in pulling me back in for much longer than a minute. You distracted me from my day (well, night) for a solid ten minutes, at least, and for that I applaud you. Here's to there being more people like you in this world. Um, I don't mean more people into drugs and the like, I mean people strong enough to face their demons and come out the better for it.
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