I Like Josh Hamilton More Than Ever
Featured, Sports — By Jonathan Adams on September 24, 2009 at 12:00 am
This August, pictures surfaced of Hamilton, in a bar with women who were not his wife. Hamilton appeared intoxicated and was captured in unsavory circumstances. His mentor, Narron, went on record saying he believed the photos were doctored, that there was no way the pictures could be real. That couldn’t be Josh Hamilton.
Sadly, it was. Hamilton called a press conference to admit he suffered a relapse during spring training in 2009. I’m sure many Christians were hurt by what happened. After all, Hamilton’s story has inspired thousands. His position as a role-model had begun to exceed his noteworthy play on the baseball field.
At his press conference Hamilton did not fit the mould of the modern athlete. He didn’t deny anything. He didn’t offer an excuse. Rather, he apologized and offered up the simple, painful truth: “I got away from the one thing that keeps me straightened out and moving in a right direction, and that was that relationship with the Lord.”
In that press-conference, he mentions several more times his relapse was the result of getting away from what was working before: his support system, and his relationship with Christ.
When I heard all this, I realized that now I can relate to Josh Hamilton. I don’t know what it’s like to be a prodigious sports hero, or, for that matter, a reformed drug-addict. But I do know how it feels to be a Christian who finds himself suddenly feeling far away from Christ. I know what it feels like to lose my way for a time.
The conversion experience is a powerful one, and immediately afterward we feel free and forgiven. It is a weight off the shoulders. But, over time, our lives, our choices, pull us apart from that feeling of freedom. We relapse; some little by little, others in one fell swoop, and there is distance.
For me, no repentance has ever brought me back to that initial sense of being forgiven. It’s frighteningly easy how worldly things find themselves between me and God. It takes a great deal of effort to stay close to Him; a blink of an eye seems enough time to pull away.
I’m amazed Hamilton found a way to use even this as a platform. With great humility and total honesty, Hamilton took the heat and pointed skyward. No, he is not perfect, he is human, and that is something I can appreciate. Josh Hamilton has a great story, but it’s not finished yet. He will struggle until the day he goes to heaven.
And that is the one area in which Josh Hamilton and I are identical.
9 Comments
I too was impressed with his confession. This kind of openness is part of being a Christian, and JH gets that.
Jonathan,
Nice job on this article. And my compliment is not a flippant one. I read this article expecting to be disappointed.
You see, I was supposed to interview Josh Hamilton (and Johnny Narron) for a Christianity Today article in August 2008. But the Rangers PR staff was overwhelmed with requests, Josh’s wife went into early labor, and eventually I was told the Rangers could only give me ten minutes of Josh’s time. And that wasn’t enough. I asked for more time and it didn’t happen.
But I had done all the research, I had read an advanced copy of Beyond Belief, and besides, as a lifelong Reds fan, I was already familiar with Hamilton’s return to baseball.
Because I know Hamilton’s story, and because I knew it would make a good article, the last thing I wanted to read on Burnside was an article that didn’t do it justice.
I don’t mean to sound arrogant (as if I think I could write this article better than you), because that wasn’t it. I just feel an attachment to this story and I wanted it to be done well.
And this was well done. Nice work.
If you’re interested, I blogged about Hamilton’s relapse when the story broke in August: http://tylercharles.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/josh-hamilton-admits-to-relapse/
I usually skim over the sports stories, but I’m really glad I checked this one out, wonderful writing. It’s sad that we as Christians so often expect those of faith in the limelight to be perfect and blameless. Kinda reminds me of the log/speck thing from the Bible. Thanks for this Jonathan!
Tyler, if it’s any consolation, Josh has made the Rangers’ brass go nuts with his insistence on being there for the fans. I live in the town he plays in (Arlington), and have gone to a few games this year. One in particular was an annual event where the game starts at 2:05, but if you get there by 11:00, you can stand in line with a few thousand others on the field (lined up around the warning track) to shake hands with players and coaches, and take photos. No autographs, because that would take too long.
Sure enough, a few coaches come out first, then Josh comes out, on the complete opposite end of where me and my son are. Other players come out and work the line. Josh takes his time, talks with each fan, shakes each hand, and all the other players pass him up. It gets to be 1:00, and all the other players are done. But Josh is barely half done with the line. The brass starts pressuring him to come into the dugout, and he stays right where he is. He gets around to me and my son, we have someone take our picture, and I tell him how much I appreciate his testimony. He looks me in the eye and says “Thank you sir” and starts talking to the next person.
I went up to my seat, and watched as he stayed out there and talked to every person in line. He got done just in time for the National Anthem. If he seems to have made himself less than accommodating for the press, I assure you that it’s because of the management. He wants to tell his story over and over, to whoever will listen. God bless Josh Hamilton.
James,
I appreciate your story. But just to be clear, I wasn’t griping about Hamilton not being willing to do an interview for more than 10 minutes. One must go through the PR department to set up these interviews, and it was the PR people who said that 10 minutes was as good as I was going to get.
I don’t blame their PR people, either. They were responding to a ton of requests and the last thing they wanted to do was ask Josh to do too much (especially since he was having an all-star season in his first full-season since his return). And their job is to respond to the options that best represent the Rangers. My article wasn’t their top priority.
I’m not bitter about it. I do, however, think his story is worth repeating. I’m glad Josh is willing to tell it. and I’m glad Jonathan did a good job of telling it here.
Tyler, I didn’t think you were griping. I was just telling a story I thought was interesting.
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