Weighing In On Josh Hamilton

The return of Josh Hamilton to the Texas Rangers the last week or so, has had its good and its bad!

First the GOOD!

He has hit home runs… hit a pinch hit 2 RBI Double to win a game, he has endear himself to the home crowd of which at one time, he alienated them when he left the Rangers and headed to the west coast, to play for the Angels!

Here’s the scoop, Josh Hamilton is a lightening rod, he just makes fans love him to death or hate his guts, and there is usually no gray matter in between!  He is just that polarizing!

I have watched his heroics in the stadium when he was helping the Rangers win back to back American League Pennants, he could have been the BIG hero in Game Six of the 2011 World Series in St. Louis. Then in 2012 the sluggish way he approached a pop fly in center field against the A’s in Oakland to allow them to win the American League West, and then the boo birds showed up when the Rangers had to play the Orioles for a one game wildcard playoff game.

Alright, now fast forward to the present, where he left the Angels and did so, with leaving them with a sour taste in their mouth, comes back to Arlington, puts on a Ranger uniform, plays on the road, does ok, comes back to the Stadium against the Red Sox for a four game set, and wins two of the three for the team, and the LOVE FEST is back on!

I never disagreed with what he said about the fans in Texas. As his quote, about this not being a “baseball town”.

After hearing that, and knowing this part of North Texas as I do, living here my entire life, (alright except for the 2 ½ years that I lived in Lufkin, Texas) this part of the state is very much a Football Town. They live and die with the Dallas Cowboys, and when they are not rooting for them, there’s the Texas Longhorns, the Texas Aggies, the TCU Horn Frogs, the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and then you still have SMU Mustangs, and UNT Mean Green Eagles. Whew—wait there’s the high school football.. you are seeing a pattern here.

The Cowboys lead ALL news items in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, whether they are in season or not, they also lead most of the talk stations in the metroplex as well!

Ok.. So that leads us to what DOES make a baseball town. Well I would consider the following baseball towns.. NEW YORK—oh DUH! Then there is St, Louis, I would put Detroit up there, and Cincinnati!

For the most part—even the Houston Astros have to deal with the Texans and to an even stronger point the Houston Rockets of the NBA. Though when the Astrodome was the basically the ONLY game in town, they still had to compete with the University of Houston Cougars and the Rice Owls, so as you can see, there seems to be a pattern here.

The Rangers have always been the step child, even when the Mavericks came to Dallas in 1980, the little baseball team to the west in Arlington, seemed to have to take a back seat.

When the Rangers had the announcement of their 1995 All Star Game, the Cowboys still stole the show with the signing of Charles Haley’s contract, BIG- HUGE—announcement on the sports and news talk stations, stealing thunder.. that’s what Jerry Jones does best.

So for whatever reason, Josh’s assessment that this is not a Baseball Town! Well I can’t argue with it! I agree with him, and the Rangers, for their two years to the big dance, this WAS a baseball town. Delirious with excitement, pretty much wearing Ranger gear, as much during that time as you would see Cowboy’s gear and apparel. The difference though, is that it was only kept to this part of the country, while the Dallas Cowboys are STILL America’s Team.

So with all of this said and done, the Rangers opened up their arms and the clubhouse, and welcomed Josh back into their fold, and into the family, the Crowds (up to 40,000 for two nights in a row) cheered and loudly for his return, so maybe all is forgiven, and maybe Josh can and will keep his sobriety up!

The real bad news is the fact that he has pulled his hamstring and will be out a month or so… so once again! Here  we go again! Another injury to Josh—and another time to wait and see if he returns better than before, was he pushed too soon to return to the Major League club or could he have waited a bit longer to get back into shape?

Its just a thought!