Josh Hamilton Fort Worth Star-Telegram Sportsman of the Year

(Reeves, Star-Telegram, 12/25): "It was exactly a year ago today, Christmas Day 2007, that I began telling Josh Hamilton’s story to anyone who would listen.

• The timing was no coincidence, just as the timing of today’s column isn’t.

There is no better time than Christmas Day to introduce the Star-Telegram’s Sportsman of the Year. It is the one day of the year the Texas Rangers’ outfielder cherishes more than any other, so perhaps you’ll understand Josh’s gentle reminder when I told him how special this Christmas must be for him and his family after the wonderful year he’d just experienced.

• "If you really think about it, Christmas is special anyway, no matter what kind of year you had," Hamilton said by phone from his home in North Carolina "Christmas will be Christmas....

• "It’s a day for celebration not because I had a great year, but because it’s Jesus’ birthday."

His theme, you see, just doesn’t change. You can call to talk about him, but inevitably he’s going to turn the subject to the No. 1 man in his life. It’s why you see his face now on those

• "I Am Second" TV commercials and billboards, promoting the Web site begun by actor
• Stephen Baldwin, another drug and alcohol abuser who turned his life around through faith.

• "They came to me in spring training and they shared what they were doing," Hamilton said. "Athletes, actors, people of note, letting people know that God is first and I’m after Him....

• It is his tale of redemption, detailed in his best-selling autobiography Beyond Belief, which was released in late October, that makes his story so compelling.

Would he have reached people as the clean-cut super athlete from North Carolina? Sure, but how many more has he touched because of his

• 20-odd tattoos and his story of traveling to hell and back?

The on-field promise that Hamilton, a five-tool high school star who was the No. 1 pick in the country by the Tampa Bay Rays in 1999, was teased in Cincinnati in 2007 and fully delivered last season with the Rangers when he hit .304 with 32 homers and a league-leading 130 RBI.

Hamilton was an American League All-Star, won a Silver Slugger Award and caught America’s full attention with his amazing performance during the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

• All of the attention, all of the acclaim, gave him the opportunity to tell his story again, and again, and again....

Hamilton’s patience as the year unfolded was an amazing thing to watch. I can remember a day at Yankee Stadium in June when baseball’s drug tester was there for one of Hamilton’s almost daily random tests. Because Hamilton had been drinking so much water and fluids during the day, the results were, shall we say, watered down and the tester couldn’t get what he needed.

Hamilton would simply shrug, give it some time and then patiently provide another sample until the tester had what he needed. Josh never became angry, never showed even a smidgen of impatience. He understood completely that this is part of the price he pays for his past and now, for his future.

Not one time during the entire was he tempted to turn back to crack cocaine, his drug of choice when he was scraping bottom for four years....

• There were some tough times, especially in the middle of the season, when his body began to wear down from the daily grind that baseball is, but Hamilton fought through it all....

He has spent the off-season resting and getting his body in shape and

• he will report to the Rangers’ spring training headquarters at Surprise, Ariz., almost a month early, to be sure he’s in the best shape possible.

• He has announced that he won’t try to play for the U.S. team in the World Baseball Classic, preferring to focus on

getting ready for the long regular season....

• We all remember Josh’s dream before he made it back to baseball, when he was still shivering in his bed, beset by the drug demons, the one in which he sees himself fighting the devil....

Josh is right. Today isn’t about him, or you, or me. Today, and every day, we are all second." (registration required).

• via Lucianne.com

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