Josh Hamilton, bonus baby, a compelling story

[never cry wolf]

Josh Hamilton has had much to ponder in recent years. The outfielder is trying to get his baseball career back on track in limited workouts with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who drafted him first overall in 1999.

Josh Hamilton has had much to ponder in recent years. The outfielder is trying to get his baseball career back on track in limited workouts with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who drafted him first overall in 1999.

By Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY

TAMPA — The doorbell rang at 2 in the morning last October. Mary Holt trudged to the door, looked through the peephole and saw a stranger on her porch.

Holt, 75, slowly opened the front door. It was as if she saw a ghost. The boy had lost 40 pounds. He hadn't slept in four days. His face was ashen. His cheeks were sunken. His eyes were glazed and distant. His body was trembling.

"Hello, granny," he mumbled.

Josh Hamilton, the former All-American baseball hero of Raleigh, N.C., was a junkie looking for shelter.

Today, seven years after the Tampa Bay Devil Rays made the outfielder the No. 1 overall pick in the June Free Agent Draft, Hamilton is a recovering drug addict looking for one last chance.

He hasn't played an organized game of baseball since July 10, 2002, when he his shoulder and elbow and drifted into the drug scene to relieve the boredom from being sidelined.

Major League Baseball had him on its suspended list until last week, when he was given permission by Commissioner Bud Selig's office to participate in baseball activities. The 6-4, 235-pounder says he has been in and out of eight drug rehab centers since 2003 but has been clean since last Oct. 6. The Devil Rays have no idea where it will lead.

"I'm a drug addict," says Hamilton, who once deliberately burned his prized left hand with four lit cigarettes in a rage. "It's not terminal, but there is no cure. It's hell on earth. It's a constant struggle. And it's going to be like that for the rest of my life."

Hamilton, 25, once destined for stardom, received a record $3.96 million signing bonus in 1999. The money is nearly all gone. He and his wife of 1 1/2 years, Katie, just sold their Fuquay-Varina, N.C., home, about 17 miles southwest of Raleigh. They have two young daughters and $85,000 left in the bank account, he says. The drug dealers and rehab clinics have the rest.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/devilrays/2006-06-06-hamilton-cover_x.htm