This is a scan of my copy of Josh Hamilton's book. You know I didn't rip it off from anywhere because the scan is so crooked. Blasted scanner. Sometimes it and I don't get along very well.Anyway, on to the book. This was a gift from my in-laws for Christmas. If that wasn't nice enough, my father-in-law bought the book at one of Josh's appearances in the Fort Worth area and got it signed. When I opened it up there was Josh's signature on the title page in blue sharpie. Very nice.
In addition to being a nice addition to the Rangers collection, the book is an interesting and easy read. I knew that Josh had hit rock bottom before he came back, I just didn't realize how hard the rocks were. In my line of work I have seen folks in similar conditions and so I could visualize the damage he was doing to his body and marriage with the drugs. Pretty scary.
The most important part of the book though was the recovery. Most notably, the admittal that he needed a higher power to help him beat the demons. That applies to us all. Left to our own devices we get into trouble quick and stay there. Just because we don't get in as deep as Josh doesn't mean that we are in any more control on our own than he was.
4 comments:
I like the fact he admits that he loved life no matter if he was the No. 1 high school prospect in the nation or someone who was looking high and low for anything to sate his addictions.
I liked how he had come to realize he probably couldn't sustain any sort of livelihood if he continued to do what he was doing.
It seemed like the most interesting part was him just getting back on the field and sort of dealing with the day-to-day struggles of trying to start his professional baseball career all-over again.
Not sure I picked up your first point from the book. Several times he seemed to hate who he had become and the life he was living. He also mentioned that all joy had been taken from his life by the addictions. I thought that was a big part of the tragedy.
I do agree about how interesting it was to read about how he dealt with day-to-day issues as he restarted his career.
I also loved the book (surprise). Mine is signed in black Sharpie though. At least we won't get them mixed up now.
The last three sentences of your post are so true. There are too many people in the world that think that they (or we as humans) have all the answers for everything. They (and we) don't. I have noted from watching Josh that he truly gets that now.
Two other things: it is so cool that your in-laws got this book and got it signed. My in-laws wouldn't know any ballplayer if the games were played in their backyard. And, I am not on good terms with my scanner either.
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