Comeback kicks off in a roundabout fashion
A missed flight and lost luggage don't fluster Josh Hamilton, who is gearing up for his first game action tonight.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published July 4, 2006
NEW YORK - Josh Hamilton's return to minor-league baseball actually started in the Fishkill, N.Y., Wal-Mart shopping for underwear and a toothbrush just before midnight Sunday.
Having returned to the Devil Rays after being suspended more than two years for drug problems, and having shaken off the rust of going nearly four years without playing in a game, all that was left for Hamilton to do to make his comeback was to get from Tampa Bay to upstate New York on Sunday to join the Hudson Valley team.
The plan was to fly with his family through Atlanta to Raleigh, N.C., drop the kids with their grandparents, then fly with his wife, Katie, through Philadelphia to Newburgh, N.Y.
But they missed their first flight at 8 a.m., had a second delayed, sat on the runway for 90 minutes after their third, and when they finally got to Newburgh at 10 p.m. Sunday arrived with no luggage, which is how they ended up at the Wal-Mart.
"Everything about it kind of went wrong," Hamilton said. "But it was one of those things, I told her this morning, we'll look back on it and it was just minor stuff. We got through the day and it's over with."
Monday was a little more promising as he was in uniform and went through workouts for the game at Coney Island's KeySpan Park. And tonight, when he is scheduled to be in the lineup at DH and get three at-bats, should be flat-out electrifying.
When Hamilton, 25, arrived Monday at Hudson Valley's Dutchess Stadium, he slowly walked barefoot through the outfield grass, reflecting on where he had been and where he was going and sharing it by phone with his mother, Linda.
"I got some words of encouragement from her, how proud she was of me in making it back, how they would support me," Hamilton said. "She cried on the phone. It was one of those things, it brought tears to my eyes. I just kind of took in the moment, imagining what it will be like (tonight)."
The Rays wanted to give Hamilton a day to get acclimated for his first game since July 10, 2002 (and the first game Katie will ever see him play), but the two-hour bus ride to Brooklyn nearly wore him out.
"I was looking at every sign - 'Brooklyn? Brooklyn? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?' " Hamilton said. "One of the guys said, 'You ain't a little anxious, are you?' Yeah, a little bit."
Renegades manager Matt Quatraro said he was glad to have Hamilton and raved about the excitement he brings to a team of mostly first-year pros.
"To know what he's gone through, just to be on this field is a victory for him," Quatraro said. "If he ever materializes into what everyone hoped for early in his career, that would probably be the greatest story ever."
Hamilton's equipment was with the lost luggage, so he had to borrow cleats (squeezing his famous size 19s into a pair of 16s), bats and a glove to go with the red and blue No. 18 uniform (for Katie's brother, Michael, who wore 18 before dying at age 8) that looked too small for his well-muscled frame.
When catcher Matt Spring gave him a brand new bat, Hamilton - adding to his legend - broke it on his first swing of soft toss.
His 27-pitch batting practice was impressive though not overwhelming, including a blistering line drive on his first full cut and a home run to rightfield into the fierce breeze coming off the ocean, a rare feat at the picturesque stadium.
As good as Monday's workout felt, Hamilton knows tonight will be more difficult when he deals with live pitching as well as the emotions of a comeback many thought he'd never make, admitting he already had quivers in his stomach and had asked Quatraro to make a point of calming him before the game.
But he also flashed his old smile and flare for the dramatic, noting the appropriateness of the date of his return.
"That's big time, July Fourth," Hamilton said. "They're setting me up right. They're going to make me come back with a bang. The only thing that would make this story better would be if I were to hit a bomb in my first at-bat."