Hamilton could be any of us

Josh Hamilton's story is remarkable, not because of what he accomplished as a baseball player but what he accomplished as a person.

Makes you wonder how many others could overcome drug and alcohol addiction if they had his opportunities.

Extending that, what could they have contributed to society if they were as skilled in something as he is in baseball? Or, if they were just somebody lucky enough to be functional enough to pay taxes?

Hamilton, who wowed America in Monday night's Home Run Derby, leads the majors in runs batted in. But he also drives home a point with every swing of the bat: Don't dismiss the troubled even if their troubles are perceived to be self-inflicted.

Hamilton always will be an addict - the old one-day-at-a-time thing. He has been in and out of rehabilitation several times. He currently is out, but tomorrow who knows?

I have been privileged to cover Super Bowls, World Series, Final Fours, major golf tournaments . . .

None was more exhilarating than a modest opening-day baseball game in Cincinnati last year.

Hamilton, a former No. 1 overall draft choice of Tampa Bay, made his major-league debut against the Cubs that day after years of struggling with inner demons.

Fans gave Hamilton a huge ovation when his name was announced, when he came to bat, when he did anything and everything.

His case was special, and everybody knew it. Hamilton had been given an umpteenth opportunity to reach his potential as an athlete and human and finally was making the most of it.

Judging by his solid rookie season and terrific encore this season, Hamilton will receive an umpteenth-and-one chance if he ever needs it.

Josh Hamilton is a striking example that there is a possibility even the most impossible life is redeemable.

But what would have happened if Hamilton weren't so gifted a baseball player? What would his future be today if he had been an alcoholic dishwasher his age sleeping in dumpsters and under viaducts?

Myriad addicts like Hamilton aren't five-tool baseball players, can't afford rehab, and don't have anybody to give them their next chance. They're your relatives, neighbors and fellow employees. They'll never be professional athletes but might be capable of teaching the challenged, feeding the hungry or comforting the afflicted.

The tendency is to give up on these lost souls as if they were sorry saps. After all, it's frustrating for us to see somebody fail at recovery time after time.

But Hamilton's story indicates it's worth the inconvenience or hardship, whichever you want to consider it, of persistence because every life is worth trying to save.

Anyway, Hamilton plays for the Texas Rangers now. They will be in Comiskey Park next week. Whether he makes it here with them is anybody's guess, including his own.

Uncertainty is the nature of addiction. Relapse is a sip, toke or whim away.

Not just for Josh Hamilton, but for the guy at the next desk or the woman cutting your hair or the nurse checking your blood pressure.

They're people you didn't even know are addicts and who fear they won't be as fortunate to get as many second chances as Josh Hamilton did.

Let's cheer for them too, folks.

mimrem@dailyherald.com