PEELER: Hamilton Feels Pulled to NC State
1/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. Among the many places Josh Hamilton traveled on his way to becoming one of the best players in Major League Baseball and one of the most compelling stories in professional sports is the darkened basement of Reynolds Coliseum.
That’s where the Raleigh native and Athens Drive High School graduate used to spend hours hitting in the musty, hidden baseball cages below the famed basketball court.
It’s one of the places he honed his marvelous hitting skills early in his career, and one of the places he returned to when he the devils in his head drove him out of professional baseball.
Hamilton has always had the blessing of NC State head coach Elliott Avent, who signed Hamilton in 1998 to a letter of intent to play for the Wolfpack, to use the team’s facilities, back when they were in Reynolds and when they moved to the improved facilities at Doak Field at Dail Park.
For that, Hamilton has been and always will be grateful.
“I just feel drawn to NC State,” Hamilton said. “I grew up close to there. I always used to go to games there, when they had something big going on. It kind of feels like home.”
So Hamilton, now an author and an in-demand banquet speaker, jumped at the opportunity to be the featured guest next Friday at the Rally Club’s First Pitch Banquet, the annual kickoff for the NC State baseball season. Last year, National League Most Valuable Player Matt Holliday, son of associate head coach Tom Holliday, was the featured speaker.
It’s a little bit of payback for the support Avent and many others at the school have given him.
“To describe what Coach Avent has done to help me and my family not just him, but people on up the chain at the school I can’t even start,” Hamilton said. “They have done nothing but support me.
“I could go there any time and talk to him, to his players, who ever I needed. That was motivational to me, to get me back around the game.”
The bond between Hamilton and Avent comes from their conversations, from the support the coach gave to the player when he was both up and down. They are sometimes emotional, sometimes boisterous and always funny.
The two were so caught up in talking last winter, on their way to a Hot Stove banquet in Wilson, that Hamilton didn’t notice the “low fuel” light in his new truck. So they continued to talk on the side of the road, in 20-degree temperatures, while waiting for someone to bring them a couple gallons of gas.
Hamilton, the first player taken in the 1999 MLB draft, went through a series of personal setbacks en route to stardom, including multiple injuries, an addiction to drugs and tattoos and alcoholism. At one time, he was indefinitely banned from professional baseball for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
“There were times when we didn’t talk,” Avent said. “I think he was a little embarrassed about things, which he knows he should never be around me. I wondered at times if he would ever come back to the game. There were times when I never thought he would, because of all the many things that happened.
“One night, we had a long talk in the middle of the night. I realized how bad it was and how serious it was. It was obvious he needed help, and it wasn’t going to be from a doctor and it wasn’t going to be from any pill. It wound up being from God, and that was the only place it could come from.”
Hamilton fought his way back to the majors with the Cincinnati Reds, who picked him up in a trade with the Chicago Cubs, who acquired Hamilton as a Rule V draft two winters ago. He was traded to Texas prior to last season and believes he has found a great home.
He reached his pinnacle of fame at last year’s Home Run Derby at last year’s All-Star Game and went on to lead the American League in RBIs, and has been celebrated as one of the game’s top power hitters. Last year, he hit .304 with 34 home runs and 130 RBIs.
Hamilton spent the off-season promoting his book and promoting the ministry he and his wife Katie have set up, Triple Play Ministries.
He’s already reported to Arizona for the beginning of spring training, but is flying to Raleigh next week for the banquet. Avent is anxious to have his current team hear Hamilton’s testimony.
“We all went through temptations when we were younger, we just didn’t have as many temptations as Josh did,” Avent said. “ Today these young men have so many things pulling at them, that I think his story is important to hear from him. Some kids might think, Well, if he came back from it, so could I.’ But I think Josh is one in a million baseball players and I think he is one in a million who could come back from what he did.
“I wouldn’t suggest anyone try this path.”
You may reach Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.