It's not a fair question really.
Most of us have several.
But for our boys, two of whom are native born Texans, the list would include Josh Hamilton
Josh played several years with the Texas Rangers, including the 2010 season when the Rangers won the ALCS and the 2011 season when they did it again and came within one strike of winning the World Series twice. We have fairly clear memories of the boys sitting around the TV watching playoff baseball and chanting, "Ham-il-ton, Ham-il-ton."
At the end of 2012, the Rangers traded the oft-times inconsistent or injured Hamilton to the Anaheim Angels. I remember turning to Jacob at the time and saying something to the effect of, "You know, with his track record of getting injured, there's a good chance he'll come to Salt Lake to play a game or to for the Bees on a rehab assignment.
And in May of 2014 he did just that:
He sang the song:
Stepped into the box
Squared his shoulders
And went 2 for 3 with a single and a ground-rule double!
Our boys know the whole story. They know that Josh made some major mistakes in his life and worked hard to overcome them and try to make things right. I think that's part of the reason we cheer for him.
When we learned that he would be coming to Salt Lake for a three day assignment, Thursday through Saturday, we decided to go with the sure thing and squeeze in a trip to the ball part on Thursday night. As it turns out, he didn't play Friday or Saturday night, so we saw him on the only day he played in town. It was a lot of fun to watch the boys as they cheered on one of their heroes.
Josh, thanks for fighting your way back and giving us all something else to cheer for.
1 comment:
We all have t shirts from when he played for the Rangers. My kids love them. We were sad when he was traded.
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