Published: July 16, 2008 10:19 am            

Thoughts on Josh Hamilton, Rich Rod and high school sports

Going into last night’s All-Star Game, it’s been great to watch the remarkable story of major leaguer Josh Hamilton the past two seasons. Hamilton, a can’t-miss baseball prospect in the late 1990s whose career was derailed by a detour into the despair of drugs, has straightened out his life and was slated to be a starter for the American League in Tuesday’s mid-summer classic. Through the weekend, Hamilton — now with the Texas Rangers — had collected 21 homers and an outstanding 95 RBIs, not to mention a .310 batting average, through 93 games. Personally, I’d rather have seen him stay with the Reds, last year’s team which traded him in the offseason, but I’m just happy he’s being productive.

Playing his first post-high school season with the Princeton Devil Rays in 1999, Hamilton was accommodating to fans and media alike. My brother Tim and I both interviewed him, and we got the chance to briefly visit with him again the next season when he came to Charleston as a member of the Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs. He seemed to have his head on straight, and he was a nice guy to be around. As he entered his 20s, the demons eventually got hold of him and nearly cost him his life, in addition to at least three prime seasons of his playing career. I’m glad he’s finally back on track and fulfilling all of the original promise. All the while, he’s telling anyone who will listen the perils of drug abuse. Kudos to him.

-- Glad the Rodriguez saga appears to be finally settling down. Rich Rod won’t be quite so since reports say he himself will pay $1.5 million of the $4 million contract buyout (Michigan will fork over the remaining $2.5 million) for leaving as head football coach of the WVU Mountaineers. Like many others, I’ve paid attention to at least some of the coverage of the messy ordeal, but I’m ecstatic we can now leave “Product Rodriguez” in Ann Arbor and see how successful he is (or isn’t).

-- Speaking of contracts, I was ecstatic to see the story the other day in which NFL commissioner Roger Goodell termed “ridiculous” the escalating contracts given to untested rookies who have yet to play a down in the league. He mentioned specifically No. 1 overall pick Jake Long’s five-year, $57.75 million contract (including $30 million guaranteed) with the Miami Dolphins. It appears Goodell’s main concern in wanting to take another look at the contracts is because it’s affecting those poor owners who are having to come up with money to build stadiums, etc., but at least he had the guts to come out against the sickening free flow of money. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If fans are upset about paying outrageous ticket prices (or gas prices to get to the nearest ballpark), then they need to quit going to games, buying overpriced team merchandise and, in general, supporting the professional sports franchises. If not, they don’t leave themselves much room to complain.

-- In my opinion at least, it was good to see the state Board of Education vote down a couple of athletic propositions last week. The board elected unanimously to deny a fourth classification for football and boys and girls basketball as proposed by the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission’s Board of Control. Also, the group opted against adding significantly to the three-week summer practice window in which coaches can work with student-athletes.

I’m particularly glad the latter proposal didn’t get approved. Making students attend practice for practically the entire summer just isn’t right. For one, they — and their parents and coaches — need some down time. Secondly, you can’t tell me that the kids who don’t participate in these “voluntary” summer workouts wouldn’t be punished when a coach looks down the bench to put someone in a game during the school year. It would be only natural for a coach to choose the player who took part in the summer versus one who didn’t, but it wouldn’t be right.

Then, of course, if the coaches are allowed to be with their athletes all summer on top of the nine months, they would rightfully seek financial compensation for it. I don’t know that there are too many counties that have that extra cash available.

-- And I thought I didn’t have a life. I stumbled across an Associated Press article on Yahoo Sports in late June that described Zack Hample, a 30-year-old Manhattan resident who makes it his habit to pursue hit, errant or tossed baseballs at major league games and add them to his ever-growing collection. It looks like this guy is a little involved in his hobby (although in one part of the story, he referred to it as his “dream job”). So much so that, at the time, he knew the exact total of balls he had retrieved — 3,494 — and when and where he had collected them, since he has them listed in a database. He’s even written a book about it called “Watching Baseball Smarter.”

If I were a big baseball fan, I can see going to a game and hoping maybe to catch a home run ball, especially if it marks a significant milestone for a particular player. But to get so wrapped up in chasing down every ball that finds its way into the stands is going a little overboard.

To his credit, he says he doesn’t knock people down to get the balls, and he apparently gives his fair share of the loot to youngsters.

To each his own, I guess. But that wouldn’t be the path in life I chose.

-- Speaking of baseball at the top echelon, I also saw recently that MLB officials were going after certain Little League organizations and asking them to quit using MLB team names such as the Cubs and the Mets because those local leagues weren’t buying their uniforms from the official supplier of MLB teams. You gotta be kidding me!

— E-mail: skeenan@register-herald.com

        

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