Help Needed

A few weeks ago, terrible news of a relapse by one of the sporting world’s greatest stories of redemption rocked Major League Baseball fans everywhere. Josh Hamilton, an outfielder on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the center of what once thought of as one the greatest career and life turnarounds in sports, turned himself in to MLB officials after he suffered a relapse involving both cocaine and alcohol.

Hamilton was the number one overall pick by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1999 MLB draft and was assigned to their farm system. He first became addicted to drugs and alcohol in 2001, and by 2004, he was out of baseball.

After cleaning up his act and seemingly beating his addictions, Hamilton returned to baseball in 2007 with my favorite baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds. After a pretty good rookie campaign with the Redlegs, he was traded to the Texas Rangers in December of 2007.

Hamilton was a key player to the American League Championship runs and World Series appearances of the Rangers in both 2010 and 2011, winning the American League MVP award in 2010. He then signed with the Angels following the 2012 season.

When thinking about the great strides that Hamilton made since his addiction problems started back in 2001 only to relapse 14 years later, you cannot help but feel a sense of heartbreak. Most addiction stories do not have paths to redemption. Hamilton’s story was one of the few that proved that addiction to drugs and alcohol can be beat, and that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel. He managed to piece his life back together and become an MVP in Major League Baseball.

I do not want to see Hamilton become the next Stanley Wilson. For those who are unfamiliar with Wilson, he was a former Cincinnati Bengals running back who suffered from an addiction to cocaine. After serving season-long bans in both 1985 and in 1987, Wilson appeared to redeem himself and clean up his act in 1988 as he, James Brooks, and Ickey Woods became a fantastic trio at the running back position for the Bengals. In fact, Wilson scored two touchdowns in the Bengals playoff victory over the Seattle Seahawks in route to their second Super Bowl appearance. Unfortunately, Wilson relapsed the night before the Super Bowl and was subsequently left off the roster of the Bengals for the Super Bowl and banned from the National Football League for life. In 1999, which is ironically the year Hamilton was drafted by the Devil Rays, Wilson was sentenced to 22 years in prison for stealing $130,000.00 in order to support his cocaine addiction.

Hamilton as well as other people battling addiction should use Stanley Wilson’s story as a tale of caution. Addiction is a disease, and the people battling this disease need to be helped instead of punished. Hamilton is an example of this. By turning himself in, he is asking for help to beat his addictions once and for all. Hopefully he can recover from this recent relapse and rebuild himself into the MVP caliber player he once was.