Josh Hamilton's continuing battle against addiction hit another bump when the former Raleigh Athens Drive baseball star said Friday he'd had "three or four drinks" on Monday night.
During a press conference from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, Hamilton said Friday he had been drinking on Monday night, but had not used drugs and had been tested for drugs twice this week.
"It was just wrong," Hamilton said during the press conference. "That's all it comes down to. I needed to be in a different place. I needed to be responsible at that moment, that day, period, and I was not responsible and so those actions are mine that hurt a lot of people very close to me."
Hamilton said he was out at dinner and ended up ordering some drinks. He called Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler and asked him to come join him, but didn't tell Kinsler he was drinking. The restaurant was closing so the two players walked across the street to another restaurant.
They talked about their families and baseball and when Kinsler was ready to leave, Hamilton said Kinsler dropped him off.
"And his words were, he said, 'I'll see you later,'" Hamilton said. "He said, 'You're not going to go back out or anything, are you?' I said, 'No,' and then, 'I'm good.' Then I did exactly what I told him I wouldn't do. And so I went back out to the place we had just left probably 30 minutes later and, um, you know, had some more drinks."
Sobering reminder
Hamilton said the episode is a reminder that he must stay vigilant in staying on the right path.
"My recovery is an everyday process, because when I take that one day off, it leaves me open for that moment of weakness and it's always been that way," he said.
"So for everybody who I have hurt, for everybody - fans, kids, people who have addictions and look up to me - I apologize to you. When you're doing this, you don't mean to hurt anybody. You only think you're hurting yourself, but as I know, you're hurting a lot of people."
Hamilton plans to meet with Major League Baseball and its doctors. He said he wants to look back and see where he went wrong.
"I feel terrible about this because I feel like I let a lot of people down," he said. "I beat myself up for the last four or five days for this, four days. There's nobody that feels worse than I do. I'm going to do everything I can to lean on some shoulders and hopefully I can get back to the point where people can lean on mine again."
Substance issues
Hamilton was the first player taken in the 1999 baseball draft, but his professional career almost was sabotaged by his use of alcohol and drugs.
He was banned from baseball for three and a half years (2003-2006) after failing mandatory drugs tests. He returned to professional baseball in June 2006 and played with the Cincinnati Reds in 2007. The Rangers acquired him in December 2007.
Since returning to professional baseball, he has been tested three times a week for banned substances and has never failed a drug test.
Hamilton was the 2010 American League MVP and the four-time All-Star is set to make $13.75 million with the Rangers this season as part of a $24 million, two-year deal he signed before the 2011 season.
He is not required to abstain from alcoholic drinks, but he has said he has never used drugs without consuming alcohol first.
Second known relapse
Katie Hamilton, Josh Hamilton's wife and an Athens Drive High graduate, used her Twitter account on Friday to write "Truly appreciate all the encouraging & supportive tweets we've been getting. God is faithful and forgives - so thankful that you all are ... showing us such love and encouragement during this time."
This is the second known relapse by Hamilton. Hamilton drank alcohol in January 2009 in a bar in Tempe, Ariz. He later said that it had been his first relapse since Oct. 6, 2005, the day he said he found a Bible at his grandmother's home.
"I got away from the one thing that kept me on the straight and narrow and that was my relationship with the Lord," Hamilton said on Aug. 8, 2009. "That should always come first. Hopefully some good will come out of this."
In past years, Johnny Narron has been Hamilton's accountability partner. Narron travelled with Hamilton and encouraged his abstinence. Narron left the Rangers in November to become the hitting coach in Milwaukee.
Michael Dean Chadwick, Hamilton's father-in-law, had planned to report to spring training with Hamilton this year and travel with him, but later decided he needed to stay in the Raleigh area with his family.
The Rangers are expected to hire another accountability partner for Hamilton.
Hamilton, 30, and the Rangers have also been in the process of negotiating a long-term contract extension.
