Josh Hamilton hits his stride

It's a record: Hamilton's Home Run Derby barrage

ARLINGTON, TEXAS -- There was a time when Raleigh's Josh Hamilton was written off as a can't-miss prospect who missed badly. There was a time when he smoked crack and drank bottles of Crown Royal. A time when he was suspended from baseball for substance abuse.

Now is his time -- and the time of those who helped Hamilton climb back.

Tonight, the Texas Rangers outfielder will play in the 79th Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Before more than 50,000 fans at Yankee Stadium and millions more watching at home, the 27-year-old Raleigh native will be introduced among the American League starters.

He is drug free, he leads the majors in runs batted in, and he seems headed for the stardom promised when he was baseball's No. 1 draft pick out of Athens Drive High School in 1999.

For Hamilton, tonight will be a childhood dream come true. His comeback has echoed throughout baseball and captured casual fans across the country. Tonight he'll share the moment with family, friends and coaches.

"That will mean more than anything," Hamilton said in an interview at Rangers Ballpark on Saturday.

Tony Hamilton taught his son to swing. Drove him to Little League games in West Raleigh. Watched him and brother Jason hit long drives at Athens Drive, just five miles from their home. He'll be at Yankee Stadium tonight, with his wife, Linda.

They were there when scouts started showing up at high school games. They were there when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays picked him No. 1 in the 1999 draft, giving him a $3.96 million signing bonus. They were also there in 2001 when the sweet story turned sour.

Hamilton and his parents were in a car wreck after a spring workout in Bradenton, Fla. Tony and Linda returned to North Carolina to deal with their injuries.

Hamilton was placed on the disabled list. It was then, he says, among new friends, that he tried his first beer and lines of cocaine.

"I didn't deal with it very well at all," Tony Hamilton said. "My wife, we didn't know why this was going on."

Casual drinking and drug use turned into an addiction, one that sent Hamilton in and out of rehabilitation centers during the next three years.

Tony Hamilton recalled one night his son knocked on the door asking for $2,000 to pay a drug debt. He refused him.

"It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," Tony Hamilton said. "I just told him point blank, 'No, I ain't giving you no money.' ... And I didn't."

Tonight will be a time for satisfied reflection.

"I'll just be glad that he's alive and well," Tony Hamilton said. "He's turned his life around."

Journey of faith

There were so many times Katie Hamilton wanted to give up on Josh, whom she married in 2004. She'll be in the stands tonight with her parents and two children. She'll applaud the person he has become, not the guy who used drugs in his grandmother's house.

She said it wasn't until Hamilton fully allowed faith to play a role in his life that he pulled through in 2005.

After his grandmother chastised him, he surrendered to those who wanted to help him. He eventually helped himself. Major League Baseball lifted its suspension in 2006 after he remained sober for eight months.

"I'll probably try not to dwell on the past, granted it will be there, and I'm sure I might think about it a little bit," Katie Hamilton said. "But I'm really going to be focusing on where we are right then and thanking the Lord that this is where we are now."

She watched the transformation and supported him as he developed his Christian faith. Now he prays with his family.

"I love to hear his prayers," says his wife, who's expecting their third child in August.