Bill, Bill, Bill. Must have been a bad day or two as you composed the apologist Josh Hamilton piece. Josh needs help, not enabling. Just ask those who attempted to assist Mr. Hamilton over the years. Sober or not.
You begin with the absurd barb aimed at the Angels “plunking down about $60 million for intolerance and insensitivity.” The vast majority of us believe that when an individual signs a contract, the terms there within are agreed to in full. Thus, why and how is demanding sobriety suddenly ridiculous, unrealistic and the stuff of dreamers?
Referring to Arte Moreno as having the “stench” of “anger” borders on the classic reaching to nowhere in particular. Other than for the sake of directionless reach. Alas, I repeat. Arte’s “anger” is well placed and deserved. Arte is a businessman, not a purveyor of posters and merchandise featuring his ball players (that manifest falls to the MLBPA). Mr. Moreno is right to claim “. . . but the reality is there’s accountability. When you make an agreement, you need to stand up.” Indeed. Mr. Plaschke at this point advances the argument that Mr. Moreno is somehow devoid of financial sensibility by insisting that Mr. Hamilton agree to abide by contractual clauses regarding a steady state of sobriety achieved and maintained during the time of said contract. This is the line of a despicable, thoughtless, uncaring hard ass? Continuing, Mr. Plaschke offers the claim that addiction (relapse) creates condition for group hugs and he-tried-really-hard rhetoric reserved for a middle school student struggling through pre-algebra rather than a grown man in breach of contract.
Mr.Plaschke then quotes Jerry DiPoto, “If I can put a finger on why Josh had a tough time here, we may have been able to help him solve those issues.” Mr. Plashcke then fires back with the answer “So they were admittedly out of touch with their investment.” To which I say how do the Angels fall short in this demand for support with the 2013 hiring of Shayne Kelley to be Mr. Hamilton’s full-time accountability partner? The Angels hired an adult babysitter. Evidently, Mr. Hamilton sought and/or requested change of full-time accountability partner (could this not be more Hollywood?) to family friend Boyd Bassham and to a lesser extent his wife. Seems as if Mr. Hamilton left the gym for the television and the couch only left to wonder why the weight was returning.
The nut of my retort is Mr. Hamilton happily and with perfect understanding signed a five-year, $125 million contract with the Angels. Language there within referenced, shall we say, a holistic lifestyle meaning no booze or coke or whatever controlled substance may have gathered momentary interest. According to Mr. Plaschke’s logic, the Angels were underhanded and delusional in their contractual offerings agreed to by Mr. Hamilton.
Then the absolute circus-like comment from Mr. Hamilton himself “I worked my butt off to be that guy this year going into this season with the Angels. They just didn’t want that to happen for some reason.” WHAT?!!!! You, Mr. Hamilton, relapsed like a Keith Richards wanna be. A poser. A I-can-handle-this (no, you can’t) egotist. But, wait. This self-serving drivel from a typical professional athlete blooms. “He (Moreno) knew what the deal was when he signed me. Hands down, he knew what he was getting. He knew what the risks were. He knew all those things.” The idiocy is blinding. Most of us can relate to personal relationships. Let us cloak Mr. Hamilton’s assumptions within marriage and a husband . Prior to the lucky lady agreeing to the proposal, dear Mr. Hamilton acknowledges problems with infidelity, weekend strippers, Vegas hookers, morning bracer/pick me ups, drunk driving, zeroing out the ATM account with weekend “purchases” and other shortcomings. He promises to be good. Yet, the inevitable (in his mind) failure lies at the feet of the silly woman who refused to realize he was bound for various relapses into bad behavior. Perfect sense. For a loon.
To end this rebuttal of Mr. Plaschke’s fountain of enabling, I quote Mr. Hamilton as all eyes look to Texas; “I’ve done a lot of growing, learning and soul-searching over the last few weeks.” We can only hope. Mr. Plaschke certainly hopes as well.
tipmypitch 