Texas Rangers left fielder Josh Hamilton adjusts his cap during an interview in Arlington, Texas in this October 14, 2010 file photo. Hamilton, the American League’s Most Valuable Player, has reached a two-year, $24 million agreement with the team, Major League Baseball’s official website said Thursday. The deal allows the Rangers to avoid an arbitration hearing scheduled for Monday. Hamilton, 29, had been seeking $12 million for next season, baseball’s website reported, while the Rangers had offered $8.7 million. REUTERS/Mike Stone/Files (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)
After breaking a bone in his right shoulder during a freak play at home plate during a loss to the Tigers on Tuesday, Rangers’ outfielder Josh Hamilton made some interesting comments to the media.
“It was just a stupid play,” Hamilton said and added “I listened to my third-base coach. That’s a little too aggressive. The whole time I was watching the play I was listening. (He said),’Nobody’s at home, nobody’s at home.’ I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t want to do this. Something’s going to happen.’ “
Hamilton’s comment could be taken a couple of different ways. He could be referring to his decision to listen to Anderson’s urging and how it was stupid of him diving headfirst. Therefore, he’s not calling Anderson out as much as he’s just saying it was a “stupid” play in general in that he should have either stayed or found a different way to slide.
On the flip side, maybe he is calling Anderson out in that the third base coach should have never urged him to run. But to that I would say: Hey Josh, you didn’t have to go. Base coaches are essentially another pair of eyes helping players out. Just because my financial investor tells me to invest all of my money in this “can’t lose” proposition, it doesn’t mean I’ll take his advice. If Hamilton thought it was a bad idea to run, he should have stayed at third base.
But regardless of whether or not Hamilton was or wasn’t calling Anderson out, the bottom line is that it was a freak play. Injuries happen in sports and there was no way Hamilton, Anderson or anyone else could have predicted what happened in that situation. It was just an unlucky ordeal.
I also think Hamilton deserves a break here. He just found out that he would be out for the next eight weeks and obviously he’s frustrated. Given his injury history, he probably has a sense of “here we go again” and he’s no doubt upset that he won’t be able to play. He shouldn’t be calling coaches out (if that was what he was doing), but let’s cut him some slack.
