By Jim Kelly Jr.

"My life didn't turn out the way I expected"- Roy Hobbs

In an age in baseball where skepticism and doubt precede optimism and wonder, a player has come along to perhaps usher in an era of restoration. While he hasn’t single handedly done anything to erase the scars from the Mitchell Report, it’s his own restoration that has quickly begun to help baseball’s healing process.

Josh Hamilton did in the Home Run Derby what most can only dream of. He walked into the House That Ruth Built, during the year we’ll spend remembering it, and put on a show that would have even the Great Bambino, a hot dog in one hand and a beer in another, would be smiling about. His home runs weren’t shots that took advantage of a little league short porch, but rather ones that would prompt Bank of America to give Hamilton a sponsorship for hitting so many balls towards their sign. They were unbelievable, majestic, and just about every other positive adjective you can think of.

While most people are now aware of the story of Hamilton’s past, it’s the effect that he’s had on the fans of baseball in such a short period of time that has been the most remarkable aspect of his game. Here’s the statistical leader of the American League, a guy who’s team competes against the Yankees, albeit not historically successfully, who had a New York crowd chanting his name hoping for him to hit another monstrous shot out of their park. For one night only Hamilton ruled New York, and for the rest of his career while he may be cheered against in the city he will always undoubtedly be respected. No one wanted to see anyone else hit or hear any announcer talk, as they’d rather listen to the theme from The Natural or the training music from Rocky, as the newcomer hit ball after ball into the night. There isn’t an outsider in The Stadium treated like that; not McGwire, Sosa, Junior, and definitely not Bonds. Say what you want about the Yankees and their fans, as I definitely have a few choice words, but as New Yorkers will tell you getting fans like that to cheer for you is an accomplishment in itself. Just ask David Ortiz.
Maybe it’s the uncanny resemblance to The Natural, with a career gone off the map only to come back with legendary force. Or maybe it’s the way the other players look at him; the best players on the planet standing and taking notice of someone who does things that have even them dumbfounded. Yet above all the statistics, the Erin Andrews interviews, and the Sunday Conversations, it’s the emergence of Josh Hamilton that has played into the hearts of baseball fans. He started with all the promise in the world, lost his way, broken and forgotten, and found himself back on the path that he was destined to all along. The story isn’t what appeals to the fan, as no parent will encourage their kids to idolize Hamilton’s career path, but rather it’s the human nature of his journey that has captivated so many.

While Alex Rodriguez has the physical talents and eventually statistics to make him the greatest hitter ever, he is far from being beloved by even his team’s own fans. Arod has been phenomenal since day one in baseball, groomed for the path to success since he was a teenager, and maybe it’s that superhuman aspect to him that has him labeled as a prima donna and the favorite villain for fans and media outlets alike. Josh Hamilton on the other hand is human. A guy that fans can relate to, who’s been knocked down only to dust himself off and do what he was born to do. While Arod will continue to be dominant for two decades he’ll never capture America’s love affair with the underdog like Hamilton has done in merely a year.

Our new human interest stories are no longer the kid who grew up on a farm and found his way to the big city, but the kid who had everything ripped away by addiction and found his way back to the limelight. While the fairy tale doesn’t exist, as we’ve either heard them all or too jaded to think that one could actually happen, Josh Hamilton may be as close as we get; the type of fairy tale you see on HBO perhaps. Fans want to root for a guy like that, one that shows them that you can make mistakes in your life, that maybe things don’t turn out like you planned, yet the dream can live on. It’s why the country will have Hamilton-fever for a while, reveling in the dream season from the guy with tattoos and who brought his long time senior citizen friend to the Derby; baseball’s Everyman. And like Hobbs, Hamilton’s life didn’t turn out the way he expected, but as he sets records and basks in the limelight after truly taking the road less traveled I’m sure he can’t complain about the path he’s heading down now.