Fresh start for Hamilton

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Cream-colored slacks and a long-sleeve striped shirt covered the much-talked about tattoos that will always remind Josh Hamilton of the troubled period that derailed his promising baseball career.

"There were many times I thought I wouldn't play again," the 25-year-old outfielder said Monday, recounting a bout with drug addiction that hurt his development with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and eventually landed him with the Cincinnati Reds.

"Just the lifestyle I was living," Hamilton added. "Nobody can do anything productive out of what I was doing."

Flanked by Cincinnati manager Jerry Narron and general manager Wayne Krivsky, who took the one-time "can't miss" prospect from December's Rule 5 draft, Hamilton answered questions for 40 minutes.

He talked freely about using drugs, the people who helped him overcome his addiction and what he hopes will be a bright future with the Reds, who have to keep him on the 25-man major league roster for the entire season or risk having to offer him back to Tampa Bay.

"I didn't really expect it. I don't think the Devil Rays really expected it, either," Hamilton said of the Reds who made a deal with the Chicago Cubs, who made the Rule 5 selection with intention of sending him to Cincinnati for cash.

As far as Hamilton and the Reds are concerned, they couldn't be a better match.

Narron has known Hamilton since he was 15 and playing for a youth league team coached by Narron's brother. Hamilton is ecstatic about renewing ties with a fellow North Carolinian and joining an organization that is doing everything possible to give him a chance to be successful.

Plans are already in place to shield Hamilton from some of the temptations that undermined him in the past. He doesn't carry cash, he and his wife brought one car to Florida for spring training, and Hamilton says he'll even have someone hold his meal money on the road during the season.

"It's not that I need to be baby-sat," Hamilton said. "I trust myself, but it's just things I need in place."

The first pick in the draft coming out of Raleigh (N.C.) Athens Drive High School in 1999, Hamilton was selected ahead of another high school phenom, pitcher Josh Beckett. The Devil Rays thought the outfielder was a cinch to be an impact player not only because of his baseball skills but what the team also felt was impeccable character.

But injuries prevented Hamilton from playing a full season in the minors. He started using drugs some time after he and his mother were injured in a 2001 traffic accident.

When his parents left Hamilton's home in nearby Bradenton, Fla., and returned to Raleigh, N.C., so his mother could recuperate from her injuries, it left Josh alone for the first time with lots of money and extra time on his hands.

"I made bad choices. I went looking for something I shouldn't have to fill the void," Hamilton said.

"It's a vicious cycle. When you're involved in drug use and alcohol abuse, you look for anything to set you off. I'd be fine for a month, and then something would happen and I'd go back to using again."

Hamilton was suspended for violating Major League Baseball's joint drug treatment and prevention program on Feb. 18, 2004. By the time he was granted permission to participate in minor league games last summer, he had not played in a professional game since 2002.

The Reds, believing that the Devil Rays might leave Hamilton unprotected for the Rule 5 draft, began doing their homework on the outfielder. Krivsky kept their intentions a secret until the last minute.

Narron was shocked when he found out what the general manager wanted to do. He also was confident Hamilton, who hit .260 with no homers and 5 RBIs in 15 games at Class-A Hudson Valley last July, could succeed.

"It's not going to be easy.," Narron said. "We're not going to put pressure on him and say you're the everyday starting center fielder by any stretch. I know the work ethic is there. We won't have to worry about that. Someone with average talent probably would have no chance. But I think anybody who's ever seen him on a baseball field knows he's a special talent."