S.L. Price on Josh Hamilton

The part I guess that I just can't get over is the woman in the bathroom. In his book, he writes about his wife Katie so lovingly, and it's very clear that she has stuck with him through thick and thin. I think at one point, he even says unequivocally that he's never cheated on her.

So I guess it's that part that burns me, more than the drinking, which I get.

 

The whole Hamilton story has been Disneyfied to the point that because he can hit a baseball, we are celebrating him for his courage when his behavior is something that would shock and disgust us were it coming from our next-door neighbor or our brother. If we actually knew a person doing these things, it would be time for a quit-or-you're-dead-to-us intervention, but because it's Josh Hamilton it's "hey, try to do better next time, kiddo."

He's an addict. He may lapse, he may not, but it's a pretty simple story now.

 

Not defending that at all. And despite in his book him never having cheated on his wife, he still treated her like shit. I'm surprised she has stuck with him this far. Wasn't one of the reasons for his first big relapse that his marriage was on the rocks? Clearly things aren't fixed. And considering his religious views, the extra marital affairs are extremely disappointing.

 

I enjoyed reading it. I think someone mentioned it earlier, but it would have been interesting to see what Gary Smith could have done with it, and I'm not knocking Price at all. I don't know if y'all saw this, but Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Randy Galloway had this to say about the whole thing and took shots at his wife.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/06/07/4016793/josh-hamilton-sets-out-to-save.html



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The wife's comments come off as a little self-serving. Katie ought to be well-versed enough to know that a Christian's relationship with Christ isn't so personal so as to blot out the way Christ uses other people in Josh's life to bless him.

 

Price did a Steve McNair cover piece in SI back in '94 headlined "Hand Him the Heisman" and it was a good read, like so much other stuff he's done thru the years. Though I've not read this one on Josh, I'm sure it includes lots of info that most readers won't already know.
Price, coupled with the built-in editing that comes with that sort of high-level job, is a writer I figure I can count on to deliver good reads with at least 95 percent of his work.

 

Not a lot this time. That's the problem with writing about someone like Hamilton. It's probably why you rarely see Gary Smith take on famous athlete stories.

 

All due respect to Gary, but I would so rather read Scott Price than Gary Smith these days. Maybe this wasn't Price's greatest piece, but he is the superior writer these days. Price manages to write with eloquence, clarity and beauty without constructing ghosts or structure mazes that attempt to speak in the "thoughts" of the athlete he's profiling. Smith will always and forever be one of the greats, but -- blasphemous as this may be -- I'm not interested in that approach anymore. Price's work does not insist that you buy into some arguably forced construct -- Here is man. He's just a man who doesn't want you to read this tale, because the ending will make you question your belief in unicorns and God -- he just lets the framing of the story unfold simply, without a philosopher's sledgehammer.

It's hard to have these kind of craft discussions about Smith because the man is a Titan in magazine writing. When I was young, he and Reilly inspired me as much as anyone to chose this life. But Price speaks to me now in a way Smith no longer does. I think it's a more honest, less hokey approach. Ragu made the point once about Smith, and I think it's true, that you can see the beats coming in a Smith story now. It's often quite Disney Story of the Week. The is less darkness and doubt, and more "inspiring tale." That's a logical path for a story to arc, but I don't know that it's always the most honest approach. Look back at his story about how Larry Brown and Allen Iverson found love and endearing respect for one another. How long did that last?

I don't know what Smith would have done with Hamilton as his subject. But I fear he'd have spun the tale and left us with the belief that with the help of Katie and Jesus and the father who fell trying to catch that ball, Hamilton had won the battle for his soul. And lord knows that would feel moving and powerful and maybe even feel true in that moment. But the story of addiction and relapse and weakness is much more complicated. Much less tidy. I think Price captured some of that, while also letting subtle doubts linger. I think he does that extremely well, whether the subject is John Calipari or Ray Lewis. And that's why I think Price might be the best we have. He doesn't overwrite or overreach. He's never mawkish. He's writes beautifully but honestly. He's sympathetic but also not afraid to cast doubt.

As to the ideas that all this has been written about Hamilton before, some of that is certainly true. And I think Shenin's piece is by far the best story about Hamilton (even though the circumstances are very different in Hamilton's life now) but what percentage of SI readers have read Hamilton's autobiography? Less than 1 percent, I bet. Price's goal is still to serve those readers first and last.

 

Great points. Smith fatigue has set in with me, also - although I enjoyed those Katrina vignettes sometime back.

And it's genuinely, honest-to-goodness sad what's happened to Reilly's work.

 

Anyone read Tom Verducci's story on steroids in MLB - 10 years later?