Josh Hamilton of Texas Rangers Claims AL MVP Award

In my personal opinion, the award couldn’t have gone to a better player.  There is so much about Josh Hamilton that people don’t know.

Last Tuesday, Josh Hamilton was easily the champ of the American League MVP Award.  He had received 22 votes for first place and then 385 total points.  Second place went to Miguel Cabrera of Detroit with 262 points and five first place votes with Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees and Jose Bautista from Toronto was in third and fourth places with 229 points and zero 1st place votes and 165 points with 1 first place vote respectively.

29-year-old Hamilton was able to help the Texas Rangers make their very first trip to the World Series with a leading batting average of .359 and a leading slugging percentage of .633.  Despite being out almost the entire month of September due to enduring two injured ribs from slamming into the wall during a game, the outfielder hit 32 home runs as well as 100 runs batted in (RBIs).

Apart from this award, Hamilton also received the MVP award during the ALCS after defeating the New York Yankees to move on to the Fall Classic, or the World Series.  Throughout the 2010 postseason, Hamilton hit five home runs and nine runs batted in (RBIs).

Hamilton becomes the sixth MVP for the Rangers following behind 1974 winner Jeff Burroughs, 1996 and 1998 winner Juan Gonzalez, 1999 winner Ivan Rodriguez and 2003 winner Alex Rodriguez.

Looking back on a little bit of history of the AL MVP award winner…

Hamilton was drafted by Tampa Bay back in 1999 as the first overall draft pick of the MLB Draft.

While in the Minor Leagues, Hamilton went on the disabled list in 2001 and became addicted to both alcohol as well as cocaine.  He didn’t play a single game between 2003 and 2005.  He went to rehabilitation a total of eight times before he was finally able to set his addiction behind him.

This is something that Hamilton reflected back to when he won the American League MVP award and he said that the definitely never thought this was something that could happen to him.

Josh Hamilton can be a true inspiration for many addiction sufferers.  You always have a second chance but many people don’t take it.  Josh Hamilton proves that a second chance is worth taking and can provide happiness when taken in the right direction.  He took his second chance and has succeeded.

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