“I started off as a Devil Ray,” Hamilton said, a reference to being drafted by Tampa Bay, “and now I’m an Angel.” Hamilton trusts that there’s some divine intervention involved here.
I would say there has never been a free agent – ever, in the history of sport – getting more money riskier than this one.”
It was enough the other day for Dan LeBatard on his ESPN TV show to blurt out: “$125 million over five years is an extraordinarily risky investment. Obviously, none of them came with the same kind of warning label attached to Hamilton, someone who admits to needing an “accountability partner” – which isn’t a fancy way of referring to his wife, Katie. With all the examples alone in Angels history about freak injuries on the field, fatal car accidents off it, and mangled free-agent signings, those are the two “risks” that Moreno decides to pull out as examples?
In the summer of ’03, he crashed his motorcycle into a street light, without a license or helmet, fractured a pelvis, couldn’t play again, was waived by the team, and failed in a comeback try three years later. Moreno also cited “that player, Williams, from Duke.” That would be a reference to Jay Williams, the second-overall pick by the NBA’s Chicago Bulls in 2002. He said he did it trying to carry groceries, but it later came out that he was dragging up deer meat given to him by teammate Todd Helton. 330 in June when he broke his left collarbone in a fall down some stairs. Moreno said he recalled “reading a story about 10, 12 years ago about the young shortstop who was carrying a side of deer and hurt himself and was never the same.” Apparently, he was referring to the Colorado Rockies’ Clint Barmes, who, during his 2005 rookie season, had been around. Wilson on a five-year deal, both of which came during the last December to remember in Anaheim. “I’m not an impulse guy – there are risks in anything,” the billboard baron Moreno tried to rationalize when explaining how this so-called “budget buster” will add $125 million to his expenders upon Hamilton’s arrival, added to the $240 million committed to Albert Pujols for 10 years and another $77.5 million more for pitcher C.J. Moreno’s dreams can come true because he says he has bought into Hamilton’s character for trying to do what’s right. Yet, when you wish upon a star like Hamilton, it does make a difference what has happened in his past. His singing is of praise in how his close-knit front office pulled off this stealth acquisition of the former Texas Rangers All-Star outfielder, former batting champion and one-time AL MVP. Nowadays, an incredibly calculated Arte Moreno artfully owns the whole package.
He rode that ownership ride for more than 35 years before selling it off to Disney.
The singing cowboy could have taken the residuals from that tune, as well as the ones he made from “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer,” and probably had enough to finance the start up of this Angels franchise more than 50 years ago.
Listen close enough, and you can hear Gene Autry’s “Here Comes Santa Claus” float in the air around Downtown Disney in Anaheim, the site for Saturday’s made-for-TV Hamilton welcome party.
Like, Josh Hamilton playing 162 games a pop for the next five seasons, injury free, without a drug or alcohol relapse, propelling the Angels to five straight World Series championships, and having Hollywood make a movie about his life. Christmas time at Disneyland has this marvelous way of making anyone suspend the boundaries of reality and believe something magical can happen at any moment.