Josh Hamilton’s final months as a Texas Ranger were a boondoggle. After two consecutive AL pennants, Hamilton struggled down the stretch hitting .223 and .177 in July and August, respectively.
After signing with the Los Angels Angels for five years and $125 million, Hamilton is still holding on to the feelings of betrayal he felt after Texas fans booed him during his midseason struggles at the plate. In an interview with Dallas television station KTVT, Hamilton let loose and vented on his true feelings towards Arlington area baseball fans.
"Texas, especially Dallas, has always been a football town. The good with the bad is they're supportive, but they also got a little spoiled at the same time, pretty quickly. You can understand a really true, true baseball town. There's true baseball fans in Texas but it's not a true baseball town."
"I said there's true baseball fans and then there are others that are not," Hamilton said. "I said the ones that are true baseball fans won't boo when I come back, and the ones that are not, will. It's just like last year, when I got booed after going 2-for-4 in a game, driving in a couple runs, and I struck out the other two times. You understand the Yankees, Boston, Cubs, Phillies — baseball towns. If they were doing that, that's one thing."
Spring training has just began and Hamilton is already taking swings at his former Dallas-area fans. His comments might have been personal, but that doesn't mean he was wrong. The same fans who can stand for the Cowboys winning one playoff game in a decade turned their backs on the Rangers and, especially, Hamilton last summer.
Hamilton gave his all to the Rangers after he recovered from his drug and alcohol addiction. The way they treated him towards the end of his Rangers career was cold-blooded. After he was repeatedly booed in his final home game, he never appeared to give re-upping with Texas a second thought. Oddly enough, Hamilton’s five-year career with the Rangers has yielded 10 times the return than Cowboy's quarterback Tony Romo’s has, and yet the Cowboys quarterback is still coveted across Texas. At any rate, while the Rangers are struggling to rebuild, Hamilton will be batting third in baseball's most dangerous batting lineups. For the Rangers rival, at that. Sounds like sweet revenge.
