Book Five

Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back
Josh Hamilton (with Tim Keown)

I'm trying to decide whether to start with a review of the book or writing down all of the thoughts that the book has brought to mind.  I suppose today will get two blog entries--one for the book review and one for the thoughts. 

Hamilton wrote Beyond Belief with a cowriter, so it's hard to know what, if anything, he actually wrote of his story.  Either way, Hamilton comes across as a bit pompous and strangely defensive of his parents.  The early portions of the book, while engaging, were hard for me to read.  All I could see in Hamilton was a jock who was still attached to his mother and father ("momma" and "daddy," to hear him tell it).  Time and time again he defended his parents in places that I didn't think they needed defending.  As the book goes on, though, it seemed to me that Hamilton is not pompous or still attached to his umbilical cord--I think he's naive.  I think he's, um, simple.  And I think he's sweet. 

As Hamilton recounts his descent into cocaine addiction, the story becomes at times engrossing and appalling.  It's rather like watching a car crash--you want to look away from the destruction, but you have to know how it comes out.  You can't look away.  At least with Hamilton's story anyone who follows baseball knows at least how it comes around.  The self-destruction is evident, and (this is why I think he's simple and sweet) Hamilton doesn't hide any of it.  He details the squarlor in which he was willing to find his drugs, his descent into crack, and the levels he sunk to in order to feed his demons.  Hamilton also doesn't hide the fact that his faith in God is all that brought him through.  At face value, Beyond Belief is the tale of Josh Hamilton's addiction, his efforts to throw away the natural baseball talent that God gave him, and his recovery from drugs and of his career.  When it comes down to it, though, this is a tale of spiritual warfare.  From his tattoos to his drug addiction to his reclaimed career to his two relapses, that's what Hamilton's story is.  And, at the end of the day, that's what our stories are too.

I know the twelve steps by heart, but my healing did not come from a strict adherence to those principles.  Instead, my life changed from hopeless to hope-filled when I turned to God and asked for His help.      (Josh Hamilton)