Peter Gammons calls Josh Hamilton a potential future star..

[Yachtzee]

Gammons admits he is a life long red sox fan but he is about as unbiased as they come. He has seen enough baseball in his lifetime and gives props to the players who are deserving. As for Hamilton could this be the scrap pile find of the century?

I don't know about being unbiased. Gammons makes his living off of his inside connections with various teams. A lot of times, it results in him getting the inside tip on a trade or some other transaction. However, I think it also colors his reporting of said moves. He tends to view GMs and teams that give him tips in a more favorable light than teams that shut him out. He was beside himself when the Reds fired Bowden, a major inside source for him. Regardless of what moves were made by the Reds after that, he got on his high horse about it and acted like the Reds were somehow ruining baseball.

[bigredbunter]

Said he could start in center field...

Possible, I guess---I don't see that Hamilton will start opening day unless an OF (someone like Freel) is traded. Wouldn't they want to pick his spots carefully during the season in order to set him up for as much immediate success as possible? Opening day is a big stage after being out for the last 4 years.

[Krusty]

Again, it is spring training. If he hits like this during the regular season, then I could see annointing him an everyday spot. But for right now he is a fourth or fifth outfielder.

[GSURedsfan]

Possible, I guess---I don't see that Hamilton will start opening day unless an OF (someone like Freel) is traded. Wouldn't they want to pick his spots carefully during the season in order to set him up for as much immediate success as possible? Opening day is a big stage after being out for the last 4 years.

Agreed, ESPECIALLY Opening Day in the Nati'...

[ncman31]

josh spent his senior prom at the batting cage from what i remember. he's an absolute NATURAL baseball player. the reds are lucky to have him. cant wait for opening day, keep it up Josh.

[Jr's Boy]

Gammons seems to always be positive about the Reds.

[paulrichjr]

Gammons seems to always be positive about the Reds.

Say what???

[Jr's Boy]

Well he predicted the Reds would do well last year,as well as a surprise team in the Central this year I believe.

[ColoradoHigh]

Josh Hamilton is a great story. That's why Peter Gammons is talking about him. Anyone with a heart has to be rooting for Josh. Probably should keep some positive thoughts for Peter Gammons too as he continues to recover.

[redsfanmia]

Basically his dad controlled everything he did when he was a kid. For example, he couldn't eat cake at another kid's birthday party because it had refined sugar in it. Todd wasn't allowed to eat fast food at all because it wasn't good for him. Todd's dad, Marv, was basically trying to make Todd into an NFL QB literally from the cradle. Now who knows if Todd would have turned out the same had Marv been a normal father but one could make an argument that once Todd got a taste of freedom from his dad, he did all the things he wasn't allowed to do and went overboard. Perhaps the same could be said about Josh.

Todd had a younger brother who was being raised the same way, I wonder how he turned out?

[Chip R]

Todd had a younger brother who was being raised the same way, I wonder how he turned out?

Good question. Whenever there's a discussion on what are the reasons a person turns out like they do, I think of a joke that Lenny Bruce once told Larry King:

One of the great arguments of all time is between the environmentalists and the geneticists. The geneticist says, The way you're raised is the way you'll be. Here's a story that maybe doesn't give you the answer but shows you the complexity of the question.

"A family goes to Yellowstone National Park on vacation - mother, father, and three children. On the way back to Los Angeles the parents look in the back of the car and, Holy Jesus! They forgot the one-month-old kid. Hey, it happens. You gotta clean up, gotta worry about Smokey the Bear, so they leave the kid.

"They're halfway home, and now here's the dilemma. If they turn back to get the kid, the father blows his sales meeting in the morning, the monthly sales meeting for the May sweep at the car dealership. He'll never get that day back, but he can always have another kid. They go on to L.A. and they leave the kid in the park, and the kid is raised by wild dogs for eighteen years. One day the dogs, in a fit of logic, realize they've done wrong and that the kid doesn't belong with them, so they leave him out on a highway and split. Now this kid, who's spent one month as a human child and seventeen years and eleven months as a dog, is picked up by a passing motorist. The kid enrolls in the University of Chicago, graduates Phi Beta Kappa. Valedictorian. He's called the most promising student in Chicago in ten years and is hailed by the president of the university as a young man with an unquestioned future. And bam! One day he's killed chasing a car."

[OnBaseMachine]

Gammons seems to always be positive about the Reds.

Yep. Gammons has always shown some love for our Redlegs. Yes, he may be a Red Sox fan but he is unbiased. He's by far my favorite baseball writer. I'm glad to see him healthy again and covering baseball.

[WMR]

Heck yeah start him Opening Day. Stick him towards the bottom of the order, if he hits, great, if not, no big deal.

[Reds1]

Hamilton 2-2 with a sac fly, walk, and 2 RBIs against the Yanks who have pitched Mussina and Rivera. I don't know who he did it against, but productive all 4 abs. Wow! .571 ave now and I have no idea on OBP but I"m sue it's mid .600.

[paulrichjr]

Well he predicted the Reds would do well last year,as well as a surprise team in the Central this year I believe.

My confusion comes from the "always" part of the positive comment. Gammons has been a huge critic of the Reds over the last few years (after Bowden left) and they probably deserved it. I don't remember him predicting them to be good last year either and actually thought he was very down on the team going in... I could be wrong.