Texas Columnist Doesn't Like Ranger Star Josh Hamilton's God Talk

Todd Kaufman at the Sports Page in Dallas notes that Fort Worth Star-Telegram sports writer Randy Galloway sounded bitter when Texas Rangers star Josh Hamilton talked about getting a big new contract after this season ends -- not just for himself, but to help a "hurting world."

It's always hard for a baseball fan to see your team's highest-wattage star headed for the clubhouse door. But the disdain for the God talk ought to seem more impolite in the Texas metroplex, where ABC puts the "GCBs." Kaufman writes:

The reason for that panic is a quote in the article that talks about Josh and the kind of contract his family will be looking for. Not just for himself but for “a hurting world,” as Katie Hamilton says.

“Fans and reporters are so far off base with where we are. They’ll say, ‘Oh, Josh doesn’t care about the money.’ No, we don’t really care about the money so much for us, but we have huge plans for this money, and, no, it’s not strictly for our bank account. It is for a hurting world.

“The other thing they keep saying is, ‘Josh needs Texas; he needs the comfort of this team.’ Uh, we need Jesus. We need God. He goes with us wherever we are. Yes, we’re comfortable in Texas. But maybe God hasn’t called us to comfort. I mean, he didn’t call Jesus to comfort.”

That quote not only has fans up in arms but also local beat writers.

Take Randy Galloway of the Ft Worth Star Telegram. He wrote a piece on Thursday and, at the end of it, sounded a little bitter. “Hit first. Then talk. Then go save the world with Yankee money, or Red Sox money.”

Really? Save the world with “Yankee money?” Josh and Katie Hamilton say they want to do something with the money from a new contract to help other people and the reaction to that statement is bitterness and a slight scent of contempt?

This reminds me of when Josh Hamilton said, “I don’t feel like I owe the Rangers” during spring training. The firestorm of media and fan reaction was amazing.

We always talk about baseball as being a business. In fact, most front offices are famous for saying that when they don’t re-sign a fan favorite or sign a guy fans want. But, when a player uses the same tactic, you would have thought he insulted someone’s family.

Galloway wasn't all angry lightning bolts, but he wasn't really buying the charitable routine:

But now, the new Hamilton stance I read in SI  centers around the upcoming Josh contract, for the highest amount he can count, being a necessity because he wants to bless the world with his dollars.

There's no problem from here on how someone wants to spend his money, and from a PR standpoint this redirection of the funds to charity is obviously better than saying he's contract-gouging in honor of the players union.

The more the money is "the more we can give away," says Josh in the SI story.

Where do you sign up for this give away?

[Hat tip: Dan Isett]