sorry i couldnt help but empathize with a josh hamilton. i lean conservative and believe fully in the accountability of the individual and bla bla but i know its not practical to expect everyone to live up to such lofty standards. i think just as a team has a nutritionist, translator or a trainer, they should have an addictionist esp when teams are on the road. even if you're a player who is not presently addicted, that person can help. look at a RON WASHINGTON OR a tito francona. that person can help with guys taking prescriptions from surgeries or dealing with pain or living with those dealing with pain. its about being proactive and preemptive and displaying real empathy. 

give it a rest.  so he is a drug addict.  if his additiona does not affect his job so so what.  if the additioan affects his job then the rangers need to make a hard choice.

stop with the special treatment of these entertainers.  (a true athlete wouldn't put these drugs in their body if thy have an IQ above 80)

No, every team should not have an addiction specialist.  Just the teams that want one and hire one.

Does every team need to address every problem all the other teams have?  If the Ragners want a drug counselor, fine.  Who cares?   Why does that mean anything to the other 29 teams? 

Maybe we should worry about how the Padres are dealing with ther Spetember collpase, too?

If you need one, hire one.  And like 1967 said, as far as we know, this has never been a problem for the Rangers.  He's been out drinking twice in the past 5 years.  He gets more publicity because of his name, but I'd bet there are whole lot more problem drinkers that we don't hear about.

With Hamilton's history of alcoholism, communist-contrarian, he needs to make a commitment to attend AA meetings ...He can find them in any city, to belabor the obvious.  A traveling drug counselor cannot motivate him to do that, or babysit his sobriety.  He needs to take that step on his own...

Nice to see him clean so long just to find out people are still watching him and ready to try and bring him down for one mistep.

DO YOU GUYS not c how an addictionist or interventionist could have helped the sawx with their beer and fried chicken addiction or tendencies  last year? like a sports psychologist with common sense. 

should it be mandated??? im sure it exists in one form or another for all teams....they do try to keep their players from gambling, steroids, and other addictions/dangerous behaviors....

In Response to Re: SHOULD EVERY MLB TEAM HAVE ON-SITE ADDICTION SPECIALISTS FOR PLAYERS LIKE JOSH HAMILTON?:
it should be MANDATED from the commissioner and be someone in the clubhouse who travels with the team and gets the trust of everyone and is perceived as one of them not some suit likely to snitch anout everything. what happens in that clubhouse should stay there. cant be the trainer/addictionist.. should be all they do!

In Response to Re: SHOULD EVERY MLB TEAM HAVE ON-SITE ADDICTION SPECIALISTS FOR PLAYERS LIKE JOSH HAMILTON?:


Gee, what an unforeseen twist on this thread. Thank you for that bringing that breath of fresh air.

(This is called sarcasm, in case it fails to register with your blantantly unoriginal sense of humor.)

Josh hamilton is lucky to be alive, let alone a marquee professional athlete. He threw his career down the tubes for almost 10 years because of booze and drugs. He had the God given talent to be drafted #1 and blew it all on booze, coke, and heroin. Every other junkie doesn't get the help he gets.

C-C....There is no "addiction specialist" like you speak of...If the person is traveling with the team, then the boundaries are blurred and he cannot be an effective substance abuse counselor...I think you are confusing a traveling sports psychologist ("Yes, you can still hit, Derek...Try again!") with same.....Apples and spiked oranges, to say the least....AA is what Josh needs to do, if he is motivated...If not, then somebody hired to babysit his sobriety will only enable his addiction in the long run...

This relapse will cost Josh Hamilton millions.    He's a free agent after 2012 and teams will be reluctant to give him any more than a series of 1-year contracts.   His demons continue to follow him.

As any alcoholic/addict will tell you, you need to want to be sober for yourself. If you are getting sober for the judge, your wife/husband, your boss, your fans, etc, it will not work. Until you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, you are doomed to continue. How many times did Steve Howe go to treatment? Lindsy Lohan has
singlehandedly kept the Malibu clinic open and thriving. These people, and (unfortunately) thousands (if not millions) like them have not overcome the mental obsession that somehow, some day that will be able to drink like normal people. It will never happen for a real alcoholic (or addict).

Having a specialist will not help )or hinder) a players progress. He/She will have to come to the realization that they want to stop at any cost. Until then, they will have brief periods of recovery followed by a worse relapse. I hope this latest spree has shown Josh Hamilton that he has to quit forever. If not he is in for a very bumpy ride, with or without a drug/alcohol counselor.

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/7552550/texas-rangers-hire-assistant-help-support-josh-hamilton

As Contrarian suggested a while back, MLB has hired the first on-staff accountabilty monitor for their big bucks investments. Why would all teams not do this? have someone the players can talk to and to check in the back to make sure noone's sneaking in beer, biscuits or fry chickens.

In Response to Re: SHOULD EVERY MLB TEAM HAVE ON-SITE ADDICTION SPECIALISTS FOR PLAYERS LIKE JOSH HAMILTON?:


The Red Sox had a sports psychologist on their payroll named Bob Tewksbury a few years back.

“I had the opportunity to work as a pitching coach, but I really didn’t want to get back on the field,” he said. “Instead, I worked with some upper-level players as kind of a pitching mentor.”

It was then that Tewksbury first became exposed to the idea of becoming a sports psychologist. At the time, the Red Sox had Doug Gardner on staff as the team psychologist. He and Tewksbury developed a relationship and would frequently discuss the various approaches of sports psychology.

“I found out that a lot of these things Doug was doing, I already knew about from my experiences as an athlete, whether it be imagery, self-talk, journaling or other methods that sports psychologists use to help athletes improve their performance. And I thought, ‘Well maybe I could go back to school and get a degree.’”

Tewksbury did just that, enrolling in the sports psychology and counseling program at Boston University while still working with the Sox and for NESN as a pre- and postgame analyst.

In 2004, with his degree in hand and the position vacant, Tewksbury filled the role of team psychologist for the Red Sox and hasn’t looked back since.

“I think my primary objective,” he said of his role on the team, “is to educate all the players on the importance of the mental aspects of baseball and to let them know that I’m a resource for them in any areas that may be prohibiting them from playing their best.”

Because baseball in particular is a game where players experience a high degree of failure, Tewksbury sees a lack of confidence as a common struggle.

“Confidence comes from the inside out, not from the outside in,” Tewksbury said. “As a player, you have to believe in your ability. It doesn’t come from what other people say or if you have a good game.

On the flip side, if you don’t have a good game, it doesn’t mean that you stink either. A player’s self image has to be more concrete than that.”

One of the realities of the game that Tewksbury frequently explores is the lack of control a player has beyond a certain point.

“Players can control their thoughts, actions and reactions,” he said. “After the ball leaves the bat or their hand, though, there’s really not much they can do. To accept that there’s so much out of your control is difficult because we want to control everything. But I think in baseball, what has the largest affect on athletes is dealing with the idea you’re going to fail a lot. You’re not going to like it, but you’ve got to accept it and move forward because if you don’t, you’re not going to do well.”

On this point, Tewksbury believes that a player’s ability to manage his short-term memory is a key to long-term success.

“When it comes to failure, a player has to think, ‘Well, OK, that didn’t work out so well today, but I’m going to move forward to the next time.’ The athletes that can do that on a consistent basis are the ones that can really perform at a high level over the course of a season or career. That’s what separates a lot of players.”

In his role as the team psychologist, Tewksbury sometimes has to walk a fine line between players and the organization when it comes to what to share and what to keep private.

“There’s certainly aspects of what I do that are confidential,” he said. “It’s important to keep that level of trust with the players, but there are also aspects of discussions that are sometimes shared with a coordinator or a pitching coach or hitting coach. For example, helping somebody with an in-game pre-pitch routine or helping them to slow the game down.”

As for the job itself, Tewksbury feels fortunate to serve in the role.

“It’s been an absolutely terrific second career,” he said. “It’s rewarding. It’s stimulating. It’s challenging and I’m really excited that the Red Sox see value in this because I don’t think there are a lot of teams that make this a priority and the Red Sox do.”

In Response to Re: SHOULD EVERY MLB TEAM HAVE ON-SITE ADDICTION SPECIALISTS FOR PLAYERS LIKE JOSH HAMILTON?:


I agree...give it a rest..... Hamilton makes millions....let him hire his own sponsor to watch over him....

In Response to Re: SHOULD EVERY MLB TEAM HAVE ON-SITE ADDICTION SPECIALISTS FOR PLAYERS LIKE JOSH HAMILTON?:


This is not his first misstep!!

Given his last two mistakes were during the off-season, I fear for him when he is no longer playing baseball.

WELL, A SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST IS A BIT DIFFERENT THAN WHAT i'M TALKING ABOUT. pERHAPS THE ACCOUNTABILITY COACH CAN WORK UNDER THE SPORTS psychologist. this person is a like an official buddy. hamilton just lost someone close that was bringing him trigggers.perhaps you go to dinner witht the coach and talk things out or have him serve as a go-between with the manager or organziaztion. tewks is a SPORTS psychologist, guess i'm focused more on LIFE mentoring!

yes, in time a hamilton should hire his own private guy to be exclusive with him. the team guy's loyalty is to the team. if hamilton is going to a party or funeral, that shouldnt be the coach's concern. hammy should hire a sponsor type in addition, i agree! someone should be developing this niche business, imagine the $ they could make. you could work with agents like boras for the manny types, rich youth types,  work with the teams and so forth.

Many sports teams , businesses , government agencies and educational institutions have a lot of " window dressing " positions. They accomplish little , and add a lot of overhead money to their cost of doing business. Personally , I would begin by eliminating any position that had the words " specialist "," coordinator " ," special ", " consultant " or " assistant "  in the title.

the rich just get it all, dont they?

an accountability manager?????

i need one of those before i propose again, or go to the casino, and watch Beckett pitch late in the season....it could save me from ruin...

too bad i cant afford one..and my employer could care less what happens to me...

Yes, get a federal licensed counselor for alcoholics, for Beckett and Tim Wastefield.

Poor Josh Hamilton. So much press about his personal life, and even on a Sox forum. I didn't realize he recently married a Kardashian. He's had a tough year, people need to stop analyzing him.

FTR, I would take Josh tomorrow if he wanted to play on the Red Sox.