The Final Season at the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium. The venue which saw Babe Ruth introduce the game into the casual fan's life during the Roaring Twenties. The Stadium, as it is called by its loyalists, held the class of Lou Gerhig, the charisma of Joe Dimaggio, the talent of Mickey Mantle, the persona of Reggie Jackson, and the intangibility of Derek Jeter. All of this only making it fitting that the Home Run Derby, held at that very historic landmark in its 85th and final season, would exhibit what baseball should be all about, dedication and hard work.

Throughout the past decade, as we know all too well, performance enhancing drugs have flooded the game and produced inflated power stats and illegitimate statistical data on a mathematical level. On an emotional level, the use of such enhancers has laid a cloud of suspicion and overall anguish upon baseball and its power driven events such as the Derby. Perhaps on a night when baseball fans witnessed the continued resurrection of Josh Hamilton's career and most importantly his life right before their eyes, we may be turning the page on the dark and ominous steroid era.

It would be impossible not to be captivated by Hamilton's life story. A number one draft choice of the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999, Hamilton had five tool talent and a contagious off the field personality to accompany it. Undoubtedly, this seemed like the perfect combination for a superstar in the making. However, Hamilton got into problems with an alcohol addiction and this led into much deeper issues with drugs such as heroine and cocaine. Hamilton was out of baseball entirely and essentially homeless for a while. The once young and promising athlete was waking up at all times of the night and was experiencing horrendous nightmares which led the revived slugger to attempt to get his life back in order. With the help of religion and his family's support, centered around his grandmother's faith in Hamilton as a person, he became drug free on October 5th of 2005 and has been that way ever since.

What makes Hamilton's story so remarkable is the fact that not only did he quit an indescribably difficult addiction, he returned to playing professional baseball and playing it at the highest level. Think of it this way, a member of today's society is celebrated for breaking a nicotine addiction, and rightfully so, but the addiction that Hamilton has had to break is monumentally greater than that. On top of that hardship, Hamilton had to get himself prepared to play baseball again and showed the relentless dedication towards doing that. The Rangers outfielder had left baseball for three years, got on and off drugs and alcohol, and returned to baseball, becoming arguably the best hitter in the game. All the while, other players were getting at bats and were experiencing the baseball life, which would only go to improve there chances for greater future success. Yet, Hamilton is head and shoulders above many of those guys and he was deprived of those luxuries, given of course, that it was a self-created problem in the first place.

Watching Hamilton in tonight's Home Run Derby, in which he had 28 first round home runs, a record for the competition and 20 more than any other contestant this year in that particular round, one couldn't help but to be humbled. Knowing of the troubles that Hamilton has struggled through makes us realize that when life seems too hard, there are examples such as Hamilton to look towards. Trying to contemplate what the contending AL MVP could have done statistically in his career had he not lost all those years would be astronomical in and of itself. Nonetheless, the well-spoken Hamilton wouldn't give that a second thought, he's perfectly satisfied with what he's done to get to this point, and where he's going from here.