Josh Hamilton included in celebration
By Richard Durrett
ESPNDallas.com
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Josh Hamilton's teammates weren't going to celebrate without him this time.
As soon as the Texas Rangers hugged on the field and headed for the tunnel following a 5-1 ALDS Game 5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, the clubhouse attendants told Hamilton to get his goggles on.
"I was getting a little worried," Hamilton said. "I didn't know what was going on."
Hamilton, who has battled drug and alcohol addiction, said it's best for him not to be around champagne. So he walked into the clubhouse to find his teammates waiting on him and holding bottles of Canada Dry ginger ale.
"Everybody yelled 'Ginger ale!' and I just jumped in the middle of the pile and they doused me with it," Hamilton said. "It was the coolest thing for my teammates to understand why I can't be a part of the celebration, and for them to adapt it for me to be a part of it says a lot about my teammates."
When the club clinched the AL West title in Oakland in September, many of players grabbed water bottles and tried to find Hamilton to douse him. But he had already changed clothes and was ready to speak to some church groups in the stadium as part of Faith Day in Oakland. This time, he looked as wet as everyone else.
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