From what I understand, this young man has made his way back to MLB after a three year struggle with cocaine addiction. Good for him. But here's what I don't understand. According to Dan Patrick, he has to be escorted around everywhere with a group of about 12 people. He can't carry any money in his wallet, he can't go into a store by himself and he goes to stadium four hours before game time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you need to be monitored that closely and require that many baby sitters, maybe your not really ready to be out on your own again.
Rusty Shackleford is just the name he uses to order Pizza with.
Sounds like your basic average five-year-old to me.
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Keep in mind the number of times he's fallen off the wagon. I view it as a combination of investment protection on the Reds' part and Hamilton's desire to not fall into that same trap again like he has so many times in the past. It's amazing that he's come back as far as he has already, and if this is what the Reds and Hamilton had to agree to in order to assure that he doesn't run off to find drugs, then so be it.
I can even see him agreeing to this; since he's been in rehab at least 2 or 3 times, he's got to be concerned about the possibility of a relapse. The best way - in his mind, at least - for him to avoid the possibility is to not be put in a situation that would allow him to have a relapse. It seems screwy to us because we've probably never been in that situation, but if that's what he needs it's what he needs. It comes off as a little excessive, but he agreed to it.
Oliver Perez started, which means it was probably this game that we saw together. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN200307170.shtml I don't have a lot to say about Gwynn. This is hard for me - I'm conflicted.