Josh Hamilton: Dallas is not a true baseball town, Rangers fans ‘a little spoiled’
Josh Hamilton has had his fair share of ups and downs both in life and his baseball career. He has been worshipped and booed by Texas Rangers fans in the same season, but something tells me he’ll be hearing more of the latter when the Los Angeles Angels visit Texas on April 5.
For starters, fans tend to frown upon players leaving their team for more money — despite the fact that many of them would likely do the same. Hamilton, who signed a $125 million contract with the Angels this offseason, was already going to hear it because of that. Now, he has given the fans more fire power.
“They’re supportive but they also got a little spoiled at the same time pretty quickly,” Hamilton said of Rangers fans during an interview with DFW CBS on Sunday (via ESPNDallas.com). “You think about three to four years ago. It’s like, come on man, are you happier there again?”
Hamilton is referring to the back-to-back World Series appearances he helped lead the Rangers to in 2010 and 2011. He also mentioned how the Dallas area has “always been a football town.”
“There are true baseball fans in Texas, but it’s not a true baseball town,” Hamilton said.
While the slugger made some valid points, I doubt Rangers fans are going to see it that way. Throwing the world “spoiled” around is never a good idea, let alone from a player who is no longer with the team. Texas manager Ron Washington stopped short of getting into detail but made it known that he disagrees with Hamilton about Dallas not being a baseball town.
“I’m not answering anything that Josh said,” Washington said. “That’s Josh. Josh is an Angel. That’s Josh’s opinion. My opinion is there were 3.5 million fans that came through the turnstiles. That answers it right there.”
Hamilton likely lost some respect for the fans in Texas when they booed him during his massive slump last year, which is understandable. However, that is simply how star players are treated. Now that the Angels are paying him $25 million a year, Hamilton can expect similar treatment in LA if he struggles for an extended period of time.
