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Hamilton's power display defies explanation

A center fielder pounding 500-foot homers in Yankee Stadium ... It was like watching Mantle come back to life with five more inches of height and another 40 pounds of muscle.

People were saying Josh Hamilton would be the best ballplayer on the planet when he was drying out on his grandma's couch, but people always talk shit when it's all a "what if." If talk could sink baskets, Earl Manigault would have more rings than Jordan. Now that Hamilton is playing, however, it appears that those predictions were not complete bullshit.

If you don't know his story, he started in pro baseball in the late nineties, but played not a single game from 2002 to 2006, thanks to a variety of problems with drugs and hooch.

Of course, when you compare Josh to Mantle, you have to realize that Mick played as well as he did WHILE he was a drunk, not after cleaning up.