Josh Hamilton Booed In Disastrous Return To Texas


Josh Hamilton was booed in his return to Texas to face his former team for the first time since bolting in the offseason.

Hamilton left to sign a five-year, $125 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels, and the Texas Ranger fans apparently didn’t take too kindly to the departure. When he walked to the plate in the top of the second inning, Josh Hamilton was booed loudly by the crowd of 48,845 in attendance.

It didn’t take Hamilton too long to get the crowd cheering again, however. Pitcher Derek Holland struck Hamilton out swinging, bringing the fans at Rangers Ballpark to their feet and eliciting a loud cheer.

Holland said he could sense the energy of the crowd, but had to stay focused on being aggressive with the slugger.

“I heard the crowd erupt every time,” Holland said. “I’m just going after him, treating him like every other hitter. … He’s a great hitter, I just didn’t really want to give him too much to hit. He can hit it a mile away.”

John Hamilton said the boos did get to him a bit.

“I’d lie to you if I said it didn’t bother me a little bit. But it didn’t like overwhelm me,” Hamilton said after the game. “It’s what I expected.”

Hamilton has struggled in the early part of the season, hitting .077 going into Friday’s game. He didn’t fare much better in the Angels’ 3-2 loss to the Rangers, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. He also misplayed a ball in the field that allowed A.J. Pierzynski to stretch a double into a triple.

Josh Hamilton wasn’t just booed in the game — fans took some other creative measures to get back at him. When he came up to bat, many of them held newspapers in front of their faces with the words “baseball town” written on them. Hamilton had previously said that Dallas/Fort Worth isn’t a real baseball town.

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