Josh Hamilton's return to minor-league baseball actually started in the Fishkill, N.Y., Wal-Mart shopping for underwear and a toothbrush just before midnight Sunday.
Having returned to the Devil Rays after being suspended more than two years for drug problems, and having shaken off the rust of going nearly four years without playing in a game, all that was left for Hamilton to do to make his comeback was to get from Tampa Bay to upstate New York on Sunday to join the Hudson Valley team.
The plan was to fly with his family through Atlanta to Raleigh, N.C., drop the kids with their grandparents, then fly with his wife, Katie, through Philadelphia to Newburgh, N.Y.
But they missed their first flight at 8 a.m., had a second delayed, sat on the runway for 90 minutes after their third, and when they finally got to Newburgh at 10 p.m. Sunday arrived with no luggage, which is how they ended up at the Wal-Mart.
"Everything about it kind of went wrong," Hamilton said. "But it was one of those things, I told her this morning, we'll look back on it and it was just minor stuff. We got through the day and it's over with."
Monday was a little more promising as he was in uniform and went through workouts for the game at Coney Island's KeySpan Park. And tonight, when he is scheduled to be in the lineup at DH and get three at-bats, should be flat-out electrifying.
When Hamilton, 25, arrived Monday at Hudson Valley's Dutchess Stadium, he slowly walked barefoot through the outfield grass, reflecting on where he had been and where he was going and sharing it by phone with his mother, Linda.
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Comeback kicks off in a roundabout fashion
Comeback kicks off in a roundabout fashion
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