180 Degrees Of Separation

The three Hamiltons were taken to nearby Memorial Hospital, where Tony was treated for a skull fracture and Linda for neck pain. Apparently unharmed, Josh was not treated and rejoined the Devil Rays the next day. But over the next few days he began experiencing back pain that he described as "someone stabbing you in the lower back with a knife." The Devil Rays assigned Hamilton to Double A Orlando, where he hit .180 in 23 games. "I started getting mad at him because he refused to tell the Devil Rays how he was feeling," Tony told SI in 2002. "He looked terrible, and he felt terrible." It was exasperating for Josh.

"Even in batting practice you could see that [he'd lost] his confidence," says Tony Pigott, a former Devil Rays prospect who played with Hamilton in Orlando. "He had every coach in the organization trying to tell him what to do, to change this and that, but it wasn't about his mechanics. It was his confidence. I have never seen a pro athlete struggle like he struggled."

Around the same time Beckett was being carefully groomed by the Marlins. He started the season at Class A Brevard County and was never permitted to throw more than 100 pitches in a start. (He was even removed in the seventh inning of a no-hitter.) Only when the weather warmed up was he promoted to Double A Portland, where his 8-1 record, 1.82 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 74? innings solidified his status as baseball's top pitching prospect. "He's a lot like Nolan Ryan, but far more advanced than Nolan was with his breaking ball," Stan Cliburn, the manager of Double A New Britain, told the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel at the time. "Nolan would bounce his breaking ball. Beckett can throw his for strikes."

On Sept. 4, 2001, Beckett made his major league debut, against the Chicago Cubs, holding them to one hit over six innings in an 8-1 victory at Pro Player Stadium. On that day Hamilton was home in North Carolina, on the disabled list with a strained left quadriceps and, for the first time in his life, having doubts about his future.

This headline appeared on the Devil Rays' official website in February, a blast of hope to kick off the 2004 season: RAYS BOAST YOUNG, TALENTED OUTFIELD.

Who could argue? Tampa Bay might well finish last in the American League East for a seventh straight year, but no other team has developed a better collection of up-and-coming outfielders. In center there's Rocco Baldelli, a budding Joe DiMaggio who was third in last year's AL Rookie of the Year vote. In left there's Carl Crawford, the leadoff hitter who stole an American League-high 55 bases last year and who was the club's second-round pick, following Hamilton, in '99. And in right, there's... Jose Cruz Jr.?

Um....

"This is the strength of our organization," LaMar says. "Baldelli and Crawford are young guys with immense upsides. [Minor leaguer] Joey Gathright has great speed and a feel for the game. And our most recent first-round pick, Delmon Young, can be a middle-of-the-order bat."

And Josh Hamilton?

"Well," LaMar says, "you still have to include him in any discussion."