I was doing a little research for an article about Josh Hamilton when I was led down the path of stories written about prejudice in baseball. That wasn't the angle I was going to take with this story, but man, there were thousands of articles published in the media and on the internet on the subject. From Willie Mays, Strawberry and Gooden versus Howe's coverage on their various addiction problems and varying degrees of coverage (yeah I know this was before your time).
Many writers obviously have different opinions on the MLB's stand on equal treatment of its players or lack thereof.
Most recently a lot of sports analysts have had major opinions on Josh Hamilton and his herofication (that's not a word by the way) because he's been able to overcome his addiction to drugs and because a star again in baseball.
I'm sure by now everyone, mildly interested in sports, has heard Hamilton's story. He was drafted #1 overall and was considered to be the next big thing in baseball. He soon fell under the control of the crack pipe and, as with all addicts, his occupation and family became obstacles to getting high. Once he hit bottom and later succeeded in maintaining control over his habit, he became this year's great story. And of course, understandably, Major League Baseball has made him this year's poster boy. His performance in the All Star Game's Home Run Derby only helped fuel MLB's marketing campaign that had him posterized and his name repeated dozens of times on every ESPN Sportcenter broadcast since MLB's spring training started.
