VIDEO: Josh Hamilton at MLB All Star Home Run Derby - after 8 stints in REHAB. He is leading the league in RBI's and hit a record 28 in one round - 35 overall home runs in last night's 2008 MLB All Star Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium in New York.

Rock bottom for Josh Hamilton was the day he showed up helpless at his grandma's doorstep, strung out, scraggly, 50 pounds lighter than the 230 pounds of rock-solid muscle he now sports. It was just a week or so before the day - Oct. 6, 2005 - he went sober and drug free.

There were so many other times when he thought it couldn't get worse, and it did. He was a drug addict. He was slowly killing himself. This All-American kid with the perfect swing had made a 180-degree turnaround, wasting his talent, wasting his life. Nobody knew him anymore. He didn't know himself.

Hamilton was the No. 1 pick in the 1999 draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. This Raleigh, N.C., kid had superstar and Hall of Fame written all over him. With such a natural lefthanded swing, and such natural talent, it's amazing that so many unnatural things went through his body.

Yet almost nine years after being drafted and plenty of time out of the game, Hamilton is that superstar again. Now with the Texas Rangers, the outfielder is hitting .310 with 21 home runs and 95 RBIs and was voted a starter for tonight's All-Star Game.

Certainly drug addiction is a problem that never goes away. Hamilton spends most of his days in the company of Johnny Narron, brother of former Red Sox coach Jerry, who keeps him on the straight and narrow. He is constantly reminded of his former life, through media questioning and all of the things he has to do to remain drug free. He even has physical reminders - the tattoos on his arms that he had done during his dark period.

Yet after all that, one can make the case that Hamilton has been the best player in baseball over the first half of the season. Clean for almost three years, he preaches to anyone who will listen about the addiction he still fights every day. The Josh Hamilton story is so compelling, so powerful, it restores all faith in the ability of people to turn their lives around.

"Before I got reinstated in '06, I had a dream," Hamilton said. "I was in Yankee Stadium, and this was before I knew there was going to be an All-Star Game and a Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium. I didn't see myself hitting, but I saw the microphone stuck in my face.