The Feast of Hampton the Persistent

#Feastmode.

Hampton the Persistent

Life: Mike Hampton could pitch, man. When he wasn’t injured, at least. And he could swing the stick, too, a baseball player born to ply his trade in the National League. It’s hard to believe now, looking back, that Hampton, from 1995 through 2004, was good for, at the very least, 150 or more innings. Mike Hampton, defined by injury, threw over 200 innings a year from 1997 through 2001. He pitched, and he pitched well, to the tune of 3.3, 2.4. 5.1, 4.4 and 2.9 WAR those five years, respectively. In 2001, in 86 plate appearances, Hampton hit seven home runs, scored 20 runs, and drove in 16. He hit .291, and put up a wOBA of .366. Mike frigging Hampton!

Spiritual Exercise: Mike Hampton disappeared from baseball in 2005, only to return in 2008, to give it one more shot. And another shot after that. Ask yourself: Faced with adversity, richer than your wildest dreams, would you leave the game you love, leave it behind, and throw in the towel? Or would you have surgery after surgery on your elbow, in order to one day pitch again?

A Prayer for Mike Hampton

Michael William Hampton!
You were so much more than the injuries.
Yet they’re what define you,
And what I remember.
Why?

You won 22 games in 1999.
You have five Silver Sluggers to your name.
Fuck the injuries, I say, Mike Hampton.

But it’s hard.
Colorado won’t forget, they can’t forget.
And after signing you to an eight-year, $121 million dollar contract,
The richest in pro sports history at the time,
Can you blame them?
I don’t. I can’t.
But I don’t blame you either, Mike Hampton.
I would have signed that contract, too.

Tommy John surgery in 2005.
Goodbye, 2006.
“I’ll be back as good as new,” you said.
And I believed you.
A torn oblique muscle in 2007.
Then, the unthinkable: More elbow pain,
Another elbow surgery.
Goodbye, 2007.

But you never gave up, Mike Hampton.
From you, and from women, I have learned an important life lesson:
Persistence.
A hamstring injury in 2007 left your comeback in doubt.
Again.
On April 3, 2008, the day you were set to return to a Major League mound,
A strained left pectoral muscle sent you back to the disabled list.
I know, Mike Hampton, the Baseball Gods are cruel.
July 26, 2008: You made it back.
Your comeback, complete.

It didn’t last long, though, more injuries.
A return to Houston in late 2008,
And 21 starts in 2009.
You weren’t very good anymore, Mike Hampton,
But that hardly mattered to me.

In September 2009, a torn rotator cuff ended your career.
Or so I thought.
But you weren’t finished,
You wouldn’t go out like that.
Goodbye, 2010, most of it, at least.
Persistence.

Four and a third innings in 2010,
A minor league contract in 2011.
Finally: Retirement.
You went out on your terms, Mike Hampton, not your arm’s.
And for that, I salute you.

Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers,
All-Star Games, and a NLCS MVP trophy.
Most of all: A pitcher.
Even more than that: Persistent.
That’s how I remember you, Mike Hampton.

Image courtesy Why’s My Head Growing?