^ hey what class were you at athens? I am c/o 2002 and I only saw josh once... as he was leaving the bathroom while I went in. apparently he was in my friend's math class.. when we were in 9th grade.

3/24/2007 10:36:26 AM

any of yall know what josh's older brother is up to these days? jason. haven't heard from him in awhile. got josh's email address but dont ever bug him, i would like to know what jason's up to these days though.

3/24/2007 11:07:04 AM

^^ crede i went there and graduated in 2002. I mighta been in his math class freshman year but dont remember. tons of seniors and juniors were in there with me.

3/24/2007 11:34:30 AM

^^^1996, I was between Jason and Josh and have been friends with them both longer than I can remember. Mostly because we've always played in the same league and the same all star teams together growing up... both of our parents were coaches in the same league too

^^He is a firefighter for the city of Raleigh and owns a tree work company, not a logging company but clears and stuff like that in his off time... married to his gf from HS and has a few kids

3/24/2007 7:23:05 PM

^sounds good. im trying to find a number/email for him, if you can do any help send me a PM. my dad coached the legion team in cary back when jason (hambone) played ball.

3/24/2007 7:42:07 PM

damn, alot of athens folks in here. Class of 2003 here.

3/24/2007 9:33:55 PM

they mentioned hamilton on espn today and said he's tearing the cover off the ball and will be on the playing roster

3/24/2007 9:50:14 PM

^he's been on ESPN for about the last two months, and yes... he'll make the roster.

BTW, Cary High grad here... 2003. Dad coached Legion ball in Cary during the early-mid 90's.

3/25/2007 2:47:47 AM

I graduated in 2000 from Athens. Josh went to the same middle school as well and I remember having a few classes with him and hanging out with him. Always a good guy in my book. Good to see him back on track.

3/25/2007 3:22:43 AM

bump, not sure if he's in the lineup tomorrow but the reds are scheduled to play the red sox on ESPN at 1:00.

it will be cool to see josh in action once again.

3/25/2007 11:00:30 PM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oVH9O6q3eDU

GG JOSH

3/29/2007 8:21:04 AM

Apex 98 baby. Lost to Hamilton in the state semifinals that year. We did however pitch a 1 hitter against em earlier in the year. Who had the hit? you guessed it.

3/29/2007 8:28:13 AM

lol, we were always pretty good in baseball

god, my freshman year, we played a tourney down on New Hanover... Got to watch Trot Nixon hit one off our pitcher that hasn't landed yet

3/29/2007 8:29:53 AM

He was nasty in high school.

3/29/2007 8:39:59 AM

In 98, his junior year, I think he set the state batting record hitting like .675 or some crazy shit like that.

3/29/2007 8:44:31 AM

haha yeah


dude was unreal


he and Paul Wilder were both unreal

there were some good players around here...

some of you may remember the names

powell kid from apex
john payne from raleigh
trent ellis from raleigh
paul wilder from cary

I could keep going

3/29/2007 8:49:56 AM

^ Landon Powell is in the A's system now. He hurt his knee last year but will bounce back this season, i believe.

He hit a walk-off homerun in his first game @ Univesity of South Carolina.



Anyone here ever play against Collin Brown? Dude was on my high school team and averaged 14 K's a game his junior year when we went to the state championship.

3/29/2007 9:10:22 AM

Guarantee he wins Comeback POY this year

3/29/2007 9:34:15 AM

Landon Powell was my catcher. I tricked him into eating a robin's egg one year by telling him it was a malted milkball easter egg Kid was a straight A student and his dad held him back in eighth grade so he'd be a stud in baseball. Kinda shady, but it's not the kid's fault.

plus, I played against paul wilder when I was a sophomore. Our apex team is pretty much the reason he was drafted so high. Four homers in two games, and one of them was the longest ball I've ever seen hit in person. Hit the trees at cary high and was STILL RISING

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 9:46 AM. Reason : .]

3/29/2007 9:44:53 AM

I played on pretty much every all star team with paul growing up

seen that happen numerous times


back in the day you could strike him out all day long with a slider

but don't let it hang

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 9:52 AM. Reason : ...]

3/29/2007 9:52:04 AM

Quote :

"Guarantee he wins Comeback POY this year"

A rookie cannot win that award.

3/29/2007 9:58:18 AM

AHS 2000 represent

3/29/2007 10:12:44 AM

Quote :

"Guarantee he wins Comeback POY this year"

Even if Hamilton was eligible, Derrek Lee has got this award on lock down if he stays healthy.






[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 10:34 AM. Reason : even]

3/29/2007 10:34:04 AM

You can't win it for "coming back" to one good year. I don't buy into D. Lee deserving it..yet.

3/29/2007 10:51:54 AM

Lets hope Hambone can get it going this year...that kid had the most talent id ever seen...knew the kid since elementary school....If he lives up to his promise...the reds will have a solid outfielder for years to come.....

3/29/2007 12:57:40 PM

Lets hope someone hits him it the head with the ball. Sick of giving star players chance after chance after chance. Regular people don't get it so why should he?

3/29/2007 1:22:12 PM

maybe because regular people dont have the insane amount of god-given talent like he does? people can bitch and moan about hamilton getting another chance, but the bottom line is... he got another chance and is making the most of it this time.

trent ellis, there's some talent. he would of been bigtime. anyone know what he's up to now?

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 1:52 PM. Reason : 12]

3/29/2007 1:50:58 PM

^ guy deserves another chance...if he has the talent why not....he didnt rape, murder, shoot, or rob anyone in his life...he just had a problem with substance abuse......i can understand your point about athletes who shouldnt get second chances...

3/29/2007 2:06:40 PM

^^ I think he's a mortgage broker here in Raleigh now

^ I bet I know you man

3/29/2007 3:20:40 PM

i run into dallas daniels all the time during the summer months. he's doing well.

3/29/2007 7:17:37 PM

so which girl are all yall referring to that he got pregnant? a name would be great for me to know.

3/30/2007 1:35:00 AM

seems like everybody has a story...

mine is an AAU game in Mocksville, probably summer of 97' - I caught for opposing team and we won like 20-4, but their 4 runs were on 3 very long homeruns by Hamilton (no surprise)

the interesting part was that one of them actually skipped off the ground in front of the plate before he hit it and it still went out (way out)

i didn't really know who he was before that, but i haven't forgotten that

3/30/2007 7:41:40 AM

Why can't a rookie win it? If a pitcher can win Cy Young and MVP then he should be eligible for both IMO. Coming back from drugs is alot harder than any injury IMO

3/30/2007 8:31:15 AM

^^I take it he wasn't pitching that game.

The guy could have probably made the league as a pitcher if he wasn't such a damn good hitter.

3/30/2007 8:35:37 AM

He was in my graduating class. When he recieved his diploma the press there were going nuts and taking tons of pictures. This is the first good news I've heard about him since '99. Good to hear.

3/30/2007 8:44:35 AM

^^ he did actually pitch one inning and threw harder than anyone on our team - i just remember how big his feet were

3/30/2007 8:58:06 AM

haha he's got those size 19 adidas


he's a big guy

[Edited on March 30, 2007 at 9:00 AM. Reason : shoulda seen him squeeze into a viper]

3/30/2007 9:00:22 AM

Quote :

"trent ellis, there's some talent. he would of been bigtime. anyone know what he's up to now? "

I believe he's a financial advisor now. I work out with Austin Foster occasionally and he mentions him pretty often.

3/30/2007 4:10:19 PM

Josh is 2nd on the depth chart in LF and RF in the most updated depth chart on reds.com.

I've been reading some posts on redszone.com's message board and folks are saying they rather see Hamilton starting over Freel. Josh must of done one hell of a job selling himself to the fans this spring. 2nd on the depth chart at 2 positions ain't bad at all, especially backing up Griffey in RF.

3/31/2007 10:25:02 AM

everybody will like you if you hit .450 during the spring, plus the reds have to keep him on the roster unless they want to give him up due to the rule 5 draft

[Edited on March 31, 2007 at 10:30 AM. Reason : .]

3/31/2007 10:29:29 AM

I think he ended up only around .380. The thing that most Reds fans appear to be so pleased with is his defense. He committed no OF errors and had 4 assists. 4 assists coming from the OF is pretty damn tough. I know what you're saying, but give the guy some credit. He has come back a long way, still has a way to go... but this spring training was very important for him and his future.

3/31/2007 10:40:29 AM

^ dont get me wrong, i am rooting for him pretty hard, but each day that he doesnt fuck it up, i am surprised to be honest.

Plus, he has yet to endure a full season on the road, where there are women, booze, and everything else you could ever imagine

3/31/2007 11:26:08 AM

anyone who has watched the reds in the last four years know that ryfry is a career AAA all star/MLB bencher. josh will get his shot.

3/31/2007 12:08:44 PM

Hamilton just got his first major league at-bat. Congratulations Josh. Make us proud back home in Raleigh.


He lined out to LF. Murton made a diving catch to make the play. Got a good bat on it, just hit it right at Murton pretty much. Good to see the smile back though.

Hell yea Josh

4/2/2007 4:41:26 PM

He's gonna get a lot of AB's now that Denoforia is out for the season

4/2/2007 4:43:26 PM

anyone else play for Apex in the late 90's?.. My brother Brant played there with Landon Powell, also played against Josh when he was freshman or sophmore

4/2/2007 4:45:42 PM

I saw it, he looked good. Crowd cheered loudly for him, Griffey gave him a hug!

4/2/2007 5:08:03 PM

i'll get to watch tomorrow since the game is at 7:10

4/2/2007 6:01:40 PM

missed what would have been his first start:
http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10112932

4/8/2007 9:42:29 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV5K8p0BWpM

4/8/2007 10:10:53 AM