Tracy Ringolsby's weekly baseball notes

Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton is more than a baseball feel-good story. He's an old-fashioned success story.

He's a guy who came out of high school considered one of the most talented baseball players in history. He had a squeaky-clean reputation off the field to go with his high level of talent on it.

And then, like so many people in every walk of life, he ran into a potentially fatal detour. He fell in with the wrong crowd.

He got hooked on drugs and alcohol. His body became a tattoo emporium. He faded into the background.

The success is that Hamilton got a second chance, and not only is taking advantage of it, but is using his own story to help others, in less public walks of life, deal with similar mistakes.

He was out of baseball for three years. Now, two years after his return, he was not only in the All-Star Game earlier this week, voted onto the American League team by the fans, but he's got a shot at winning the season's MVP award, even if his team isn't a contender.

For all that is going right, Hamilton doesn't hesitate to talk about what went wrong. During his media moments in New York this week he never backed off telling anyone who would listen about eight trips to rehab, the 26 tattoos and the three years of his life that were wiped out.

A born-again Christian, he is not afraid to use his public exposure to speak of the ills that threatened his life in hopes that he can reach others who face similar challenges.

"I pray the more successful I am, the more people will listen," he said.

Hamilton understands what such bigger-than-life figures as Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have failed to grasp - the public wants to forgive. It wants to have a reason to care for its fallen stars. All it takes is the star to admit his mistakes, which Hamilton has done.

"I've been honest about everything," he said. "I've taken responsibility. I haven't made excuses."

He has, however, made an impact on the lives of others.

INFIELD CHATTER

-- Minnesota, looking for a right-handed run producer, has approached Seattle about third baseman Adrian Beltre.

-- Pitcher Brett Myers makes his fourth minor league start Friday for Class A Clearwater with the plan that he will rejoin the Phillies on Saturday and return to the rotation Wednesday.

-- Pitcher Freddy Garcia, who has spent the year recovering from labrum surgery, plans to work out for a dozen teams, including the Yankees and Mets.

THE ROTATION

There have already been three managerial firings -- the Mets, Seattle and Toronto -- and one general manager dismissal.

There will be more as the season resumes.

Five management types on the hot seat:

-- Mets general manager Omar Minaya. Manager Willie Randolph took the initial hit for the Mets' failings the last two seasons. If the Mets don't make a division-winning push, look for Minaya to be called on the carpet.

-- Dodgers GM Ned Colletti has been allowed to spend as much money as anyone not on the East Coast, but has been haunted by deals that backfired. With the N.L. West a mess, a title is expected, and manager Joe Torre won't be the fall guy for failure.

-- Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi is on his fourth manager - Cito Gaston - and word is the decision to bring back Gaston was not welcomed by Ricciardi, who can't micromanage Gaston like he did the predecessors. General managers can survive one or two managerial firings, but rarely do they hang on long after a third.

-- Washington GM Jim Bowden was linked in published reports to baseball's investigation into officials skimming money from their operations in the Dominican Republic. Bowden has denied the accusations, but the caution sign is flashing.

-- Houston manager Cecil Cooper. The team is dysfunctional. Ed Wade is the third GM in four years, so ownership won't make him the scapegoat -- yet. That puts Cooper on the ledge.

OUT IN LEFT FIELD

Dennis Mascari of Fans Forever Inc. has devised a fitting memorial for devoted Chicago Cubs fans, according to reports out of the Windy City.

Along with the operators of Bohemian National Cemetery on Chicago's North Side, Mascari is planning to build a 24-foot ivy-covered wall designed to look like the center field barrier at Wrigley Field. The wall will include 280 niches for urns containing the ashes of deceased Cubbie supporters. The grounds will include a stained glass scoreboard and a bronze baseball card with a photo of the deceased placed beside each "eternal skybox."

There's even talk of piping in radio broadcasts of Cubs games so no one alive or dead need miss a game.

CLOSING STATEMENT

Spent the last week at Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium, the two New York City ballparks that are in their final days.

Both the Yankees and Mets move into new digs next season. It's time. Shea Stadium is a sty. It's hard to believe it actually opened the year after Dodger Stadium. And when it comes to nostalgia, all that needs to be known is that the Mets spend most of their time talking about the 1969 team, and little else.

Yankee Stadium has outlived its usefulness, too. It has a bigger-than-life reputation, and it has been the site of many monumental moments, but the truth is the current facility underwent such a massive overhaul that the Yankees had to play at Shea Stadium in 1974 and 1975.

The dimensions are different than the original. The monuments were moved. Even the facade has changed. The stadium being built actually looks more like the original Yankee Stadium than the current one.

NUMBERS GAME

Seven players who were leading the majors in home runs have been left off an All-Star team, including Ryan Howard of Philadelphia this season, according to baseball info guru Bill Arnold. Howard had 28 home runs at the break. The other six leaders at the break who weren't an All-Star:

-- Mickey Tettleton, Detroit, 24 homers, 1993.

-- Jose Canseco, Oakland, 21, 1991.

-- Dave Kingman, Oakland, 23, 1984.

-- Frank Howard, Washington, 24, 1967.

-- Al Rosen, Cleveland, 25, 1950.

-- Hank Greenberg, Detroit, 25, 1935.

ALL-STAR TRIVIA

Among the oddities that the Elias Sports Bureau found in this year's All-Star Game:

-- Florida second baseman Dan Uggla on Tuesday became the first big-leaguer to commit three errors, strike out three times and hit into a double play in a regular-season, All-Star or postseason game since 1940.

-- Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria was the first rookie to drive in a run in an All-Star contest since the Yankees' Tom Tresh in 1962.

-- Matt Holiday and J.D. Drew joined Joe DiMaggio (1939), Willie Mays (1960), Stan Musial (1960) and Greg Luzinski (1977) as the only outfielders to homer in an All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

-- All 63 available All-Stars were used in Tuesday's game, surpassing the previous record, set in 2002, of 60 players used.

HE SAID IT

"The older ballparks without great tradition, those aren't much fun to go to. But when you go to Yankee Stadium or a park like Wrigley or Fenway, you can put up with the bad clubhouses or the stench when you walk from the clubhouse to the dugout."

-- Arizona pitcher Dan Haren on experiencing Yankee Stadium on Tuesday.

(Tracy Ringolsby writes for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo. E-mail ringolsbyt(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)