“I’m embarrassed about it. For the Rangers, I’m embarrassed about it. For my wife, my kids,” Hamilton said. “It’s one of those things that just reinforces about alcohol. Unfortunately, it happened. It just reinforces to me that if I’m out there getting ready for a season and taking my focus off the most important thing in my recovery, which is my relationship with Christ, it’s amazing how those things creep back in.Honestly, I hate that this happened. But it is what it is. You deal with it. I realized that, obviously, I’m not perfect, in this on-going struggle, battle, that is very real. A lot of people don’t understand how real it is.As soon as it happened, I called my support system — my wife, the Rangers, MLB and told them what had happened. I was absolutely open and honest about it.

“I went to get something to eat. Obviously, I eat at restaurants that have bars in them all the time. I wasn’t mentally fit to go in there, spiritually fit, and it just crossed my mind, ‘Can I have a drink?’ Obviously, I can’t.”