Report: Ex-Texas Rangers Star Josh Hamilton Indicted on Felony Injury to a Child Charge

Texas Rangers Hall of Famer Josh Hamilton was indicted on Monday by a Tarrant County grand jury on a felony injury to a child charge.

Texas Rangers Hall of Famer Josh Hamilton was indicted on Monday by a Tarrant County grand jury on one count of injury to a child with intentional bodily injury. The charge is a third-degree felony. 

The indictment stems from an incident in September last year when Hamilton allegedly abused one of his daughters. According to the arrest warrant affidavit in a report by CBS DFW, Hamilton and his oldest daughter started fighting after she had said something that upset him, in which Hamilton threw a water bottle at her, hitting her in the chest. He then pulled a chair out from under her, threw it in her direction and subsequently carried her over his shoulder to her bedroom. He then threw her on the bed, pinned her face down on the bed and began to hit her with an open hand and closed fist.

According to the affidavit, Hamilton told his daughter after he had finished hitting her, “I hope you go in front of the f------ judge and tell him what a terrible dad I am so I don’t have to see you anymore and you don’t ever have to come to my house again.”

Hamilton was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame last August. The alleged incident occurred just days after Hamilton made an appearance with other Rangers greats after the team's final game at Globe Life Park. At the time, Hamilton and his ex-wife, Katie, shared custody of his three daughters. 

According to CBS DFW, Hamilton turned himself in last October to Keller police, pleading not guilty to the charge. He was released on a $35,000 bond. One of the conditions of his bond stated he could not have contact with one of his daughters, which was later expanded to any child under the age of 17. 

“Mr. Hamilton is innocent of the charge against him and looks forward to clearing his name in court,” Hamilton's attorney said in a statement in October.

Hamilton's Rangers career spanned two separate stints with the team, highlighted by a five-year run from 2008-2012. He was named an all star each of those five seasons. He won both the American League's Most Valuable Player award and the ALCS MVP in 2010. He also helped lead the Rangers to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010-11.

Hamilton signed a five-year, $125 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels after the 2012 season. After two sub-par seasons and a drug and alcohol relapse, the Angels released Hamilton, and he and the Rangers reunited in 2015. Hamilton played 50 games for the Rangers that season, helping them win the AL West. 

Hamilton's career is laden with off-the-field issues, most notably his struggles with drug and alcohol abuse. He was drafted first-overall in 1999 by the Tampa Bay Rays, but was suspended from baseball for substance abuse before he could even make his Major League debut. After his rise to superstardom in 2008, Hamilton went through multiple relapses, both as a Ranger and as an Angel.

Hamilton has claimed he's maintained his sobriety since retiring from baseball. Last August, he wrote about his struggles in The Players' Tribune.

"...maybe in some cases I was a little too honest, or said too much," Hamilton said. "But at the end of the day, I hope that people saw me as just … a real person, a human being, with his struggles and his challenges like everyone else."

He also mentioned the importance of being with his daughters, saying "...my girls need me more than I need baseball."

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