America hasn't had enough of the Josh Hamilton story. That much can be assumed after the former Athens Drive High star, despite missing half of this season with injuries, received more than 2.4 million votes to the American League All-Star team.

Hamilton had the third-highest total of any outfielder, which, if healthy enough to play, gives him a starting spot in the MLB All-Star game on July 14 game in St. Louis.

Josh Hamilton and the feel-good story of his battle back from substance abuse problems continues to make the former Athens Drive High star one of the most popular players in baseball.

Despite missing more than half of the Texas Rangers' games this season because of injuries, Hamilton received 2,412,359 fan votes for the All-Star Game to rank third among American League outfielders and grab a starting spot for the July 14 game in St. Louis.

Josh Hamilton's baseball season was put on hold Monday when the Texas Rangers announced that the former Athens Drive High star will undergo surgery on Tuesday to repair a partial tear in an abdominal muscle.

Hamilton is expected to miss 4 to 6 weeks.

Major League baseball star and Raleigh native Josh Hamilton is appearing on ESPN's "Homecoming with Rick Reilly" Wednesday night (April 22) at 7pm.

Hamilton returned to Raleigh with Reilly and the ESPN film crew back in October to visit Athens High School and film footage for the show.

Hamilton, who currently plays for the Texas Rangers, had a great 2008 season and broke Bobby Abreau's record for most homeruns hit in the first round of the Home Run Derby.

In addition the April 22 7pm showing on ESPN, the Hamilton espisode will re-air on ESPN CLASSIC on Friday, May 1 and Sunday, May 3. 

Athens High alumnus Josh Hamilton returned to the school last October to film an episode of an ESPN series. The "Homecoming" special will air tomorrow, Wednesday, April
22 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Correction: April 22 is next week and the Josh Hamilton episode will shown then-- next Wednesday. Sorry for the confusion.

Former Athens Drive player Josh Hamilton is with the Texas Rangers (in case you've been living under a rock for the past year), but now he's got some local company in the AL West now that Apex High's Landon Powell is breaking into the big leagues with the Oakland Athletics.

The element of surprise often produces positive results in baseball. Former Athens Drive star Josh Hamilton, a hitter with prodigious power, had one of those moments on Wednesday.

Hamilton, a Texas Rangers outfielder, laid down a bunt in the first inning of an exhibition game against the San Diego Padres for a base hit.

Seeing as how so little has been done on Josh Hamilton's story, MLB Network is diving into it with "Josh Hamilton: Resurrecting A Dream," a one-hour program about the Raleigh native's comeback from drug abuse, to be aired at 9 p.m. Friday. The piece includes interviews with the Texas Rangers outfielders, family members and friends.

At 9 p.m. Monday, the baseball network will air "We Are Young: A Baseball Family," the story of brothers Dmitri and Delmon Young, who overcame personal struggles to persevere in the major leagues. Delmon Young's checkered past includes a 50-game suspension for tossing a bat at an umpire while he was with the Durham Bulls. Young, the top pick in the 2003 draft, is now with the Twins. Dmitri Young was the National League's Comeback Player of the Year in 2007 after battling an alcohol problem and diabetes. 

• If you missed Josh Hamilton's appearance on the debut of "Homecoming," the new ESPN2 series hosted by Rick Reilly, be patient. The show, which featured the Texas Rangers star returning to Apex High School, first aired Friday, but it is not expected to be aired again until April 22, the network says, and no DVDs are available yet.
• Sports Illustrated's Luke Winn, writing in this week's issue about how basketball star James Harden wound up at Arizona State, takes a swipe at N.C. State fans, referring to them as "the ungratefuls." Writing in the present tense, Winn describes the familiar coach's arrival at Arizona State: "Herb Sendek heads west in April 2006, fleeing the ungratefuls as North Carolina State who cared less about his success (five straight NCAA tournament trips) than about his singular failure (not wresting Tobacco Road bragging rights from Duke and North Carolina)."
• ESPN2 will televise the World Cup qualifying soccer match between the U.S. men's team and Mexico live (and in high definition) at 7 p.m. Feb. 11 from Columbus, Ohio.
• MLB Network will televise the Caribbean World Series — 12 games — Feb. 2-6 in Mexicali, Mexico.
• Four of the next six Charlotte Bobcats games on Fox Sports Carolinas and SportSouth will be televised in HD — 2 p.m. Monday vs. San Antonio on FS Carolinas, 7 p.m. Jan. 23 on SportSouth, 10 p.m. Jan. 27 at L.A. Lakers on FS Carolinas and 9 p.m. Jan. 30 at Denver on F.S. Carolinas. Time Warner Cable subscribers can find the HD version of FS Carolinas on channel 272. DirecTV and Dish Network subscribers should check local listings.

ESPN2's "Homecoming" series will debut Friday at 8 p.m., featuring Texas Rangers star Josh Hamilton, who returned to Athens Drive High School in Raleigh to tape the show in late October. The host is columnist Rick Reilly.