DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — It was the most glorious moment of Opening Day.

As soon as Josh Hamilton stepped out of the Cincinnati Reds dugout in the eighth inning to pinch hit, the crowd of 42,720 rose and began to applaud.

When Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella quickly changed pitchers, Hamilton — who hadn't been able to sleep Sunday night — stood off from the plate taking practice swings with those heavily tattooed forearms, and the crowd gave him another standing O.

And before he stepped in against reliever Will Ohman, Hamilton got a third ovation.

This was no simple ballpark salute during the Reds' 5-1 victory, it was full-blown embrace. It was making sure a guy got his day in the sun — and Monday had perfect sunshine — after all those dark, dark times.

A few years ago, Hamilton — after being Tampa Bay's ultimate bonus baby, the teenage No. 1 pick in the 1999 draft — was the poster child of self-destruction: drug addiction, depression, suicide attempts ... it was one of the saddest slides baseball has seen.

Yet Monday, there he stood — the guy who seems to have turned his life around, he said, thanks to family and the Lord (and his own backbone) — ready the take his first big league at-bat.

Already the talk of Major League Baseball, the 25-year-old Hamilton had everyone at Great American Ball Park — his sobbing wife, Katie; his parents and in-laws; his teammates; and even Piniella to an extent — pulling for him.

"We were all nervous for him," Reds catcher David Ross said. "When the ovations started, it gave me the chills."

When Hamilton's downward spiral began, Piniella was the Devil Rays manager, and Sunday the two met again.

"He gave me a big ol' hug," Hamilton said. "The last time we were together was the spring of 2003. I'd been late a couple of times, and he told me, 'Get your stuff right, and I'll see you down the way.' "

In truth, this was a moment neither of them thought would happen. After three seasons were derailed by injury, the hobbled Hamilton first began to get tattoos — 28 in all. "I was hurt and looking for something to fill the void," he said quietly in the Reds clubhouse before the game. "Soon that wasn't enough, and it went to alcohol and drugs."

That brought suspensions and failed rehab stints, and finally the game slipped away. When he first met Katie, he never told her what a prospect he'd been.

"When I was out of baseball I never talked about it and didn't want to watch it," he said. "If I thought about it, it would just make me go out and drink or use. ... I got to a point where I was losing everything, my children, my wife, everybody."

He hit rock bottom one night in October 2005 when he showed up on the porch of his biggest supporter, his grandmother, Mary Holt. Some 40 pounds underweight, he was sweating, and his eyes were glazed.

"She knew and she started crying," he said. "She said she couldn't take it anymore. I was hurting the people I loved the most. ... The day after that is the last time I've ever used."

He got himself clean and healthy and played 15 games of independent-league ball last season. The Reds got wind of his effort and worked a deal with the Cubs, who plucked him off the Devil Rays roster in the Rule 5 draft and sent him to Cincinnati, where he hit .403 this spring and made the big-league club.

As he lay awake Sunday night, he said he "did a lot of praying — just thanking the Lord for bringing me from where I'd been. ... And I kept trying to figure out how (Monday) would go."

But the mental pictures fell far short of reality. When he first got to the dugout, he kept "peeking out," looking up in Section 124 to find his wife and folks. During pregame introductions, he was in tears when he got his first standing ovation.

Back in the dugout, Reds manager Jerry Narron gave Hamilton some advice, telling how, in his own playing days, he'd have trouble pinch hitting if he hadn't first warmed up.

"When the fifth inning came, I went in (the hitting cage) and started taking swings, running, getting loose to work up a sweat," Hamilton said.

Heading to the plate, he drew on advice he'd gotten from veteran teammate Jeff Conine — "the game doesn't change, just the atmosphere" — and stepped in against Ohman. On the second pitch, Hamilton sent a fading hit to shallow left field that Matt Murton dived for and caught. Returning to the dugout, Hamilton was high-fived by his teammates and hugged by Ken Griffey Jr. But the best embrace came afterward.

"I told him, 'There's my handsome,' that's what I call him," Katie said as he blushed. "I told him how proud I am of him for being the awesome father, the excellent husband ... the man I always knew he could be off the field. ... The baseball, that's just a bonus."

Leaning over and kissing his wife, Hamilton finally was the bonus baby after all these years.