NEW YORK (AP) – Josh Hamilton dreamed it. Now he’s done it.

With a dazzling display of power Monday night, the Texas Rangers
slugger hit a record 28 homers in the first round of the All-Star
Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium before he was beaten out by
Minnesota’s Justin Morneau in the finals.

Morneau topped a tired Hamilton 5-3 in the last round, giving
him the derby title. But the night belonged to Hamilton.

Back from drug and alcohol addiction that derailed his career,
Hamilton broke Bobby Abreu’s mark for one round. Abreu hit 24 home
runs in the first round in 2005 at Detroit’s Comerica Park.

Hamilton’s incredible tale of redemption has made national news
this season, and he retold a story Monday afternoon about a vivid
dream he had two years ago – he was being interviewed at Yankee
Stadium after participating in the Home Run Derby.

“I can say it was a coincidence, but I don’t believe in those,”
he said.

Mind you, his dream came while Hamilton was still banned from
Major League Baseball, and before this year’s All-Star game was
awarded to the venerable ballpark in its final season.

“Obviously, the dream, I didn’t know how many I would hit,”
Hamilton said in a TV interview after his huge first-round
performance. “I just feel blessed to have played here.”

With the crowd of 53,716 chanting his name, undoubtedly warmed
by his improbable journey to stardom, Hamilton connected on 13
consecutive cuts before falling short of the fences on his final
two.

“I got chills,” he said.

With his smooth left-handed swing and jaw-dropping power,
Hamilton seemed a natural choice to take advantage of Yankee
Stadium’s short right-field porch. But he cleared the deepest
fences with ease, hitting three shots farther than 500 feet –
including his longest of 518.

“I was lucky that we got reset,” Morneau said. “This was his
show. He deserved to win it. That was one of the best performances
I’ve ever seen.”