Who is Jack Hannahan?

Barring a surprise trade (or the New York Yankees allow Eric Chavez to opt-out of his contract), 31-year old infielder Jack Hannahan will find himself as the starting third baseman for the Clevleand Indians.  There are few reasons to get excited and many  more to be disappointed.  As Jon at WFNY wrote about Hannahan: "He’s demonstrated the mediocrity you’d expect from a player who’s played with five different organizations in the past four years."

But, there is more to the Jack Hannahan's sotry than just struggling through his professional baseball career.  According to Jack Hannahan (in depth stories here & here) he had his first drink when he was in 8th grade and liked it, a lot.  

"I'd go out and I'd drink, I'd end up blacking out. Next thing I know, I'd wind up somewhere I wouldn't want to be. I wouldn't know how I got there, or what drugs I took while I was there. It led to many visits to jail. Many visits to detox. I'm just thankful I didn't kill anyone or kill myself."

Jack Hannahan may struggle to hit at the major league level but he's deealt with much more in overcoming the sturggles with drug and alcohol abuse.