Daniels was intrigued enough to discuss the idea with his family over Thanksgiving and was encouraged by the environment the Rangers had created for Hamilton, who flourished for the Rangers and twice led them to the World Series. Bush had no agent and met with no other teams, but Silver’s word helped persuade Daniels to send scouts to the Golden Corral and learn more about Bush as a person.

“With all the things that I’ve been through — I’m a convicted felon and everything else, you name it — it just goes to show that they’re looking to win and they want to put the best talent out here,” Bush said. “Not only that, they gave me a chance to sit down and talk, see where my mind was at, where I was with my sobriety and how I was with my day-to-day life.”

Bush has apologized in a letter to his victim, Anthony Tufano, who was then 72. Tufano broke eight vertebrae in the accident and also sustained a collapsed lung and brain hemorrhaging. He was wearing a helmet, which probably saved his life, because Bush drove over his head while fleeing the scene. Tufano settled a civil lawsuit with Bush in 2013, and while Silver said the two had not spoken, Tufano has offered forgiveness.

The Rangers gave Bush another chance, and after he impressed them in spring training, he needed just 12 games at Class AA before his promotion to the majors in May. Bush’s father stays with him when the team is home, and Silver travels with him on the road. Silver emphasized that Bush’s recovery was just starting.

“This is a never-ending, constant battle,” Silver said. “He understands he’s a public figure and his story can really affect people in a positive way. That has to be more important than throwing 100. Otherwise, this doesn’t end well.”

Bush earned a measure of respect in the Texas clubhouse in his second outing, on May 15, when he hit the team’s nemesis — the Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista — with a pitch, which soon led to a fracas on the field. He declined to say much about that but was candid about his own fight to stay sober.

“There’s plenty of people out there struggling to this day with it, thinking the same thing as me: ‘What’s going on? I shouldn’t be like this,’” Bush said. “Well, you’ve got to quit. When you have a serious problem, you need to get over it and move on. Some horrible things happened to line up for me to get well, but it’s happened.”