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Former NL MVP Ken Caminiti Dies of Heart Attack at age 41
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Unless he faked his death...
Thrown a curve by an addiction, Ken Caminiti tries to resurrect his life after being high and inside
By DALE ROBERTSON
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 8, 2004, 11:19PM
Ken Caminiti walked this week, but he hardly left the judicial system a free man. The 1996 National League Most Valuable Player is now a convicted felon, and his frightful battle with the terrible addiction that made him so is far from won.
Four failed drug tests while he was on probation for cocaine possession cost Caminiti a chance to have his record purged. He won't have to serve any more hard time for the bust in question, anyway but he's saddled with a life sentence. Without parole.
A day before the Astros, the team for which Caminiti played twice, and the Atlanta Braves, the team with which he finished his fruitful major-league career, met in the NL playoffs, Caminiti, 41, stood humbled before a judge not far from Minute Maid Park and admitted he was failing in life after baseball as he never had failed on the diamond.
Over the course of 15 seasons, the hard-wired, combative Caminiti stroked 239 home runs, hit .272, won three Gold Gloves and was voted the best player in the NL in 1996, when he posted a .326 average while belting 40 home runs for San Diego.
From playoffs to demons
But he also wrestled with alcoholism, steroid abuse and apparently, at least in his later years, a craving for crack cocaine.
While injured, he left the Astros in late 2000 to enter a rehab program. And his arrest in a drug-littered southwest Houston motel room that led ultimately to the guilty plea Tuesday occurred 2 1/2 months after his final big-league at-bat for the Braves against the Astros in 2001, the previous time the teams squared off in the postseason.
Caminiti was a non-factor during that lopsided Atlanta sweep, going 0-for-2 in a pair of pinch-hit appearances. But when the Braves defeated the Astros in four games in 1999, the burly third baseman almost single-handedly kept Houston in contention. His three home runs and eight RBIs would be Astros playoff series records.
As the Astros return to Minute Maid and again try to make amends for nearly half a century worth of playoff futility much of it administered by the Braves Caminiti won't be at the park to cheer for his onetime running buddies Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio.
Bagwell and Biggio badly want to go where Caminiti once went as a Padre, the World Series. But they would not trade their demons for his.
"I can't tell you what Cammy's going through," Bagwell said, "because I haven't been there. But my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. I feel for him, I really do. We were baseball players, but we were friends first and I'll always be thankful for that.
"It's sad to see ... it's hard. I think about him all the time. I hope the time will come when I can talk to him."
Not today or Sunday, though. Caminiti will be "out of town over the weekend," according to his close friend and agent, Rick Licht. John Moores, the Padres owner from Houston who grew close to Caminiti during the four seasons he spent with San Diego, had hoped to take him to the Astros-Braves game today.
Feeling his pain
"It must be hell. It must be horrible, just as tough as it gets," Moores said of Caminiti's struggles to escape the clutches of addiction. "I pray that Ken can get his act together because, if he does, he's going to have a lot of options open to him. Ken's the most competitive guy I know. ... He was a warrior on the field and, remember, he blew the whistle on steroids, that dirty little secret nobody wanted to talk about.
"There's no one in the Padres organization who doesn't respect the guy. A straight and sober Ken Caminiti would be more than welcome with the Padres."
Nonetheless, Moores knows he's not qualified to pronounce Caminiti well. So, contrary to reports, Caminiti doesn't have a job waiting for him with the Padres. He had served them as an instructor during 2004 spring training.
"(Bringing him back) on the heels of his having failed his drug program just wouldn't be the right thing for us to do," Moores said. "First, he needs to get in charge of his life in the same way he was in charge of his baseball career."
Biggio, finishing his 16th season with the Astros, and Caminiti broke into the majors together, completing their first full Astros seasons in 1989.
Bagwell came aboard two years later and, by 1994, the gifted young trio formed the nucleus of an Astros team on the verge of accomplishing great things.
But the strike ruined that promising season and put new owner Drayton McLane in such a financial bind that he dumped Caminiti's $4 million-plus salary.
He moved on to the Padres in a massive multi-player deal and, although he would enjoy his most productive seasons in San Diego in large part, he later admitted in an explosive Sports Illustrated interview, because of steroids things began to spin badly out of control there.
Caminiti returned to the Astros after the 1998 season, thinking a homecoming could have a stabilizing effect. It didn't. Eventually his wife left him, and he wound up living with a buddy. Fearing the worst, the Astros gave Caminiti his release in 2000, when he hit .303 but was limited to 208 at-bats by injuries.
Sadly, the worst was yet to come. And what happens next for him is difficult to predict despite an optimistic prognosis from Licht. Through the agent, he declined to comment for this story, in his own way conceding perhaps that words are cheap.
dale.robertson@chron.com
Thrown a curve by an addiction, Ken Caminiti tries to resurrect his life after being high and inside
By DALE ROBERTSON
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 8, 2004, 11:19PM
Ken Caminiti walked this week, but he hardly left the judicial system a free man. The 1996 National League Most Valuable Player is now a convicted felon, and his frightful battle with the terrible addiction that made him so is far from won.
Four failed drug tests while he was on probation for cocaine possession cost Caminiti a chance to have his record purged. He won't have to serve any more hard time for the bust in question, anyway but he's saddled with a life sentence. Without parole.
A day before the Astros, the team for which Caminiti played twice, and the Atlanta Braves, the team with which he finished his fruitful major-league career, met in the NL playoffs, Caminiti, 41, stood humbled before a judge not far from Minute Maid Park and admitted he was failing in life after baseball as he never had failed on the diamond.
Over the course of 15 seasons, the hard-wired, combative Caminiti stroked 239 home runs, hit .272, won three Gold Gloves and was voted the best player in the NL in 1996, when he posted a .326 average while belting 40 home runs for San Diego.
From playoffs to demons
But he also wrestled with alcoholism, steroid abuse and apparently, at least in his later years, a craving for crack cocaine.
While injured, he left the Astros in late 2000 to enter a rehab program. And his arrest in a drug-littered southwest Houston motel room that led ultimately to the guilty plea Tuesday occurred 2 1/2 months after his final big-league at-bat for the Braves against the Astros in 2001, the previous time the teams squared off in the postseason.
Caminiti was a non-factor during that lopsided Atlanta sweep, going 0-for-2 in a pair of pinch-hit appearances. But when the Braves defeated the Astros in four games in 1999, the burly third baseman almost single-handedly kept Houston in contention. His three home runs and eight RBIs would be Astros playoff series records.
As the Astros return to Minute Maid and again try to make amends for nearly half a century worth of playoff futility much of it administered by the Braves Caminiti won't be at the park to cheer for his onetime running buddies Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio.
Bagwell and Biggio badly want to go where Caminiti once went as a Padre, the World Series. But they would not trade their demons for his.
"I can't tell you what Cammy's going through," Bagwell said, "because I haven't been there. But my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. I feel for him, I really do. We were baseball players, but we were friends first and I'll always be thankful for that.
"It's sad to see ... it's hard. I think about him all the time. I hope the time will come when I can talk to him."
Not today or Sunday, though. Caminiti will be "out of town over the weekend," according to his close friend and agent, Rick Licht. John Moores, the Padres owner from Houston who grew close to Caminiti during the four seasons he spent with San Diego, had hoped to take him to the Astros-Braves game today.
Feeling his pain
"It must be hell. It must be horrible, just as tough as it gets," Moores said of Caminiti's struggles to escape the clutches of addiction. "I pray that Ken can get his act together because, if he does, he's going to have a lot of options open to him. Ken's the most competitive guy I know. ... He was a warrior on the field and, remember, he blew the whistle on steroids, that dirty little secret nobody wanted to talk about.
"There's no one in the Padres organization who doesn't respect the guy. A straight and sober Ken Caminiti would be more than welcome with the Padres."
Nonetheless, Moores knows he's not qualified to pronounce Caminiti well. So, contrary to reports, Caminiti doesn't have a job waiting for him with the Padres. He had served them as an instructor during 2004 spring training.
"(Bringing him back) on the heels of his having failed his drug program just wouldn't be the right thing for us to do," Moores said. "First, he needs to get in charge of his life in the same way he was in charge of his baseball career."
Biggio, finishing his 16th season with the Astros, and Caminiti broke into the majors together, completing their first full Astros seasons in 1989.
Bagwell came aboard two years later and, by 1994, the gifted young trio formed the nucleus of an Astros team on the verge of accomplishing great things.
But the strike ruined that promising season and put new owner Drayton McLane in such a financial bind that he dumped Caminiti's $4 million-plus salary.
He moved on to the Padres in a massive multi-player deal and, although he would enjoy his most productive seasons in San Diego in large part, he later admitted in an explosive Sports Illustrated interview, because of steroids things began to spin badly out of control there.
Caminiti returned to the Astros after the 1998 season, thinking a homecoming could have a stabilizing effect. It didn't. Eventually his wife left him, and he wound up living with a buddy. Fearing the worst, the Astros gave Caminiti his release in 2000, when he hit .303 but was limited to 208 at-bats by injuries.
Sadly, the worst was yet to come. And what happens next for him is difficult to predict despite an optimistic prognosis from Licht. Through the agent, he declined to comment for this story, in his own way conceding perhaps that words are cheap.
dale.robertson@chron.com
fennec fox
ferrets ferrets ferrets ferrets FERRETS!!!
If I could erase two myths from the face of this world, I would get rid of Titor and then this one.Miguel said:
AlphaSnake
...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
WTF. Is he dead or alive? I'm confused.
Yeesh! At first I thought Superman died.Miguel said:Rodney Dangerfield
Christopher Reeves
Ken Caminiti
Always in 3s. A very odd 3, but 3 nonetheless.
RIP guys.
It's too bad Caminiti messed up his life so much. I remember him as one of the great players of the 90's.
EDIT: Superman did die! Dang it!
J2 Cool said:
Guess this means the Astros season can't die...I hope.
RIP Cami, Superman.
And I think the DK death hit me much harder than the Cami one has. I loved DK. He had a FILTHY curve, and I have a thing for great pitching and great defense. (Everett/Oswalt/Backe/Nomar(pre 2002)/Pedro(pre 2004))
*sigh*
I need to put my KC11 next to the DK57 on my Astros cap.
Cannoniti
The greatest arm at third base the game has ever seen IMO.
Here's a history of Ken's baseball life from BaseballLibrary.com
"Plagued with injuries throughout his tenure in the major leagues, Caminiti's willingness to play through pain became the hallmark of an impressive career. After seven productive seasons in Houston, the gritty third baseman was traded to San Diego and quickly established himself as an elite performer at the hot corner. Along the way, he battled alcoholism, an addiction to pain-killers, and a smokeless tobacco habit as well as a myriad of physical maladies to become the undisputed leader of San Diego's two division-winning teams in 1996 and 1998.
Caminiti's toughness reached legendary proportions in August of 1996, when two liters of an IV solution and a Snickers bar helped him overcome dehydration, diarrhea, and nausea and hit two home runs for the second straight game against the New York Mets in Monterrey, Mexico. The 8-0 win tied San Diego with Los Angeles for first place in the NL West; Caminiti's inspiring play eventually led the Padres to their first division title since 1984. Beleaguered at various points throughout the year by an abdominal strain, a partly-torn biceps tendon, a left elbow that required reconstructive surgery after the season and chronic pain in his back, groin, and hamstrings, the beleaguered third baseman became the first Padre ever to win the NL MVP.
Until he came to San Diego in a blockbuster eleven-player deal in December 1994, Caminiti rarely showed the sort of power that would come to be expected of him. There was no doubt that the rising star was a steady fielder but he never hit more than 18 homers a season in an Astros uniform. After a hot start in his first call-up to Houston in 1987, Caminiti's hitting tailed off, and it wasn't until 1989 that he finally won a full-time job at third base.
Even though Caminiti batted .255 with 10 homers and 72 RBI in his first full season at the hot corner, the switch-hitter wasn't immune to the sophomore slump. In 1990, Caminiti slugged just four homers and struck out nearly 100 times in over 500 at-bats, and found his job threatened by top prospect Jeff Bagwell, a late-season acquisition from Boston.
But when Bagwell moved to first base for the 1991 season, Caminiti returned to form. His outstanding play at third and clutch hitting helped him keep his job (were it not for Matt Williams, Caminiti could well have won a Gold Glove or two along the way) and eventually, his rapid improvement as a left-handed hitter would make him a fixture in the Houston lineup.
Ironically, Caminiti credited a separated shoulder suffered during the 1992 season as key to his development from the left side of the plate. "It kept me from trying to pull everything," he reasoned, "I learned how to hit, how to use more of the field." Not coincidentally, Caminiti ended the season with a career-high (and team-high) batting average of .294. Two years later, he set another personal best with 18 homers in the strike-shortened 1994 season.
But Caminiti's emerging power stroke wasn't enough to stave off another challenge from an up-and-coming prospect. Convinced that Phil Nevin, their first pick overall in the 1992 draft, was a future star at third base, the Astros pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal that sent Caminiti, Steve Finley, Andujar Cedeno, Roberto Petagine, and Brian Williams to San Diego for Derek Bell, Ricky Gutierrez, Phil Plantier, Doug Brocail, Craig Shipley and Pedro Martinez.
The move from the Astrodome to Jack Murphy Stadium -- combined with a more rigorous conditioning program -- highlighted Caminiti's growing power. In his first season in San Diego, Caminiti finally topped the twenty-homer mark with a career-high 26 and set a major-league season record by homering from both sides of the plate in three games.
(Making the feat more extraordinary is that all three games came in the space of four days, September 16, 17, and 19 and doing it two days in a row set another mark.) He also achieved new highs in batting average (.302) and RBI (94) as well as doubles and walks, and cemented his defensive reputation by earning his first Gold Glove.
All of this was just a prelude to his gutsy MVP performance in 1996. Caminiti's shoulder injury was so bad that he couldn't raise his glove hand above his head or extend his left arm while batting, but he still posted one of the most outstanding seasons in franchise history, setting club records with 40 homers, 130 RBIs and a .621 slugging percentage. Caminiti also won another Gold Glove while leading the Padres to the NL West title. The following season, Clete Boyer gave Caminiti an autographed photo inscribed: "You're better than Graig Nettles, Brooks (Robinson) and myself. You're the best third baseman I've seen."
Although he would remain a productive player, winning another Gold Glove in 1997 and returning to the postseason with the Padres in 1998, injuries continued to bother Caminiti. Slowed by a sore groin, Ken batted just .143 against the Yankees in the '98 World Series, often falling to the ground after hefty hacks in crucial at-bats.
After the Padres were eliminated, Caminiti decided to return to Houston as a free agent. But he injured himself again on an attempted steal of second in May and spent a large part of the season on the DL nursing a torn calf muscle. Caminiti rebounded to play well down the stretch and hit .471 with three home runs in the Astros' first-round series loss against Atlanta. Less than a month later, he fractured three bones in his lower back after falling from a deer blind during a Texas hunting expedition.
Caminiti hit well in his second stint with the Astros, but after a ruptured tendon in his right wrist ended his season in June the club declined to exercise his option for 2001. The veteran third sacker signed on with the Rangers, but after a poor start Caminiti asked Texas for his release just before the All-Star break. After leaving the Rangers, Caminiti was snatched up by the Braves, who were seeking another power bat for their lineup. Atlanta found playing time for him at first and third base, and while hit batted just .228 for the year, he still launched 15 home runs in 356 at-bats.
Caminiti has the names of his three daughters tattooed on his chest."
The greatest arm at third base the game has ever seen IMO.
Here's a history of Ken's baseball life from BaseballLibrary.com
"Plagued with injuries throughout his tenure in the major leagues, Caminiti's willingness to play through pain became the hallmark of an impressive career. After seven productive seasons in Houston, the gritty third baseman was traded to San Diego and quickly established himself as an elite performer at the hot corner. Along the way, he battled alcoholism, an addiction to pain-killers, and a smokeless tobacco habit as well as a myriad of physical maladies to become the undisputed leader of San Diego's two division-winning teams in 1996 and 1998.
Caminiti's toughness reached legendary proportions in August of 1996, when two liters of an IV solution and a Snickers bar helped him overcome dehydration, diarrhea, and nausea and hit two home runs for the second straight game against the New York Mets in Monterrey, Mexico. The 8-0 win tied San Diego with Los Angeles for first place in the NL West; Caminiti's inspiring play eventually led the Padres to their first division title since 1984. Beleaguered at various points throughout the year by an abdominal strain, a partly-torn biceps tendon, a left elbow that required reconstructive surgery after the season and chronic pain in his back, groin, and hamstrings, the beleaguered third baseman became the first Padre ever to win the NL MVP.
Until he came to San Diego in a blockbuster eleven-player deal in December 1994, Caminiti rarely showed the sort of power that would come to be expected of him. There was no doubt that the rising star was a steady fielder but he never hit more than 18 homers a season in an Astros uniform. After a hot start in his first call-up to Houston in 1987, Caminiti's hitting tailed off, and it wasn't until 1989 that he finally won a full-time job at third base.
Even though Caminiti batted .255 with 10 homers and 72 RBI in his first full season at the hot corner, the switch-hitter wasn't immune to the sophomore slump. In 1990, Caminiti slugged just four homers and struck out nearly 100 times in over 500 at-bats, and found his job threatened by top prospect Jeff Bagwell, a late-season acquisition from Boston.
But when Bagwell moved to first base for the 1991 season, Caminiti returned to form. His outstanding play at third and clutch hitting helped him keep his job (were it not for Matt Williams, Caminiti could well have won a Gold Glove or two along the way) and eventually, his rapid improvement as a left-handed hitter would make him a fixture in the Houston lineup.
Ironically, Caminiti credited a separated shoulder suffered during the 1992 season as key to his development from the left side of the plate. "It kept me from trying to pull everything," he reasoned, "I learned how to hit, how to use more of the field." Not coincidentally, Caminiti ended the season with a career-high (and team-high) batting average of .294. Two years later, he set another personal best with 18 homers in the strike-shortened 1994 season.
But Caminiti's emerging power stroke wasn't enough to stave off another challenge from an up-and-coming prospect. Convinced that Phil Nevin, their first pick overall in the 1992 draft, was a future star at third base, the Astros pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal that sent Caminiti, Steve Finley, Andujar Cedeno, Roberto Petagine, and Brian Williams to San Diego for Derek Bell, Ricky Gutierrez, Phil Plantier, Doug Brocail, Craig Shipley and Pedro Martinez.
The move from the Astrodome to Jack Murphy Stadium -- combined with a more rigorous conditioning program -- highlighted Caminiti's growing power. In his first season in San Diego, Caminiti finally topped the twenty-homer mark with a career-high 26 and set a major-league season record by homering from both sides of the plate in three games.
(Making the feat more extraordinary is that all three games came in the space of four days, September 16, 17, and 19 and doing it two days in a row set another mark.) He also achieved new highs in batting average (.302) and RBI (94) as well as doubles and walks, and cemented his defensive reputation by earning his first Gold Glove.
All of this was just a prelude to his gutsy MVP performance in 1996. Caminiti's shoulder injury was so bad that he couldn't raise his glove hand above his head or extend his left arm while batting, but he still posted one of the most outstanding seasons in franchise history, setting club records with 40 homers, 130 RBIs and a .621 slugging percentage. Caminiti also won another Gold Glove while leading the Padres to the NL West title. The following season, Clete Boyer gave Caminiti an autographed photo inscribed: "You're better than Graig Nettles, Brooks (Robinson) and myself. You're the best third baseman I've seen."
Although he would remain a productive player, winning another Gold Glove in 1997 and returning to the postseason with the Padres in 1998, injuries continued to bother Caminiti. Slowed by a sore groin, Ken batted just .143 against the Yankees in the '98 World Series, often falling to the ground after hefty hacks in crucial at-bats.
After the Padres were eliminated, Caminiti decided to return to Houston as a free agent. But he injured himself again on an attempted steal of second in May and spent a large part of the season on the DL nursing a torn calf muscle. Caminiti rebounded to play well down the stretch and hit .471 with three home runs in the Astros' first-round series loss against Atlanta. Less than a month later, he fractured three bones in his lower back after falling from a deer blind during a Texas hunting expedition.
Caminiti hit well in his second stint with the Astros, but after a ruptured tendon in his right wrist ended his season in June the club declined to exercise his option for 2001. The veteran third sacker signed on with the Rangers, but after a poor start Caminiti asked Texas for his release just before the All-Star break. After leaving the Rangers, Caminiti was snatched up by the Braves, who were seeking another power bat for their lineup. Atlanta found playing time for him at first and third base, and while hit batted just .228 for the year, he still launched 15 home runs in 356 at-bats.
Caminiti has the names of his three daughters tattooed on his chest."
Doc Holliday
SPOILER: Columbus finds America
WTF was he doing in the bronx?!
Ninja Scooter
Member
Joe said:
yeah, kinda like Darryl Strawberry
jecclr2003
Banned
Actually, Kens death makes 4. You forgot about Janet Leigh.
jecclr2003
Banned
Janet Leigh... actress... the lady in the shower from Psycho.
She was a rather big name during the 60's. And also the mother of Jamie Lee Curtis.
She was a rather big name during the 60's. And also the mother of Jamie Lee Curtis.
jecclr2003
Banned
I lose? how so? She was a very accomplised actress and a very big name in Hollywood.
A famous death is a famous death.
Here's the IMDB list. She was one of Hitchcock's favorites to use.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001463/
A famous death is a famous death.
Here's the IMDB list. She was one of Hitchcock's favorites to use.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001463/
Ninja Scooter
Member
Janet Leigh is the chick in the shower from Psycho. For that she will always be more famous than some roided up baseball player. Mig am cry.
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