September 26, 1999 – An MVP Award recipient and three-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner, third baseman Ken Caminiti was the classic scrappy ballplayer who won the respect and admiration of fans and teammates by refusing to let injuries keep him out of the lineup. But the Hanford, California, native was not always so committed to the game. Frustrated with baseball while in college, he was ready to quit until his father convinced him to give it one more year. He did and performed well enough to be drafted by Houston in 1984 and break into their starting lineup in 1989. In eight years with the Astros, his offensive production was solid if not spectacular, but it was his glove and grit that made him stand out from other third basemen. In his years in Houston Caminiti endeared himself to the local Italian American community, so much so that when he did not win the Gold Glove Award in 1994, they awarded him a replica.
Beginning in 1995, the year he was traded to the San Diego Padres, Caminiti won three straight Gold Glove Awards. In 1996 he led the Padres to a division title with career highs in homers, RBIs, batting average, and slugging average, culminating in his unanimous choice as the NL MVP. Over his 15-year career, Caminiti hit 239 home runs with 983 RBIs and a .272 average.
His legacy was tainted when, in 2002, one year after he retired, he became the first major leaguer to acknowledge publicly the use of steroids. He admitted that he had used them to cope with the pain of a torn rotator cuff during his MVP season, as well as occasionally in later years. Sadly, there were other demons that haunted Caminiti, who also struggled with addictions to alcohol and cocaine. On October 10, 2004, he was found dead at the age of 41 in a New York City apartment; the cause of death was attributed to an overdose of cocaine and opiates. Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, a Houston teammate for seven years, told me, “We know he had some issues, but people need to remember him as a great guy, a great friend who would do anything for you.”
