SAN DIEGO (AP) — Ken Caminiti was never short of fearless on a baseball field. He made incredible stops at third base, swatted home runs from both sides of the plate and played through pain that would wither most men.
Friends and former teammates shocked by Caminiti’s death Sunday in New York at age 41 remembered not only the great plays but many off-field struggles.
He admittedly used steroids at the height of his career and had been arrested on cocaine charges in recent years. Early in his career, he admitted to abusing alcohol and painkillers.
“We all want to reduce people to pegs in a board. He just wasn’t that kind of guy,” San Diego Padres owner John Moores said yesterday. “There was something that was horribly defective, and we loved him in spite of it.”
Caminiti died of a heart attack in the Bronx, said his agent-lawyer Rick Licht. The city medical examiner’s office performed an autopsy yesterday but could not rule on a cause of death until toxicology tests were complete, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said. That process could take as long as 10 days.
Caminiti was a fan favorite both in San Diego, where he led the Padres into the 1998 World Series, and Houston, where he played two stints with the Astros, including his first eight seasons.
Houston stars Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell got the news about Caminiti’s death several hours before playing in the deciding Game5 of the division series against Atlanta last night.
“We’re both kind of devastated about it,” Biggio said. “We feel terrible. We played with this guy for a long time. My wife and his wife are best friends. We know his kids. It’s a tough thing. I guess the best thing we can do today for him is just go out and play well.”
Caminiti’s 15-year big league career ended in 2001, five seasons after he led the Padres to a division title and was a unanimous pick for NL MVP.
The three-time All-Star third baseman was in trouble often the last few years.
Just last Tuesday, he admitted in a Houston court that he violated his probation by testing positive for cocaine in September.
“I just don’t know if he ever came to grips with not being able to go out and perform,” Padres general manager Kevin Towers said yesterday. “He loved the game so much he probably had a hard time making the transition to not being a ballplayer again.”
For all his off-field trouble, the Padres stayed loyal to Caminiti. He sat in Moores’ box during the final game at Qualcomm Stadium last year and received a rousing ovation from the fans.
“It was meaningful for him and … meaningful for me,” Moores said.
Towers said Caminiti never did anything to hurt the Padres’ organization.
“He hurt himself and his family with what he did off the field,” Towers said. “He helped put San Diego back on the map. He was a good person, a very lovable guy, a guy you always wanted to be around. He put the team and the city ahead of his own well-being. There are not a lot of guys who will do that.”
Caminiti was at spring training with the Padres this year as a special instructor. He admitted to being “shamed and embarrassed” about his post-baseball life.
Caminiti looked haggard but still had a presence.
“When he walked through that clubhouse door, you got fired up,” Towers said. “He was a man’s man. If you were a ballplayer, that’s the type of player you want to be. You wanted to be Ken Caminiti. He had the talent, the looks, the strength. He had everything going for him.”
In May 2002, Caminiti told Sports Illustrated he used steroids during his MVP season, when he hit a career-high .326 with 40 home runs and 130 RBI. He estimated half the players in the big leagues also were using them.
Caminiti was built like a linebacker and could be intimidating even to his teammates, with an intense glare and a bushy goatee. But he was also soft-spoken, and ex-teammates described him as goodhearted.
He played most of the 1996 season with a torn rotator cuff that required offseason reconstructive surgery.
“If I can get to the park, I want to play,” Caminiti said after receiving the MVP award.
His defining moment came Aug.18, 1996, in the oppressive heat and smog of Monterrey, Mexico, as the Padres prepared to face the New York Mets in the finale of the first regular-season series played outside the United States and Canada.
Battling dehydration and an upset stomach, Caminiti took two liters of intravenous fluid, then hit two homers and drove in four runs in an 8-0 victory.
A week after Moores bought the Padres in December 1994, then-GM Randy Smith acquired Caminiti and Steve Finley as part of a 12-player trade with Houston.
Players and executives with the Padres and Astros had tried to help Caminiti deal with his problems.
“People really cared about Cammy because of the kind of guy he was,” said Boston general manager Theo Epstein, who worked in San Diego’s front office while Caminiti played for the Padres. “He was battling demons. It’s a tough road for anybody, even a guy with Cammy’s tough spirit. He was in a fight off the field.”
Said Biggio: “I think one thing that he didn’t understand is really how many people loved him. There’s a lot of people that wanted to help him and tried to help him. It’s a bad disease. It’s a tough thing.”
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