October 11, 2004
Caminiti Dies
Ken Caminiti passed away yesterday. Caminiti was a drug abuser who couldn't seem to break away from his habit.
In recent years, Caminiti, had been beset by legal and drug problems.
He stood before state District Judge William Harmon on Tuesday and conceded he failed a drug test.
Harmon revoked his probation for a 2002 drug conviction, sentenced him to 180 days in jail and gave him credit for time served since his original arrest.
He was released from custody late Tuesday.
Caminiti had failed four drug tests while on probation for cocaine possession.
A cautionary tale for all of us. Caminiti also took steroids, although I don't know how much that had to do with his heart problems.
I remember Ken as a very hard nosed player and a good third baseman. Jeff Bagwell is a first baseman today because the Astros didn't want to move Caminiti when they acquired Bagwell. Caminiti made a big offensive leap in 1992, when he raised is OBA from the low .300's to .350, and pretty much kept it there until 2000. His 1996 season with the Padres was fantastic, (.400 OBA, .600 Slugging) earning him the MVP. This is somewhat tainted, however, by his later admission of using performance enhancing drugs.
My thoughts go out to his family and friends.
Posted by David Pinto at
09:45 AM
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Superman passed away, too. It's a very sad day. :(
poor ken.
he looked so unhappy he could hardly breathe. Looks like his demons chased him over the cliff.
wonder what all the roids/cocaine did to him...