Depending on your point of view, there were two Ken Caminitis. There was the ballplayer who gave everything he had and the friend who would give you everything he had. There was also the alcoholic and the drug addict, the man with the addictive personality who lost everything to drugs.
With Caminiti’s recent untimely passing, the question becomes which Caminiti to remember? Both were part and parcel of who Ken Caminiti was, and yet neither fully define the man. To some, he was a success as a ballplayer but a failure as a human being. While this may be overly simplistic, it does sum up the dichotomy that was the struggle of Caminiti’s last years.
A colleague wrote an angry e-mail to me the other day.
“Why do you think there is not one shred of shame, let alone outrage, over the lionization of Ken Caminiti?” she asked.
“This, to me, is one of the worst things about the state of professional sports.
“The man was a crackhead — caught the last time leaving a hotsheets motel on 59 where his crackhead friends were still smoking — and driving erratically before dawn.
“Okay, he could once hit a ball, but we call him ‘gutsy’ in a headline? The team has a hero’s memorial service and talks wistfully about how he missed his three children? Where the hell was he when his three children needed him — smoking crack in a sleazy motel?”
No, she isn’t a baseball fan. But she does have a point.
It’s just not the only point.
•Part of the lionization comes from the human kindness of honoring a person in death. It’s not the time to dwell on his weaknesses or the pain he caused.
•Part of the lionization comes from our juvenile desire to make our sports heroes into gods.
•But I think the most important part of the good words about Ken Caminiti comes out of a different dynamic.
This is clearly the tale of a man who never understood how truly blessed he was. He was loved by friends, fans, and teammates, he had three beautiful children…and he was still in what should have been the prime of his life. What a wasted opportunity his final years were.
So, how DO we remember Ken Caminiti?
