October 10, 2004 6:54 AM

When you fall off a pedestal, sometimes it's not so far down

Thrown a curve by an addiction, Ken Caminiti tries to resurrect his life after being high and inside

It must be hell. It must be horrible, just as tough as it gets…. 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…. (Bringing him back) on the heels of his having failed his drug program just wouldn’t be the right thing for us to do…. First, he needs to get in charge of his life in the same way he was in charge of his baseball career.

  • John Moores, owner of the San Diego Padres

Former Houston Astro and DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener Ken Caminiti played the game of baseball the way it’s supposed to be played: hard and passionately. Between the lines, he was in control of his universe, more often than not able to inflict his will on the game of baseball. When it came to life outside the lines, though, Caminiti struggled, and continues to struggle mightily. His story is one of loss: he lost the struggle with his demons, he lost the respect of many inside and outside the baseball family, he lost his freedom, and, perhaps worst of all, he lost his family.

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.

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.

I suppose the moral of the story is that talent, fame, and success aren’t always enough to isolate a man from his demons. Yes, Ken Caminiti has fallen, but no more or less so than so many thousands of others who have succumbed to drugs. The difference here, of course, if that Caminiti had it all- money, fame, talent, and a beautiful family. All of that is gone now.

The good news is that Caminiti is still a relatively young man in the prime of his life. He has an opportunity to get his life in order, and perhaps become an example to those who might travel a similar path. We should all wish him well.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on October 10, 2004 6:54 AM.

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