Former NL MVP and admitted streoid user Ken Caminiti died of a heart attack earleir today in the Bronx. He was 41 years old. What a sad mess he made of his life.

Very sad news, but I'm not too surprised. My ex abused steroids during his life, and I found out later had also done coke, and died at the age of 46. Not a good combo. I just don't get how some people make such messes of their lives.

I guess in using the drugs he did, mainly the roids, he was only doing what other were -- and still are doing doing (I'm sure of it!) to stay in "The Big Leagues".

What a shame. He was verry handsome, not to mention hot as hell.

I'm glad someone said it first...what a hot bear he was! Actually, I wasn't into baseball during his time so I don't know his stats or how good he was, but it is a shame he went down that road.

This is a real shock to wake up to. Caminiti had alot of problems, but the people of Houston were always behind him in their hopes he would straighten his life out. Very sad news to read first thing in the morning. frown

Recently, he admitted to a judge in Houston that he has violated his probation by using cocaine, again. What a waste. RIP, Ken.

It will be interesting to see whether it has an effect on Bagwell and Biggio this evening.

Ausmus as well. They were all very close, or appeared to be. As an example of how this has effected Houston, my 78 year old mother called me this morning in tears over this and she doesn't even follow baseball.

Her and I saw Cammi once @ "the Dream" (owned by Hakim) car wash in town one day. He was sitting in a chair talking on his cell phone and he got up and offered the chair to my Mom. I've seen him around town for years...he always came across as aloof, but never rude.

Wish he could have gotten his shit together, because I could tell within him was a good hearted man.

NJ

I lived in Houston during his rookie year. The Astros were HORRIBLE back then, but Ken was so amazing on defense at 3rd. And I also always thought he was incredibly hot.

Yep, he definitely knew how to fill out a uniform.

NJ

At least Caminiti is finally at peace. The drugs--steroids and, more recently, cociane--clearly did their damage. I wonder if his death will have any effect on the game's rather anemic steroid testing program.

~Adam

Sorry to hear about this hunk's passing.

From the first time I saw a photo on the web of Caminiti without his shirt on, I was in lust and felt he was cool enough to have some same-sex encounters.

Of course, one of my fave pix of him is the one where he's comparing biceps with another baseball hunk in the locker room.

Ken, rest in peace.

Any chance that any current-day ballplayers will hear this news and think, "That could happen to me" and get off the steroids?

Probably not much of a chance.

I'd say it's more likely that Tonya Harding opens a Charm & Etiquette School than athletes get "scared straight".

Totally agree! The goatee he used to sport was simply woofy! He looked great in the Rangers' jersey uniform too.

Picture of him wearing the blue jersey and sporting his hot goatee here. Scroll down abit.

I can't post the picture here 'cause FOX Sports doesn't allow hotlinks...

Those the first pictures of Ken I ever saw. Great hairy and muscular chest! (I think I saw them on a site called "Gay Sports Fan Central" or something like that)

The other hunk Ken was comparing biceps with was Trevor Huffman.

I had the photo not that long, but lost it. I think I can get it again if you'd like...

Nope. That same question was asked when John Matuszak and Lyle Alzado died. Didn't help then. Won't help now.

Especially given that Caminiti's death could just as easily be attributed to cocaine. I suspect the stress of his legal problems were a contributing factor, as well.

Geez, those pix show off his amazing guns, and those piercing blue eyes.....

A man and his bike

Caminiti & Bagwell

frown

As always, the eBay scumbags are out en masse . Truly disgusting.

RIP, Cammi.

I watched him play in his rookie years in Houston. He was such a hot young boy. But the steroids and other drugs turned him into a weird looking f**k.

Great ballplayer that turned into a mess. How sad. RIP Ken.

Anyone know where we can see these?

Yeh, this is sad. He had fame, fortune and looks
but for some reason it didn't translate to happiness. Makes you wonder what was going on in his head. RIP stud.

Wasn't it a year or so back that the Padres wanted to honor him and he didn't want to attend, afraid of how the crowd would react?? He said that whenever he went to a game, folks yelled at him about the steroids and cocaine--even if he was there with his daughters.

~Adam

Didn't know the man, nor really his story until today, but seems to me it was a wasted life, and that's really sad. He seemed unwilling to acknowledge that steroids were messing up his life, and I suspect, wouldn't admit that other drugs were f**king him up as well. A wasted life. I hope other professional sports players at least heed the warning--I mean really, to die at 41 from 'heart failure' after a life on drugs. And he looked like a freak at the end there.

But he finally did decide to attend the last game at Qualcomm/Jack Murphy on September 28, 2003. \"The Prodigal, Ken Caminiti, exiled due to crack cocaine and steroid revelations, was welcomed home with a huge ovation. It was obvious even from the upper deck how emotional the moment was for him.\" (The Diamond Angle)

A pair of tribute haiku from The Score Bard: Rest in peace, Cami...

I'm not sure that it's any more tasteless on the day after his death than running commentary on how weird-looking he was or where his shirtless photos might be found. But maybe that's just me.

Here's a collection of some of his pics.

[ October 11, 2004, 09:16 PM: Message edited by: KeyWest Guy ]

Amen. I think it's rather creepy how many posts in this thread basically amount to "He was sure hot... sucks that he's dead."

To those men who are bemoaning posts expressing both lust for Caminiti and sadness or remorse over his untimely passing, I say get over it.

Face it: Caminiti was attractive to many men.

His unfortunate passing does nothing to diminish reasons why I came to follow his career and some of his life, and his pix.

I saw footage tonight on CNN of Caminiti running around the bases, with his uniform hugging every inch of his thick legs and hard butt, and I thought, damn, what a shame if no man got to lick the sweat from his backside.

Hard not to think about desires like his manhole, especially when the camera is so focused on the man's behind.

And to the other Caminiti fans, I give thanks that you've shared links to stories and images of Ken.

[ October 12, 2004, 12:05 AM: Message edited by: MPetrelis ]

then take it to hot jock talk where it belongs. just because some folks don't see the utter tastelessness in some of the posts here doesn't make them acceptable.

we came to praise (and bury) ken, not to cruise him.

I'm hoping you were drunk when you posted this.

We routed the Brave's! Looks like his spirit was with my boys last night.

NJ

Before my one true love, Jason Giambi, I had a brief, but one-sided, love affair with Mr. Caminiti.

RIP Ken, thanks for the good times! frown

The account of Cammy's last night, if it's true, sounds really weird and sad.

"Just in the neighborhood" at 4:00 A.M.?

Will be very interesting to see what the autopsy says....

What a total waste.

NJ

They "walked around" the Hunt's Point section of the Bronx at 4AM? Hunt's Point is in the heart of the South Bronx; the only people walking around that neighborhood at that hour are drug dealers and prostitutes. And for someone who made as much money in his life as Caminiti did to die at Lincoln Hospital - the most squalid, dysfunctional public hospital in the city in one of the worst neighborhoods in the city - is revealing about what Caminiti had done to his own life.

Regarding his being up at 4:00 am, on his radio program Dan Patrick related that he had spoken to Caminiti a couple of weeks back & that he had complained of not being able to sleep of late and that he would often spend nights just wandering the streets. It seemed clear listening to Patrick's description of the conversation that Caminiti was severely depressed.

It's all very sad.

~Adam

From my account, the life story of Ken Caminiti is one that's all too real for so many others in the same situation. Some say a life wasted and from that perspective, one can agree. But, if you knew him, worked with him, was his friend... if you loved him, you would only know of the very special man that was Ken Caminiti.

Yes, it was his decision to take the setroids, to drink in excess, to begin the drugs...and the responsibility lies with him, no doubt. But, for some... all it takes is that first taste of whiskey, the first spurt of growth and the first rush of a drug to be hooked for life. For whatever biological reason, Cammy couldn't shake his addicitions... was it the fear of not performing, not being the best.. the lack of foritude to give him an ego preventing self-destricton? Whatever it was, the combination, Cammy lived with it and it took him home.

I am sad of this event. The years Cammy played with the Astros gave me priceless moments with both my parents, especially my dad. Both of them are now gone and I am left a man so much the better. All due to a few moments of baseball with my dad and Ken Caminiti. I wish Cammy's and my paths might have cross so I could have thank him for something that was so far removed from him. Cammy felt he disappointed so many.... but he didn't... how could he when to those who loved him only wanted him to be well and happy...

Yes, he was hot and a stud and all those adjectives we the consumer use for our idols and icons of masculinity. I so generously spent many a time in deep pleasure dreaming of Cammy and his hairy chest. Someone was right, his uniform covered his lower body like a second skin.

But...

There comes a point when in face of what is an all too real tradegy that all the sexual whorship and lustful bantering becomes pointless, almost disgusting. Cammy's physical attributes just don't matter when you place what he faced side by side with the frivolous sexual barrage. Maybe it was all the carnal energy that hooked Cammy and eventually. it's pleasure grip became his death grip... Maybe the alcohol, the steroids, the drugs were only the vehicals. Maybe the real demon was the hype, the pressure, the money, the status, the competition...

Cammy suffered needlessly and I am sad. He leaves three little girls and I for one pray they come to keep only good memories of their father.

I never met Ken Caminiti but because of him, my life has some very happy memories. I can not but pray that God keeps him and gives his soul peace.

Via Con Dios Senor Caminiti

OK, this will be long. Bear with me, if you please. (Will I need a soapbox?) :confused:

I posted in the Christopher Reeve, RIP thread about a cartoon related to Ken Caminiti's passing, which I found to be "simultaneously funny, sad, tasteless, ignorant, unfair, low, cheap, uncompassionate, and true."


Some years ago, I learned something in one of my classes that I will never forget.

This one day, while our professor was explaining to us the difficult concepts required to have at least a grasp of the subjects concerning the course, one of the students started laughing uncontrollably. It was evident that he was trying to control himself, but, as much as he tried, he just couldn't stop. After a few minutes, the professor, very calmly, asked him if there was something wrong or if he had anything to comment on what she was saying. He said no and, apparently because of her asking, stopped laughing.

About ten minutes later, the guy started laughing again. I was in the back corner of the very small classroom, and took a look at the other students' faces, who were like, "What is with this guy?" I guess we all felt embarrassed for, and somewhat angry at, him for his actions, considering the subject of the course was a very serious one and the professor was a world-renowned intellectual and writer. The guy did manage to control himself, but a few minutes later, started again! The professor kindly asked him that if the subject was funny to him that he then should leave until he could control his laughter. He didn't return in the forty minutes left.

At the end of the class, our professor asked us if any of us knew him (as a friend or acquaintance). The ones who responded said no and started complaining about his behavior. Our professor told us: "If any of you happen to talk to him and if, by chance, he asks for help, please do so. None of us know if he's dealing with some problem in his life, maybe an illness of some kind. I am aware that he is a very bright person, so I ask you for some understanding." We were all left speechless. All those complaints and accusations --"How dare he!," "What was he thinking?!," etc.-- turned to "Oh, yes, definitely," and our facial expressions went from scowling to feeling humbled, ashamed...for ourselves.

Here was this woman, whom we thought had all the right in the world to feel offended by what we deemed was "that guy"'s disrespectfulness and lack of decorum, giving us a lesson in wisdom, humbleness, and a deep understanding of humanity.
I learned some time later that he apparently was suffering from some mental illness.

My favorite pop singer said once in an interview that it was funny to her how we all seem to live together in the world, in the same space, and that that somehow makes us think we all lead more or less the same lives, when in reality we don't; that we pass one another by in the streets and yet are completely unaware of each other's inner lives.

I would add to that that even oneself doesn't know, and will never know, completely --only partially-- why one acts this or that way. There are so many reasons --psychological, biological, etc.--, as satxbuddy1 wrote, that could provide answers to the mystery of the causes of our decisions and actions. If Caminiti did wrong or right was only for him to say. None of us knew really what his life was like, and I believe it would be naïve to act as if we could never be in the same position as he was, as if we already knew what's in store for us. "Failure," or what is considered as such in society, could be one step away from us at any moment. One can work as hard as possible to try and not end up oneself in such situations, but it's all contingent. As Smokey Robinson wrote in "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"

Everyday things change
And the world puts on a new face
Certain things rearrange
And the world seems like a new place

and Joni Mitchell in "Amelia"

People will tell you where they've gone
They'll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself
You never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Others just come to harm

Who am I to think or say that his life was or was not a waste? Am I immune to failure? Why do I define a person's life by only the two or three aspects that are publicly known about him? Is it possible for me to do away with commonplace judgements as these? Maybe, maybe not...

I'd like to share with you the lyrics to another Joni Mitchell song. Since first hearing it, I had never found a moment where I could relate it to me or my life, but I think the time has come.


Borderline

Everybody looks so ill at ease
So distrustful so displeased
Running down the table
I see a borderline
Like a barbed wire fence
Strung tight, strung tense
Prickling with pretense
A borderline

Why are you smirking at your friend?
Is this to be the night when
All well-wishing ends?
All credibility revoked?
Thin skin, thick jokes!
Can we blame it on the smoke
This borderline?

Every bristling shaft of pride
Church or nation
Team or tribe
Every notion we subscribe to
Is just a borderline
Good or bad, we think we know
As if thinking makes things so!
All convictions grow along a borderline

Smug in your jaded expertise
You scathe the wonder world
And you praise barbarity
In this illusionary place--
This scared hard-edged rat race
All liberty is laced with
Borderlines

Every income, every age
Every fashion-plated rage
Every measure, every gauge
Creates a borderline
Every stone thrown through glass
Every mean-streets kick-ass
Every swan caught on the grass
Will draw a borderline

You snipe so steady
You snub so snide--
So ripe and ready
To diminish and deride!
You're so quick to condescend
My opinionated friend
All you deface, all you defend
Is just a borderline
Just a borderline ...
Another borderline ...
Just a borderline

[ October 13, 2004, 04:09 AM: Message edited by: noumenon ]

Sadly, this comes as no surprise...

Source: Preliminary results indicate drug overdose

Preliminary results of the autopsy indicate Caminiti overdosed

Given that it occurred so soon after he received a prison sentence, I wonder if it was suicide. They don't specify the drug.

Sadly, with situations like this, you will never know if it was suicide or accidental. People die of drug overdoses all the time. His need to get high (and ongoing addiction) probably had nothing to do with his legal situation. In a way, he was killing himself slowly over a period of time. frown

Careful on taking "reports" as truth until they are "confirmed"!...

"Preliminary results of the autopsy performed on Ken Caminiti show that the former National League MVP died of a drug overdose, a New York City police source told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap."

New York Police Source...hmmm...kinda non-specific and before the toxicology reports are completed?...perhaps someone speculated that it was a condition that was caused by YEARS of drug abuse, etc...and then when passed through the channels turns into the story of "drug overdose"???

Just being the devil's advocate here...Some people take "reports" as "fact" and then the story dominos into one that's even more sensational....

Prepare yourself for more steroid-induced heartbreak, my friend.

I doubt it was a suicide as much as it was just too much partying with his good (we weren't doin' nuthin') buddy that night....

There comes a time in every mans life, they have to take responsibility for what happens to them....Cammi paid with his life. Too bad...what a selfish, selfish man.

NJ

Was it selfishness? Or was it fear all those years ago when he said yes to that first drug, that first drink he had in excess.

I think those who knew Cammy would beg to differ on your analysis.

As big and strong as Cammy was physically, did his mental, emotional, spritual senses match up against the demons that faced him...and eventually drove him home. I think that was a major factor in his defeat and fall.

In any event, it was a sad sad classic story, one which I wish did not come to past.

Well, tell me something I didn't already know...

"Former Houston Astros and National League Most Valuable Player Ken Caminiti died from an accidental drug overdose, the New York City Medical Examiner's Office announced today.

Grace Brugess, office spokeswoman, said the cause of death was "acute intoxication due to the combined effects of cocaine and opiates."

What a dumbass...

NJ

My ex died at 46 from the same thing. He had taken steroids, and I found out later coke as well a little earlier in his life. (Possibly later, too...I just don't know that for a fact..) He died of a heart attack. Similar situation: On the surface he seemed like the picutre of health, and an all-around great guy, but underneath, his self-esteme was in the toilet..