Ken Caminiti was a good player with a tragic end. And in the midst of it all he became the first player to come forward and be open about his steroid use. There were other addictions that did him in at the end, becoming the next player in what was now becoming a list of men featured in the MLB Showdown game who have died, and in 2004 the game was still active in it's short history. Officially he had 2 Showdown cards, the original set featuring his 1999 season, and the 2001 Pennant Run set showcasing his upcoming change in teams. But there was quite a career that missed the prime Showdown years...
July 1987, Caminiti arrives on the scene for Houston. Not a lot of opportunities for Ken, but he hits his first few dingers.
In 1988, Houston brought in a different guy to play 3rd and left Ken to toil in the minors. He was brought in late in the year for even less time than he played in '87. Terrible sample size.
Ken had good, sometimes even perfect defense over the years at 3rd base, but right here he brings an eye popping +5 at defense, which helps justify carrying his meh chart. His first full season did not disappoint in the field.
Back to more "human" defense, and no power to speak of. The Astros were slowly becoming what we look back on more familiarly as Biggio, Bagwell and company were joining Caminiti.
Perfect defense, homers on his own chart return, speed takes a hit though. Caminiti is rounding out by now.
1992 brings a huge improvement to Ken's on-base, jumping to 11. Chart barely improves but the homers stay at just 20+. Defense takes a step back to just +2 but this is arguably the best all around Caminiti card so far.
1993 was more of the same. On-base falls back to 9 but essentially no real shift.
Things were finally really coming together for Ken in the strike-shortened 1994 season. On-base back to 11, defense back to perfect and his best homer chart yet. All showcasing in his first all star season.
After a massive 12 player trade, Ken found himself in San Diego, where his power increase would continue. Defense is a mere +1 though, despite his gold glove award.
So...yeah, illegal card. 1996 was Ken Caminiti's MVP season, and his 2nd all star season, but it was all done while he was admittingly on steroids. He says he was on the juice in the years after as well. You wouldn't be blamed to put aside all his Padres seasons on principle...
1997 saw Ken return to the +1 defense at 3rd base, but yet another gold glove award, which should prove that there isn't a whole lot of data analyzing that goes into who wins that award.
Playing the majority of his career in either San Diego or pre-cheating Houston, Caminiti understandably had very few opportunities to play in the fall classic. Tried as he did to carry some teams on his back, the NL playoffs usually proved too daunting to do without help. In 1998, despite the injuries that Ken had nagging him, he also had some serious help on the Padres with Greg Vaughn, Kevin Brown, Trevor Hoffman and of course Tony Gwynn.
Unfortunately the Padres ran into the powerhouse that was the
1998 Yankees, and were swept aside in 4 games by the historic team.
Caminiti returned to Houston in 1999, but that card was covered by the official set, so we skip to 2000, which technically has a card for Ken, it was the pennant run set showing him in Texas, but his entire 2000 season was in Houston and he needs a card to properly reflect that. Great all around card, 10 on-base with nice power and only 1-3 outs. Great start to the season, but injuries cut it short and checking into rehab was the final nail in the coffin.
2001 was the final season for Caminiti. Here he begins for real in Texas, but his hitting really didn't take off and he was released in June...
...and a few days later he signed with Atlanta. Chipper Jones was still a thing in Atlanta at the time, so Caminiti was sent over to 1st base. Things didn't really pick up there either. The Braves that year went to the postseason, but aside from a couple of pinch hit appearances against his former Astros, he didn't contribute a thing to the effort.
Just three years after his last appearance, Ken Caminiti died of a drug overdose. Despite the way his story ended, his memory and legacy are enshrined in the places he played at most. The Padres added Caminiti to their hall of fame in 2016, in spite of his steroid past. The Astros, no strangers to cheating, also added him to their team hall of fame in 2024.