Ken Caminiti: Baseball's Most Bizarre MVP Winner 

Coming from a padres fan this man Cam is definitely an icon. That play where he threw the guy out from 3rd while sitting down was incredible. Arm strength out the roof. RIP

Jeff Bagwell can go on and on about what sort of a man Caminiti was. Before the 1994 season, Caminiti admitted to Bagwell and other teammates that he was an alcoholic and then put together his first All-Star season. Looking at it now, he was like golfer John Daly - he was an addiction addict. He always had to be chasing some new high or thrill. But Bagwell would tell you about what a great teammate he was - overly kind, generous and unpretentious. RIP Ken. It ended all too soon.

Perhaps even weirder is that these are the only MVP votes Ken received in his entire career Edit: Damn you caught it

Playing with the Padres in 98, Cam was a great dude! Made me feel welcome and part of the family! Salt of the earth cat! Just had bigger demons than others! RIP

5:06 In hindsight how funny is that sign in the left field bleachers in Padre stadium that says "Juice Power" on one of Caminiti's homeruns lol

That throw from his back is easily one of the most insane and impressive plays I have ever seen

I still remember Ken Caminiti's MLB debut on July 16th 1987, which was just a couple of days after my 20th birthday. Ken Caminiti's first hit was Triple (if I remember correctly) and his second hit was a Homerun, which was shocking since the announcers commented that Ken Caminiti was going to be an all glove and light hitter type of player. Man did Ken Caminiti have a cannon for an arm, I can still remember some of those throws, as you have shown in your video, that I still cannot believe he was able to achieve. Yes, I was one of those Astros fans back in 1994 who was extremely pissed when the Astros traded Ken Caminiti (and Andujar Cedeno) to the San Diego Padres.

Thank your friend Jomboy, I wouldn't have seen this, or subbed, without them.

5:30 THIS THROW IS INSANE

Steroids or not he was a very skilled baseball player. A switch hitting defensive wizard

Trying to understand Cammy's 96' season based on just stats is like judging a meal based on someones else's farts. You had to have been there..

Ken was 1 of my favorite players growing up

I respect a man who admits to short comings far more than one who denies any wrongdoings or shortcomings. One takes balls to do, the other just takes narcissism

dude’s post-baseball life was so tragic. RIP

Barry Bonds could have won the NL MVP award that year. Bonds led the league with 9.7 WAR. He had one of the very rare 40 HR 40 SB seasons. He also had 122 runs, 129 RBIs, 151 walks and a .308 batting average. But I suppose Bonds won enough MVP awards in his career without winning this one.

I saw a lot of those games in the Dome back in the late '80s - early '90s, and - steroids or not - he was as fine a fielding 3rd baseman as I've ever seen. Met him once after a game, and he had me climb up on the runner of his massive white pickup truck to get a ball signed. Nice dude. RIP, indeed. Gone too soon.

As a Houstonian I remember when he passed away. I was a teen and cut out the houston chronicle article and hung it on my wall for a few years. Thanks for the wonderful video

I remember when played for the Braves. It was hard to watch him. He was a shell of what he as with the Stros and Friars. I remember when he passed. He was one of my favorite players.

Good video and good assessment. Yeah I agree with you that it doesn't excuse a lot of these guys for cheating / using steroids during that era, but I at least respect when a guy like Caminiti or McGwire owns up to it and/or admits remorse for the damage done to not only their bodies but the game itself -- which is more than we will ever see from Bonds, for example.

I remember being so excited when he came to play for the Braves. Hi Jolly.

Ken was a really nice guy. Invited me as 12 year old in the dugout in spring training.

In 1998 I caught Ken Camminiti's 38th home run ball against the Rockies. I went to a game with my little league team

A really sad story...especially where he was found 🙏

how did i miss this video? 1 year ago it was uploaded? what a gem

Miss this man terribly. He was part of the Padres dream team. I had the privilege to watch those guys.

I love seeing crazy pop off seasons throughout history, Zoilo Versailles, Denny McLain, and Rico Petrocelli come to mind

RIP one of my favorite players ever

Maybe I missed where he mentioned it but it took me a little while to notice dude was a switch hitter too. Impressive

2:25 thank you for including that clip

Caminiti won the Gold Glove in 1995, 1996, and 1997, which likely contributed to assessments of his value, even in available defensive metrics suggest those years weren't that great for him (although 1996 was a notable step up compared to 1995, 1997, and 1998 for Caminiti) and that it was his reputation built earlier in his career that earned him those awards. Still, a .326 BA, 40 HR, and a Gold Glove at 3B does make sense as an MVP, especially since guys on fringe playoff teams had a huge advantage due to voter narratives that drove the MVP award in that era. His Padres finished 1 game ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West, and were only 3 games from being left out of the playoffs entirely, meaning his value was critical. Barry Bonds, although posting another classic Bonds season of comical numbers (and this was almost certainly before he started eating a well balanced breakfast) and 9.7 WAR, played for a 68 win team - in many 90s voters' eyes, this meant his MVP credentials were weaker because "how valuable can he be if he didn't even break into the GM's office and start building the roster? Silly Barry!" That said, the AL MVP that year, Juan Gonzalez, was the real weird choice. In an era swarming with offensive production, they gave it to the 5th best Texas Rangers player. When young, pre-steroids A-Rod saw that, is there any wonder why he juiced?

Regardless of the steroids, his arm strength and defense skills at 3rd were super impressive.

Ken went to San Diego and became buds with Greg Vaughn. Vaughn introduced him to the roids and the rest was history. This is my theroy i have no proof of, but yeah, he linked wirh Vaughn and they balled out while shooting eachother in the behind before each game

If anyone ever graphed MLB player neck circumference over the years, the 90s would be off the charts.

Dude great job on this 👏🏼👏🏼

Saturdays are always better when Jolly Olive uploads

Caminiti always stuck out to me as someone I was jealous of as a kid. Insane range, could hit and hit for power, and that arm. What a cannon.

caminiti was a tragic case.....he had an injury and turned to steroids to get well and suddenly had great year.....but his substance abuse had really gotten out of hand near the end.....it appeared bagwell and biggio had tried hard to help him but after his divorce things got worse

How I never seen that footage of him running into the cop before?!

He was my neighbor in Richmond Texas. In high school i a few if us would hang out there and drink. It was obvious Kem had a drinking problem ( he could out drink us high school kids) but he was always a great guy to us in the neighborhood. Rip Ken.

To think Houston went from making the fleece of the decade (Finley, Schilling and Harnisch for Glenn Davis), to getting fleeced on a major level themselves just a few years later (Derek Bell and scraps for Finley and Caminiti).

When real men played sports unlike today. Dude was cracking homers with a jacked up shoulder and broken ribs, I could care less about the steroids honestly since everyone was doing them. I didnt even like the Padres but I always liked how gritty Cam was.

Loved him that season. Had him on my roto team. Helped me win the championship. He had some glove at 3rd base.

Caminiti's offense benefited from 'roids on a Brett Boone/Brady Anderson/Jason Giambi/Jose Canseco level. But his defense was gold glove level before the PEDs.

@2:47 was insane. Sure, players make that throw pretty often, but they usually 2 hop it. Cam threw a friggin strike

7:56 Troy Glaus is pronounced like "floss."

I've never once thought of Cammy as a glove first guy

My dad played slow pitch softball with his brother and was involved in multiple facets of his life.

San Diego loves Ken Caminiti!

One of the best seasons ever by a 3rd baseman! A switch hitting and defensive GOD

Stats alone don’t decide MVP awards. His hits and defensive plays were always at a crucial time.

Caminiti retired as an Atlanta Braves. He did not retire as an Astro. This video makes it seem he only played for the Astros and Padres and never even mentions the fact that the last team he played for was the Atlanta Braves. He only played for 3 teams and this guy already mentioned 2 of them. There is only one more team to mention and it's the team he retired with. How hard is that?

As a Padres fan, I’m glad jomboy brought me here

Detroit beating SD in the 84 world series is a fact but I wouldn't describe it as "fun"

I'm still proud to wear my Camminiti jersey and only San Diegans would know what's up

Anybody notice that throw from third when he was on his butt hit the first baseman right in the chest? A perfect throw.

This was a very fair and even keel tackling of some fragile topics.

Hey, y’all Do know there was no steroid ban in baseball til 2005 right? Can we just go ahead and right there wrongs all the HoF snubs? Of remove bud Zelig’s plaque?

by far my most favorite player ever.

Not as bizarre as G Stanton winning MVP by striking out a lot and leading his team to a last place finish.

I'm a Dodgers fan And this guy was a beast

2018 mookie betts. rip to a legend

2:25 WTH was that security guy doing?

I am a huge dodger fan, piazza karros and mondesi were all in there primes during Caminitis run it was frustrating and I hated Caminiti but no doubt he was a beast

Steroids or not, that's arm strength porn from third base.

Definitely need a Willie Hernandez video, tigers closer in 84 where he won cy young and an MVP I’ve never understood why he won it either

How is it bizarre? He did it all. He focused on taking certain steroids to focus on certain skill sets. He did not hide that he took the juice.

Oh man. I completely forgot about Troy Glaus.

I never realized he was a switch hitter

You should do a video of the team that was always just one pitch away, the Jolly JoZos

Manny Machado is on pace to have a Caminiti esque season as of right now

Yikes, the story of him playing a season with a torn rotator cuff made me cringe hard. That's just absurd, especially if you're throwing yourself around trying to dive on balls and whatever. God, I just can't get the image of how much that would have hurt out of my head

I could be wrong but I believe he was also an active drug addict during this stretch. While tragic how things ended for him, that is mind blowing.

3B Sheffield exploded with the Padres too when He got over there to play The Hot Corner Those were Shef’s best years. He didn’t look silly roided yet But I’ll bet they both got on them while in SD just from judging their Offensive increases being SO ASTRONOMICAL

The macerena

Caminiti isn't nearly as forgotten as Zoilo Versalles....

Leigh high legend

That throw from his ass was nuts.

Cam and Greg Vaughn were crushing baseballs back in the day. That was a fun fucking team man.

Caminiti finished 3rd in posistion player WAR for the 1996 season with 7.6. The AL MVP in 1996 was Juan Gonzalez with 3.8 WAR. 🤡

How do you hit 42 home runs with 120 RBI’s, but finish 6th?

Hot take: Olerud deserved it over Thomas in 1993. I couldn't believe that he didn't get a single first place vote.

Dude doubled in size lol

Interesting

Just remember this: PEDs don’t always make you better, despite their name!

Troy "Glowse" ? lmao

Lmfao they all cheated at that time... Besides that. These men still had monster careers lol

E

#1Dot

never knew he died, i only learned TOny Gwynn died last year i think. i just dont follow news well. Anyways sad how these people get hooked on drugs. Enough money to do anything in the world. Go anywhere almost. they choose alchol and drugs............... never understand it

If you look at those with mvp votes for each year on Baseball reference you will find some head scratchers.

Piazza should've won

godamn man how can you mention that trade and not talk about pedro martinez being involved in that....smh lol

Is he a HOF'er?

Punkin eater

The roid monster himself

Repent and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ

Cody bellinger is gonna be the most bizarre MVP winner of all time

OPS is the most overrated stat in ⚾️. So is slugging %

I completely forgot that Willie McGee won an MVP award. Honestly IMO, Dwight Gooden probably should've won MVP that season, but Dave Parker, Pedro Guerrero, and Dale Murphy all put up seasons that one could argue were just s good or better than McGee's.

He has not been forgotten in San Diego. As a 90's kid he was one of my idols