I've been wanting a Ken Caminiti auto for a while now and recently picked one up. He was a big bopper in the Padres' lineup for 4 years in mid/late 90s, a key piece of the success the team had in '96 and '98. He put up some impressive numbers, especially 1996 when he became the first (and still only) Padre to win the NL MVP award. This was during the height of my fandom (ie, watching nearly every Padres telecast), but I wasn't collecting cards in those days, so I don't have much of a cardboard cache of the guy today. His story took a sour turn when he admitted to PED usage (in hindsight it was obvious-- nearly everybody was juicing back then-- at least he manned up and was one of the first from that era to admit it), and then it came to a somber end when he died in 2004 of a drug-related heart attack.
Pleasing design. Not the greatest signature ever, but it has some uniqueness to it.
I'm not sure what the print run is on these (Don't you hate when a card is serial numbered with a numerator but not a denominator?).. Beckett says 900, but that's obviously not the case. I'm guessing 1000, maybe 2000, but I'm not sure.
Anyways. Do you know Ken Caminiti's career RBI total?
That's right, 983. I own the "Career RBI eBay 1/1" of this card. I always love trying to find some significance to big serial numbers, and once in a while you get a good one like this.
Rest in peace, Ken. Thanks for the memories.
Very NICE card! It's funny in that I recently decided to start collecting his cards. Of course, this is after giving them away for all these years. Ken was at least honest regarding his steroid use and personal struggles. Here's a great article on Ken, if you're interested:
ReplyDeletehttp://bleacherreport.com/articles/2224511-the-cautionary-tale-of-ken-caminiti-the-steroid-eras-first-truth-teller?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=cnn-sports-bin&hpt=hp_bn15#articles/2224511-the-cautionary-tale-of-ken-caminiti-the-steroid-eras-first-truth-teller
Thanks for passing that on, Julie! Great read.
DeleteHe was a beast that season. Peds or not, even his defense was incredible.
ReplyDeleteHis demise was sad. He seemed like a guy everybody loved but couldn't shake the demons. The guy was a beast during his prime.
ReplyDeleteRIP Ken. That throw from the seat of your pants across the diamond is still one of the most badass plays I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteThe '98 Signature Series autos are sequentially numbered, so the blue Century autos are numbers 1-100, and then the green Millenniums pick up at 101. Most players signed 1000, but some players - mostly stars - signed fewer.
ReplyDeleteAwesome pickup. PED's or not, he absolutely dominated the game on offense and defense in a way I haven't seen many players do in baseball in '96.
Very nice "1/1" ;).
ReplyDelete