Playing Through the Pain by Dan Good

Author:Dan Good
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2022-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

Ken would sometimes hear the song—they played it one time during a Padres game—or a restaurant might play it when he stopped by. He wasn’t used to being singled out like this.

* * *

As the season entered its final month, the M-V-P chants became louder. Every time you checked the box score, it seemed like he was picking up two or three hits, or hitting a home run, and that doesn’t account for the Gold Glove defense or leadership.… He even received support from Dodgers manager Bill Russell, whose catcher Mike Piazza was also having a good season.

“To me, I think Caminiti is obviously the leading candidate,” Russell told reporters on September 19. “If you’re going to be objective and you’re not allowed to pick one of your own players, he gets my vote.”

After Piazza complained about the perceived slight, Russell met with the catcher and later clarified that “Mike Piazza is the MVP for me.” Piazza believed, according to his book, Long Shot, that Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully was also overenthusiastic in his support for the Padres third baseman.

Piazza had a great season in 1996: 36 home runs, 105 RBIs, a .336 batting average, and .985 OPS.

Caminiti hit 40 home runs, drove in 130 runs, batted .330, and had a 1.028 OPS.

Advanced stats such as WAR (wins above replacement) show Caminiti with 7.5 offensive WAR for the season, compared to 6.4 for Piazza, meaning Ken’s bat was worth one more win for the Padres than Piazza’s for the Dodgers.

In terms of overall WAR, three National League players topped Caminiti in 1996: outfielders Bernard Gilkey and Ellis Burks, also having career seasons, and Giants superstar Barry Bonds, who topped all position players with 9.7 WAR.

If anyone had a gripe about Ken being named the MVP, it was Bonds, not Piazza. (Bonds would win seven MVP awards during his career; Piazza received MVP votes in nine seasons but never won the award on his way to the Hall of Fame.)

But Bonds and Piazza weren’t sentimental favorites in 1996. They didn’t have the season stories Ken did—the torn rotator cuff, the throw from his butt, the Snickers game, overcoming addiction.

However, before MVP voting was finalized, the players needed to finish the season. The Padres against the Dodgers for a three-game series in Los Angeles. San Diego was two games behind LA in second place.

All the Dodgers had to do was win one of those games, and the division title was theirs. The loser was in the mix for the wild card as the league’s best second-place team.

The Dodgers were six outs from winning the division title on September 27, and Ismael Valdéz was dealing, scattering five hits for the game’s first seven innings.

Top of the eighth. Caminiti was leading off the inning. He worked the count to 2-and-2. Ken had seen the ball well throughout the game—he already had two singles and a walk—but now he was scuffling, fouling off Valdéz’s offerings to stay alive.

As he started digging back into the box, a paper airplane sailed from the stands.

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