Caminiti and a measure of vindication

Too bad Ken Caminiti did not live to see this.
Vindication. After all the abuse he took for speaking publicly about baseball and steroids.
A quick refresher. Caminiti was a hot shot third baseman who logged 15 years in the major leagues. He played on the 1998 San Diego Padres World Series team against the Yankees and his apex was winning the 1996 Most Valuable Player award while leading the Padres to a first-place finish. He had an all-out style best illustrated in a game during that 1996 season.
Dehydrated and suffering an upset stomach before the game, Caminiti took two liters of intravenous fluid, wolfed a Snickers bar and then hit two home runs. His career ended in 2001.
He also had a long history of substance abuse problems, including alcohol and cocaine - he once was arrested in a crack house. In October, he tested positive for cocaine, thereby violating his probation and was sentenced to jail. But he died just six days later of a heart attack.
Caminiti made one other major splash in baseball. It didn't come on the field and it made him a pariah among his former colleagues. His achievement? He was the first to speak frankly about his use of steroids - and the widespread presence of steroids in the game.
Caminiti told Sports Illustrated he was on steroids during the 1996 season and used them the rest of his career. He admitted he hit the ball harder and farther while on steroids. Further, he said that half the major leaguers used the drugs. He was not the only one making such a claim - in the same article, former player Chad Curtis put the number at 40-50 percent of big leaguers.
The initial reaction was shock and awe. Then anger. Caminiti is lying, players and those around the game said. Who can believe him - he's a drug addict, etc. As could be expected, the backlash was so harsh, the personal attacks so cruel that Caminiti later backtracked and said his estimates of others' use were unfounded.
It wasn't the first time a sports figure was browbeaten into backtracking and Caminiti's retraction had a hollow, let's-forget-about-this ring to it.
Fast forward to this fall when grand jury testimony regarding the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) and steroids was leaked.
New York Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi admitted using steroids and injected human growth hormone and getting supplies from Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds' personal trainer.
Bonds' testimony was leaked a few days later. Bonds essentially admitted using some of the same substances that Anderson gave Giambi but claimed he didn't know what they were, a sort of the-dog-ate-my-homework equivocation.
The 40-year-old Bonds, it's been well noted, has dramatically transformed his body over the years becoming brawnier as he's aged and hitting more home runs. (I don't know about you, but I didn't get stronger and beefier when I approached 40.)
Who knows where else the BALCO investigation will lead or what its impact will be on baseball. Or if fans will care. But one thing seems certain: Caminiti died with a lot of folks owing him an apology.
To be sure, there's still no way to say how accurate he was. But he was the first to speak so bluntly about steroids - he didn't even think using them was a bad thing - and was castigated for it. Players branded him a low-life and said the media set out to stir things up.
Yet now it's clear Caminiti, unlike some, had no agenda and had nothing to hide.