Ken Caminiti, the 15-year veteran of Major League Baseball best known for his years with the San Diego Padres and Houston Astros, also a member of the Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers, passed away Sunday of an apparent heart attack at age 41. Concrete cause of death has yet to be determined, pending an autopsy to be performed in New York City.

Caminiti, a three-time Gold Glove winner for his work at third base and a unanimous selection as the 1996 National League MVP, left baseball after the 2001 season and admitted to steroid use, as well as battling problems with drugs and alcohol. He returned to spring training this season as an instructor with San Diego. He is survived by his ex-wife and daughters.

Those are the facts, but the body shot dealt to fans and fellow players around the world can?t be described just in the details of Caminiti?s death, nor the statistics of his outstanding career.

To me, he was just Cammy.

I was ten when he joined the Padres in 1995, along with other people who?d come to be my heroes, like Steve Finley. For the years he was with us, the way he played encouraged me to tackle life with the same all-out work ethic. I dare to say that the ?no surrender, no retreat? skill I saw out of Cammy on the field made me into the fighter, both as an athlete and as a person, that I am today. I always knew I could count on him to be there.

He was Cammy. No cute Bermanisms, no imposing nicknames, he was just Cammy, the rock that would be there if the stadium caught on fire and the world ended the following day. My admiration of his tenacity knew no bounds. As I grew up, year after year, he was one of the heroes I always came back to.

When he left after the 1998 season, things just weren?t the same. And they haven?t been since. No offense to Sean Burroughs, whom I adore dearly and who clearly is meant for a future here, but Cammy was the one who it started with. The heroes I grew up with will always be first in my memories, and Cammy was one of them.

Even after he left the team, even after his admissions of steroid use and problems with drugs and alcohol, he always had my unconditional respect and support. After all, Cammy was human. My thoughts and prayers were always with him over the years, supporting him as he attempted to turn his life around, hoping things would work out all right for him. Even at the end of his career, when he was in another uniform, I?d still see him and smile.

I?d be thinking of all the amazing plays he made at third base, even when he was hurt or any other sane person wouldn?t be caught dead out on that diamond. But beyond that, I?d be thinking of the paramount lesson he represented to me: that you give life everything you have and nothing less.

I was there at spring training last year, and he could still bring a smile to my face, even then. And on September 28, 2003, when he came back from Houston for the farewell to Qualcomm worried about how we?d accept him, I was one of the people in the crowd giving him the standing ovation he deserved for fighting on. Despite his misguided times, at his heart and soul, that was what Ken Caminiti was, a fighter.

He needn?t have worried about us. He?ll always be a hero in my book, for the things that he?s done and the things he?s taught me. He?s forgiven, but he will not be forgotten.

Like Rob Neyer wrote Monday morning, ?It seems strange, a world without Ken Caminiti.?

It won?t ever be the same.