CAMINITI STRUGGLES TO FIND ELUSIVE 'HANDLE'

Agent, Attorney Say Former Astros' Player 'Doing Everything' To Fight
Substance Abuse

Brushing her hair away from her face, 19-year-old LaToya Bowman spoke
softly about her brief relationship with Ken Caminiti.

During a recent interview at the Harris County Jail, she looked down while
she spoke and quietly described what she said was a troubled man.

Though she'd known him only a few days before they both were arrested on
drug charges last month, Bowman said Caminiti had confided in her and asked
for advice about dealing with his estranged wife.

"He was a nice person, but he seemed to have issues at home," Bowman said.

How Caminiti, once considered one of baseball's best players, wound up with
Bowman in a southwest Houston motel room littered with crack cocaine, is a
question that saddens as well as baffles many of those closest to him.
Piecing together the details of the months before his arrest is difficult,
but a series of interviews sheds some light on how hard it can be for even
a tough-as-nails competitor to fight substance abuse.

Bowman, Caminiti, 38, and Cedric Palmer, 23, are charged with possession of
less than a gram of a controlled substance. They are scheduled to be
arraigned Dec. 19.

Caminiti, the former Houston Astros and San Diego Padres third baseman, is
free on $2,000 bail. Bowman and Palmer remain jailed in lieu of bails of
$2,000 and $15,000, respectively. Palmer has a higher bail because he is a
convicted felon.

Admitting that she has used drugs, Bowman said she had recently moved to
Houston from Louisiana and had heard Caminiti's name when her friends spoke
about Houston's drug scene. She said she watched him smoke crack cocaine
when they were together.

Caminiti did not return phone messages left at his home. His attorney, Kent
Schaffer, said Caminiti was out of town "doing everything that's necessary
to restore his health." He refused to say whether that means he has
returned to a rehab program.

Soon after his arrest, Caminiti spoke about getting "himself straight,"
said Rick Licht, his agent and close friend.

"In the time I spent with him the last week or two weeks ago," said Licht,
"he said he was focused and determined to get everything together."

It's not the first time.

In 1994, while with the Astros, Caminiti announced to the public that he
had abused alcohol for years but said he had beaten his "disease." A
subsequent article in the Los Angeles Times recounted a dramatic epiphany.

It was late one night in October 1993, according to the article, and
Caminiti was speeding through Houston streets with tears streaming down his
face. He made it home safely, but vowed to kick his alcohol habit. He
checked into a rehab clinic the next morning.

According to reports, Caminiti remained sober for about three years. During
that time, he was traded to San Diego and in 1996 was named the National
League's Most Valuable Player.

But he started drinking again, explaining in another Times article that he
drank, in part, because he had "voids" in his life and feelings of "self-hate."

His father, Lee Caminiti, said his son appeared to have a "handle" on his
alcohol abuse after another rehab stint in September 2000. But he said
injuries last season with the Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves and wayward
friends in Houston may have led his son astray.

Licht said he thought Caminiti had been sober for about 13 months before
his arrest.

"I would like to try to get him away from Houston," said Lee Caminiti. "He
just knows too many people there."

Caminiti has said he wants to remain in the area to be near his three young
daughters.

Sometime late in the afternoon or early evening of Nov. 13, Caminiti and
two other men checked into room 2025 at the Ramada Limited, said Omar
Arizpe, the motel's front desk clerk. One of Caminiti's companions used a
California driver's license to book the room, though another motel manager
said that man's name could not be released.

The motel's night security guard said he saw a woman with the men. He said
he had often seen her at the motel but did not know her name. Bowman said
another woman, a friend whom she refused to name, had also been in the room
but left before police arrived.

The next morning, one of Caminiti's companions booked the room for another
night, Arizpe said.

About 3:30 that afternoon, five deputies arrived at the door. Earlier,
federal officers with a drug-enforcement team had stopped a man driving
Caminiti's Mercedes-Benz in Fort Bend County because they suspected the car
had been stolen.

The driver, who was not identified by police, told them Caminiti had given
him permission to drive the car and that he was at the motel room,
according to court records. Fearful Caminiti may have been hurt in a
robbery, the deputies went to the room.

Bowman opened the door when they knocked. Inside, they smelled burning
crack cocaine. A Harris County prosecutor claimed deputies saw what
appeared to be cocaine "all over the room" and crack-cocaine pipes made
from a Coca-Cola can and a water bottle.

Palmer was lying on the bed. Deputies said they found Caminiti in the
bathroom with two more crack pipes. A white, powdery substance was on his
wallet, they said.

Palmer, who was convicted of a state felony for possession of less than 1
gram of a controlled substance in 1996 and pleaded guilty to unauthorized
use of a motor vehicle in 1995, refused to speak about his relationship
with Caminiti or why he was in the room.

But in an interview from jail, he said that he was asleep when police
officers arrived and that he did not know anyone in the room had drugs or
used them.

A woman who identified herself as Palmer's aunt, said the man driving
Caminiti's car that day was one of her nephews. The woman, who asked not to
be identified, said her nephew told her that he had known Caminiti for more
than a year and that he frequently drove Caminiti's cars. She said he told
her that he had driven Caminiti's Mercedes-Benz the day of the arrest to
pick up his fiancee and child.

Ultimately, how Caminiti ended up in the motel room with Palmer and Bowman
is not the main issue.

Some of his friends wonder whether his play-with-pain ethos was born of the
same machismo that led to his hard living off the field. He put too much
pressure on himself to play despite injuries, they said. He doesn't want to
let his teammates down.

A famous story from his days with the Padres relates how, just before a
game, he was curled up on the floor in pain for hours after eating bad food
the night before. He was receiving intravenous fluids to combat severe
dehydration.

When the game started, he ripped the needle from his arm, demanded a
Snickers bar and hit two home runs to lead his team to a 8-0 win over the
New York Mets. Later in the game, he was helped to the trainer's table and
the IV was replaced.

Licht recalled another game when Caminiti was close to being scratched from
the lineup because of a cracked toenail, but he pulled it out with a pair
of pliers, taped the wound and played.

"He takes being part of a team very seriously," Licht said.

In his 1994 announcement, Caminiti said, "I felt I wasn't playing to my
potential, and it was hurting me on the field and hurting my teammates with
what I was doing off the field."

Lee Caminiti said his son's most recent slip occurred because his son
failed to keep up with the recovery program he started in 2000. He wanted
to stay sober, but he thought he could do so on his own.

"If it was up to willpower," said Lee Caminiti, "he wouldn't be doing this
right now."