Cameron goes crazy

When a sports fan hears the term "Cameron Crazy", one thinks of college basketball and the Duke University fans who overflow Cameron Indoor Stadium to chant epithets -- to them, really clever epithets -- at the visiting team prior to an inevitable loss.\nThat is going to have to change.\nThat's because Mariners outfielder Mike Cameron went absolutely nuts Thursday when he hit four home runs in a game against the Chicago White Sox. He became the first American League player to do it since Rocky Colavito went deep four times for the Indians against Baltimore in 1959.\nHe is also only the 13th player in history to go deep four times. To put that in perspective, only 17 perfect games have been pitched.\nEven in an era when baseballs are supposedly juiced, pitching is supposedly terrible and ballparks are supposedly phone booth-sized, Cameron is the first player to nail four dingers since Mark Whiten in September 1993.\nWhen asked during his post-game press conference what was going through his mind, Cameron said, "I wasn't thinking of anything."\nBritney Spears, watching the press conference at home, said, "Hey, who told him my secret to success?"\nFor the White Sox, Cameron's outburst had to hurt especially hard. Coming up through their farm system, Cameron played for the White Sox from 1995-1998. He had a very nice minor league career and became a hot prospect. White Sox fans thought he was going to be the White Sox best centerfielder since Jim Landis or maybe Johnny Mostil in the 1920s. Forget Lance Johnson, Rudy Law or Chet Lemon. Cameron had a disappointing start to his big league career, though. He languished on the bench, and when he did play, he didn't play well.\nNow, most teams, when they have a very young but obviously talented and underachieving player, might just hang on to that 25-year-old outfielder and change their approach to coaching him. \nThe White Sox don't do business this way. After hitting .210 in 1998, the White Sox traded him to Cincinnati for Paul Konerko. Cameron found out while watching television in the Dominican Republic. The White Sox, who still operate on the old-school principle that a trade is punishment, didn't think to even call him.\nYou would have thought the White Sox learned their lesson. After all, they traded an outfielder who hit .203 in 1991, and he somehow managed to turn his career around. His name: Sammy Sosa. Heard of him?\nAnd everybody says the Cubs are the Chicago franchise that makes stupid trades.\nKonerko has never made the All-Star team, is as slow as a 28k modem and wears a glove at first base like Marlon Brando wears a Speedo -- very uncomfortably. Furthermore, anybody with an iota of baseball knowledge knows that home run-hitting centerfielders who steal 30 bases a year and play great defense are more valuable than a slugging first baseman with virtually no other skills. Cameron made the All-Star team last year, distinguishing himself among a team seemingly full of All-Stars that included Ichiro Suzuki, Bret Boone and John Olerud. The Mariners wound up going 116-46 and set the American League record for wins.\nThe White Sox, meanwhile, performing a seminar in the subject of "Giving Credit Where It's Due" hit Cameron with a pitch in the seventh inning and then sent down Jon Rauch and Jim Parque, the two pitchers who combined to give up Cameron's big flies, to the minors after the game. After all, Cameron is still a bum, and the only reason why he hit four homers was the awful pitching, right?\nHey, when the White Sox don't want you, they really don't want you. And when the President who wants to invite you to the White House after your most recent world championship is President Wilson, you don't want to change your approach to how you treat young players.\nAbsolutely crazy.