Former Braves pitcher Rick Camp dead at 60

Former Atlanta Braves pitcher Rick Camp was found dead in his northwest Georgia home Thursday morning.

The 60-year-old Camp was found at his home in Rydal, about 55 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta, said Bartow County coroner Joel Guyon said. Authorities were unclear on Thursday on Camp’s cause of death.

Camp played with the Braves from 1976 to 1985 and went 56-49 with a 3.37 ERA in 65 starts and 349 relief appearances. The Trion, Georgia, native is perhaps best remembered for his tying 18th-inning homer off Tom Gorman on July 4, 1985, a game that ended with the New York Mets winning 16-13 in the 19th inning.

Camp entered the game with a .060 career batting average and no home runs in 167 previous at-bats. Camp hit because the Braves had no one left to bat for him except other pitchers.

“If this team needs me to hit a home run to win a game, they’re in trouble,” Camp said.

That was the only big league homer by Camp, who finished with a .074 average (13 for 175).

The game went until 3.55am on July 5, and was followed by a fireworks display for the approximately 8,000 still left from an original crowd of 44,947.

“I’ll never forget this one,” the Braves’ Dale Murphy said.

Camp was released by the Braves just before the start of the 1986 season.

He became a lobbyist, was indicted by a federal grand jury and sentenced in 2005 to three years in prison for conspiring to steal more than US$2 million from a mental health agency.

He was sentenced along with four others, including former state Representative Robin Williams, who was ordered to serve 10 years.