Tony Campana

The 2011 Tony Conigliaro Award winner, Anthony Edward “Tony” Campana, overcame cancer and a lack of size to make the major leagues as a backup outfielder known mostly for speed.1

Only 5-feet-8 and 165 pounds, the left-handed Campana exuded self-confidence. After spending a month in the majors, he boasted, “I’d like to challenge anyone in the league to a race.”2  Campana “said he could oppose Nyjer Morgan, Michael Bourn, Dee Gordon, and ‘Got to add another white guy, so put Brett Gardner in there.’”3

Campana had a great deal of faith in his ability to steal bases in large quantities. “[I]f I played every day and did what I hope I could do at the plate, I could give myself a chance to get close to 100,” he said.4

Campana was born into an athletic family in Kettering, Ohio, on May 30, 1986. His mother, Faye, was a gymnast at Indiana State University and has coached and judged gymnastics.5 His father, Mike (a steel salesman), and his uncle Tom played football at Eastern Illinois University and Ohio State University respectively. Faye and Mike’s two daughters Alex and Nikki, also went in for sports.

Bald as a boy due to chemo treatments he endured to fend off Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a diagnosis he received as a 7-year-old6 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center,7 Campana said in 2015, “I was just a sick kid and knew I needed to get better. It was probably scarier for my parents than for me. As a result, I have fun doing everything I do and no regrets about anything.”8

At the time, of course, Campana had some scary moments. He “once rolled over while sleeping in his hospital bed, dislodging a needle and waking in a pool of blood. But six months of treatment worked, and after years of regular checkups, Campana was declared cancer-free during high school.”9

Campana used his illness as a self-motivational tool. “That’s how I grew up – being a fighter,” he said. “People tell me I can’t do something because I’m sick, because I’m too small, I’m not going to listen to them. I’m going to show them I can.”10

Attending Springboro High near Dayton, Ohio, Campana had a .418 batting average his senior year and made all-area in football. In college, he batted over.300 each of his four years. “After calling everyone I could out of high school,” Campana walked-on at the University of North Carolina-Asheville11 and played there for two years before transferring to the University of Cincinnati for two more. In his freshman year, he hit .321 before falling off slightly as a sophomore to .315. As a junior, he batted .329 and set a school record that still stands with an NCAA-leading 60 stolen bases while making second team all-Big East. In his senior year, his one scholarship season, he upped his hitting to .33812 and made first team all-Big East along with future Pittsburgh star and minor-league teammate Josh Harrison. At the end of the 2015 season, Campana held three other University of Cincinnati records, for career stolen bases (104), at-bats in a season (263), and steals in a game (6).13

The Chicago Cubs drafted Campana in the 13th round of the June 2008 free-agent draft, with his signing credited to scout Lukas McKnight. The Cubs sent Campana to the short-season Boise Hawks, where he broke his hand stealing second in the first inning. “I finished the game, went back to my host family, and iced my hand all night, but it blew up like a balloon. The rest of the year I stopped sliding headfirst into second and didn’t resume doing so until two years later at Double A.”

This unfortunate beginning notwithstanding, at each level Campana stole lots of bases, swiping 22 in 25 games in 2008, 66 in 2009, and 48 in 2010. Off to a strong start with Triple-A Iowa in 2011, Campana joined the plodding Cubs in May 2011.14 “I got called up with [pitcher] Scott Maine,” Campana said. “He had been up to the majors before and thought we would cab from the airport to the park, but my parents picked us up. My mom was crying. I left 50 tickets for the game, but didn’t know I had to pay for them. Kerry Wood ended up taking care of it.”

The Cubs’ manager at the time, Mike Quade, said, “He can fly. So if we have a lead and I can inject him somewhere to make a difference defensively or come up and steal a base, we’re going to do that.”15

Campana saw his call-up as a blow for the little guy: “When I was in high school, all the coaches I talked to said, ‘You’re a little too small to play college ball,’” he told the Chicago Tribune. “Then once I transferred to Cincinnati, they were like, ‘Well, he’s probably a little too small to play pro ball.’ Then finally I got drafted and they were like, ‘Well, he’s fast. Let’s see if anything else happens.’”16

Campana immediately contributed with his bat, legs, and glove. On May 17 he debuted against Cincinnati, the big-league team closest to his hometown. Pinch-running for Alfonso Soriano, Campana scored on a bases-loaded walk to put the Cubs up 4-3 in the seventh inning. Facing Jordan Smith with two on and one out in the eighth, he “got a first-pitch fastball that was probably a ball and pulled a double past Joey Votto” to put Chicago up 5-3. (In the eighth the Reds got four unearned runs off Kerry Wood.)

The next day Campana pinch-ran, stole a base, and scored on a groundout. On May 26, he got his first start, had three hits, and made two sliding catches. “He got an ovation … for nearly beating out a grounder to first,” the Tribune reported.17 On May 30 Campana turned 25, and celebrated by becoming the first Cub in nearly five seasons to steal four bases in a game.18

Campana homered on August 5 against Cincinnati. According to the Tribune, he was “the first Cub to have his first career home run be an inside-the-park-homer at Wrigley Field,”19 on a hit that “barely cleared the infield,”20 then “bounced off the left-field wall and past a fielder.”21 “When I got back in the locker room, I had, like, 64 text messages, something outrageous like that,” he said. “I had to turn my phone on silent because I was still getting text messages at 2 o’clock in the morning.”22

The hit was Campana’s lone homer in 477 plate appearances through 2015. His bat quickly cooled, and Quade used the youngster irregularly. A trade-deadline analysis of the Chicago roster said of Campana: “Cubs like his speed, though not enough to play him. Not much market for a designated pinch-runner.”23

Campana had so little power that he rarely even homered in batting practice. When he did so in September 2011, the Cubs commemorated the occasion by smashing pie in his face,24 a sure sign of a bad team with little to celebrate. Chicago finished 25 games out of first place at 71-91.

A fan favorite, Campana mostly appreciated the attention: “It’s kind of an honor. I hope it’s because of the way I play and not because I’m a small guy. I like that people enjoy watching me play. It’s cool.”25

Campana swiped 24 bases in 26 attempts in his rookie year, finishing second in the NL in stolen-base percentage. He sought to get stronger before the 2012 season and reported in January that he had “gained 10 pounds of muscle working out since November in Mesa, Ariz.”26

The added bulk did not help Campana make the 2012 Cubs to start the season; Chicago kept nonroster invitee Joe Mather instead.27 Campana was sent to Iowa. The Cubs recalled recalled him in April after selling fellow outfielder Marlon Byrd to Boston. Under new skipper Dale Sveum, who planned to give him 80 percent of the starts in center field,28 Campana helped Chicago beat rival St. Louis on April 24 with a 10th-inning single, a controversial stolen base,29 and a walk-off run scored.

On April 27 Campana had two infield hits, two more runs, and a stolen base in a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. On April 29, in another 5-1 victory against Philadelphia, he again had two hits, two runs, and a steal. He won praise from his manager for tallying on an infield weed-killer:  “It’s going to be very, very difficult to ever throw him out when you let him go on contact on a ground ball, You’ve got to be perfect with the throw because he’s so fast,” Sveum said.30

In a May 22 loss to the Houston Astros, in what a beat reporter later called “the Cubs’ play of the year”31 and Campana called “the coolest play I’ve ever been a part of,” he sped from first to third after an errant pickoff throw to first. As he rounded second, “third baseman Matt Downs took a throw from Carlos Lee, but Campana leaped over Downs, [clearing] Downs’ glove with enough room to spare that umpire Bill Welke could see it. His momentum carried him past third base, but he reversed course and scrambled back before Downs could tag him.”32

By June 24 Campana was leading the majors with 24 steals, but was losing playing time to other outfielders.33 In August, to get him more playing time and to shake up a losing roster, the Cubs returned Campana to Iowa, then recalled him in September after the rosters expanded. Despite the time in the minors, Campana set career highs in plate appearances, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, steals, walks, and sacrifices. His 30 stolen bases ranked ninth in the National League. Caught just three times, he again finished second in stolen-base percentage.

The Cubs had dipped to 61-101 in 2012.  After the season, Campana returned to Venezuela, where he had also played in 2010. Back in the United States, he would not long remain with Chicago. After picking up outfielder Scott Hairston, Chicago designated Campana for assignment in February 2013.  The Cubs hoped to keep him in the organization but wound up trading him to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a pair of minor-league pitchers. Campana played in just 29 games for the Diamondbacks in 2013. In one memorable game, he walked five times and scored the winning run in an 18-inning marathon against Philadelphia on August 24.

On December 7, 2013, Campana married Whitney Lawson, whom he met through a teammate, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

On April 10, 2014, Campana put together the only four-hit game of his career, at San Francisco. One of the hits was a two-out, two-strike single in the 10th off Yusmeiro Petit that gave Arizona a 6-5 victory.” But overall, Campana struggled for Arizona. Batting only .143 coming into a June 18 game against Milwaukee, he did deliver a walk-off hit to beat the Milwaukee Brewers. “My first career walk-off,” he said. “Probably (at any level).  I don’t think I’ve ever done it in the minor leagues either.”34

Nevertheless, the Diamondbacks the next morning sent Campana back to the minors. “I told him going out the door, ‘You can be better than that,’ manager Kirk Gibson said. “I emphasized to him hitting the ball on the ground more. Not to say he can’t hit line drives, but if he hits the ball in the air, it’s going to be an out.”35

“Gibson treated me really well,” Campana said. “He was really intense. I liked his football mentality, having grown up around it.”

Campana did not stay with the Arizona organization long, going to the Angels as part of a four-player trade soon after being sent down. While he inspired a sportswriter to describe him in spring training in 2014 as “a spitfire sparkplug with a pretty good glove who can get on base and steal bags about as easy as a purse snatcher in a room full of blind grannies,”36 he stole just nine bases in 18 attempts for Salt Lake, the Triple-A affiliate of the Angels.

Recalled again after rosters expanded and used mostly as a pinch-runner, Campana did have a second 2014 batting highlight, on September 15. Hitting in the slot of Albert Pujols, who had been injured, Campana knocked in two runs that helped cement an 8-1 win over Seattle that made the Angels the first team to clinch a spot in the 2014 playoffs.37 

After the season Campana became a free agent after turning down a minor-league assignment.38  He came back to Chicago via an invitation to spring training with the White Sox, but tore his ACL while box jumping in February before spring training had even begun.39 “I knew right away that something was wrong,” he said.

On March 3, 2015, Chicago released Campana. Several months after the injury, he seemed most scarred by his having lost his health-care coverage. “I never knew how much health insurance was until I had to pay for it,” he said.

Relieving the financial burden and professional uncertainty, on August 11, 2015, Washington signed Campana to a two-year minor-league contract. In a close division race, the Nationals would have activated Campana and used him as a late-season pinch-runner, but after the Mets surged, he ended up sitting out the entire 2015 season.40

Going into the 2016 season, Campana seemed a longshot to make a major-league roster. “I’m going to try to compete for a spot in Washington,” he said. “If I don’t make it, I will work my butt off in Syracuse to get to Washington.”

Campana was released by the Nationals in June and spent the latter half of 2016 with the Chicago White Sox’s Triple-A club in Charlotte. He became a free agent at the end of the season and then spent several years in the Mexican League before retiring after the 2021 season.

Campana admirably overcome adversity with a winning personality and a career characterized by a handful of memorable moments, most of which his blazing speed made possible. 

Last revised: March 1, 2022

Notes

1 “Send Tony Campana back to his gnome world to make sure wizards cast spells on opposing pitchers,” suggested a group of wits. Brian Moore, Phil Thompson, Scott Bolohan, Clark Jones, and John Dooley, “GET A W,” Chicago Tribune, May 15, 2012.  When Chicago pitcher Matt Garza borrowed an idea from his Tampa days and proposed the Cubs dress up as superheroes, Campana appropriately went as the Flash. Paul Sullivan, “Nothing heroic about weekend,” Chicago Tribune, July 23, 2012.

2 Paul Sullivan, “A Blue Blazer,” Chicago Tribune, June 15, 2011.

3 John Shea, “Jim Thome Has Clean Reputation Amid Steroid Era,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 14, 2011.

4 Paul Sullivan, “Campana Thinking Triple Digits,” Chicago Tribune, May 3, 2012.

5 See gtcohio.com/gtco-info/coaches-page/10-faye (accessed December 17, 2015).

6 Patrick S., “Determination, Hustle and Tony Campana,” January 18, 2011 at chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2011/01/cubstonycampana.php (accessed December 17, 2015).

7 Nick Gates, “Campana Determined to Succeed,” Knoxville News Sentinel, May 4, 2010.

8 Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations attributed to Campana come from a telephone interview conducted December 19, 2015. The author thanks Campana for taking the time to talk and to Brett Bick of Pro Star Management for arranging the interview.

9 Tyler Kepner, “The Cubs’ Cincinnati Kid,” New York Times, June 4, 2011.

10 Tom Haudricourt, “After Their Plunge, Pirates Hope to Stay Afloat,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 13, 2011.

11 In the 10th game of his freshman year, Campana singled off future big leaguer Darren O’Day and scored the winning run as UNC-Asheville beat Florida 8-5.  “Asheville Holds Back Florida Late,” Gainesville Sun, March 10, 2005.

12 All batting averages in this paragraph come from gobearcats.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/campana_tony00.html (accessed December 17, 2015).

13 See issuu.com/ucbearcats/docs/2015_media_giude_-_final (accessed December 17, 2015).

14 Chicago had just 69 stolen bases as a team in 2011. Playing part-time for just part of the season, Campana had 24 with the Cubs.

15 “Campana Fills Cubs’ Big Need for Speed,” Chicago Tribune, May 19, 2011.

16 “Major Setback in Cashner’s Rehab,” Chicago Tribune, May 18, 2011.

17 Paul Sullivan, “Another Veteran Arm Joins the Mix,” Chicago Tribune, May 27, 2011.

18 Paul Sullivan, “Add Sori to the Story,” Chicago Tribune, May 31, 2011.

19 Toni Ginnetti, “Cubs’ Tony Campana Hears Buzz About Historic Homer,” Chicago Sun-Times, August 7, 2011.

20 Dave van Dyck, “‘Z’ Hits His Tee-Off Time,” Chicago Tribune, August 7, 2011.

21 Dave van Dyck, “This Homer an Inside Job,” Chicago Tribune, August 6, 2011.

22 Dave van Dyck, “Big Day, Then Back to Bench,” Chicago Tribune, August 7, 2011.

23 Paul Sullivan, “Blowing Through the Trade Winds,” Chicago Tribune, July 29, 2011.

24 Paul Sullivan, “2011’s Best?  (Crickets),” Chicago Tribune, September 23, 2011.

25 Paul Sullivan, “Following No Small Thing,” Chicago Tribune, February 22, 2012.

26 Paul Sullivan, “Epstein:  Wood a ‘No-Brainer,’” Chicago Tribune, January 12, 2012.

27 Paul Sullivan, “Sveum Confident Rotation Is Better,” Chicago Tribune, March 31, 2012.

28 Paul Sullivan, “Cubs Have Leg Up on Halladay,” Chicago Tribune, April 28, 2012.

29 “Umpire Bill Welke ruled that Campana got past [Tyler] Greene’s tag after a dart from catcher Yadier Molina beat the speedy Campana to the base. Before teammate Rafael Furcal pushed him away and [manager Mike] Matheny arrived, Greene argued that Campana still hadn’t touched the bag. ‘He was out 100 percent,’ Greene insisted after the game. ‘For one, I tagged him. Two, he never touched the bag. He missed it, plain and simple. He had my foot the whole time. So he was out.’” Derrick Goold, “Umpires Confound Cardinals,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 25, 2012.

30 Paul Sullivan, “Now That’s ‘Cool,’” Chicago Tribune, April 30, 2012.

31 Phil Rogers, “All-City Pretty Gritty,” Chicago Tribune, June 17, 2012.

32 Phil Rogers, “Campana Flying High on the Run,” Chicago Tribune, May 24, 2012.

33 Paul Sullivan, “Running Game Hits Skids in Last Month,” Chicago Tribune, June 24, 2012.

34 Nathan Brown, “Tony Campana’s RBI Single Lifts Arizona Diamondbacks Over Milwaukee Brewers,” Arizona Republic, June 19, 2014.

35 Scott Bordow, “Arizona Diamondbacks Send Tony Campana Back to Minors,” Arizona Republic, June 19, 2014.

36 Bob McManaman, “Arizona Diamondbacks’ Tony Campana Hopes to Parlay Speed Into Job,” Arizona Republic, March 12, 2014.

37 Mike DiGiovanna, “Angels Clinch Playoff Berth in 8-1 Win Over Mariners,” Los Angeles Times, September 15, 2014.

38 Mike DiGiovanna, “Angels Pick Up Closer Huston Street’s 2015 Option for $7 Million,” Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2014.

39 Colleen Kane, “The Lineup,” Chicago Tribune, February 11, 2015.

40 Chelsea Janes, “Nationals Sign Outfielder Tony Campana to a Minor League Deal,” Washington Post, August 11, 2015.