CHICAGO — Christopher Kamka spends every day digging for statistical gold.
The stats coordinator at Comcast SportsNet Chicago uses his lifetime of sports knowledge with a passion for finding historical and other hidden nuggets on Chicago's teams.
"I've consumed so much sports stuff over the years, and I know what I've seen," said Kamka, 36, an Illinois Center for Broadcasting graduate. "What I want to provide is something no one else has seen."
As a child, Kamka carried a binder filled with sports cards everywhere. He had the cards organized by sport, and the sport organized by other facets: Like NHL by players' countries, NBA by players' heights.
He started as an intern at Comcast Sports Net in 2009 hoping to become a broadcaster, but realized he brought much more to the table as a provider of stats.
He sends up to 50 tweets a day, sometimes researching and double-checking the information for two hours.
"If this is something that no one else has and people would be interested to know, that extra time is well worth doing," said Kamka, of suburban Wheeling. "A lot of this comes from years of watching the games and having a knack for knowing what's rare, what's a record."
Justin Breen tells us about stats that make you go, "hmmm."
Kamka's finds are used on pre- and postgame shows for Chicago's various clubs filmed at the network's Downtown studios, and during live game broadcasts when he sometimes works in TV trucks at the parks or stadiums.
Even when he's not working, sports fill up a big portion of Kamka's life. A main photo on his Twitter page is of Michael King Kelly, a baseball star of the late 1800s who played for the Chicago White Stockings (the predecessor for the Cubs). Kamka spends much of his free time researching 19th Century baseball just for fun.
He can also thank the game for finding his fiancee, Janet. He met her on Sept. 4, 2011, after approaching her at a Wrigley Field shop. They will be married Sept. 3, a day before their five-year anniversary.
For those looking into having a career in stats or sports, Kamka has a simple message: "Find what you're good at and use it to your advantage."
Check out some of Kamka's favorite statistical tweets below:
Adam Eaton: first #WhiteSox player with leadoff HBP to start season since Bill Knickerbocker in 1941 (vs Bob Feller)
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) April 5, 2016
Sammy Sosa has most regular season HR hit in the city of Chicago (312). 312 is a Chicago area code (Wrigley Field used to be 312; now 773).
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) July 10, 2015
Career Postseason HR leaders - Chicago teams:@whitesox - 7 by Paul Konerko (turns 40 today)@cubs - 5 by Kyle Schwarber (turns 23 today)
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) March 5, 2016
Jose Abreu: good. #WhiteSox pic.twitter.com/yUiUU2pb3V
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) March 19, 2016
Frank Thomas, Anthony Rizzo & Kyle Schwarber.
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) February 17, 2016
20 triples in 2,987 combined MLB games.
All three tripled for first career MLB hit.
Thursday night, Anthony Rizzo recorded his first "Rizzo" of the season (H, BB, HBP in same game). He led MLB with 5 of them in 2015 #Cubs
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) April 10, 2016
Career batters faced to reach 1,000 career Strikeouts (notables):
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) March 5, 2016
3,514 Chris Sale
3,919 Clayton Kershaw
4,206 Randy Johnson
September 24, 2011:
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) March 20, 2015
J.A. Happ
J.B. Shuck
J.C. Romero &
J.D. Martinez all appear in same box score.
Fleischmann from Teravainen & Hjalmarsson sets new season high for most last name letters (32) for #Blackhawks on a goal. #StuffThatMatters
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) March 4, 2016
Tonight - 5th time this season Corey Crawford has had perfect 3rd period of 15+ shots faced #Blackhawks #CrOwMG pic.twitter.com/UoPPrTiyM6
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) February 3, 2016
9:04 of OT is deepest into a #Blackhawks scoreless playoff game since Cully Dahlstrom broke 0-0 tie at 33:01 of OT 3/31/1938 vs NY Americans
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) April 14, 2016
Kane & Toews scoring goal in same game:
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) April 6, 2016
58-6-4 regular season (25-0-0 in last 25; 13-0-0 this season)
6-0 in playoffs#Blackhawks
Patrick Kane #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/5vR2XFfimn
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) April 11, 2016
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