Jose began his career in 1985 with the Oakland Athletics.  He played for the Oakland Athletics 1985-92, 1997, Texas Rangers 1992-94, Boston Red Sox 1995-96, Toronto Blue Jays 1998, Tampa Bay Devil Rays 1999-2000 and Chicago White Sox 2001.  During his career, he played in 1887 games and pounded out 1877 hits (including 340 doubles, 14 triples and 462 HR's) in 7057 at bats for a .266 batting average.  Jose drew 906 walks, drove in 1407 runs and scored 1186 runs.  Jose was a 6x AL All-Star, was named the 196 AL Rookie of the Year, was awarded the 1988 AL MVP Award, was named the 1994 AL Comeback Player of the Year, hit 462 HR's, became the first player in major league history to hit 40 HR's and steal 40 bases in the same season and was a member of both the 1989 World Champion Oakland Athletics as well as the 2000 World Champion New York Yankees.  Jose signed the sweet spot of this OML Allan H. Selig baseball with a blue ballpoint pen and he also inscribed underneath his name, “89 World Champs”, to note his affiliation with the great team. He signed this baseball on Saturda April 16, 2011.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia...

Early years

Canseco was born in Havana, Cuba, and left Cuba with his cousins and family when he and his identical twin brother were infants. They relocated to the United States, with José and Ozzie growing up in the Miami, Florida area, and attending Coral Park High School. Canseco did not attend college, having been drafted in the 15th round by the Oakland Athletics in 1982.^[1] He first received high regard for his remarkable power at his early minor league stops with the Madison Muskies in Madison, Wisconsin,^[2] Idaho Falls A's, in Idaho Falls, Idaho and the Modesto A's in Modesto, California. Canseco started the 1985 season with the AA Huntsville Stars and became known as "Parkway Jose", for his long home runs (25 in half a season), that went close to the Memorial Parkway behind Joe Davis Stadium.

Major league career (1985–2001)

Oakland A's (1985-92)

In 1985, Canseco won the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year Award, and was a late season call-up for the Oakland A's, playing in 29 games in the major leagues in 1985. He gained notoriety in 1986, his first full season, being named the American League's Rookie of the Year, with 33 home runs and 117 runs batted in. In 1987, Mark McGwire joined Canseco on the Athletics; McGwire hit 49 home runs that year and was also named the American League Rookie of the Year. Together, he and Canseco formed a fearsome offensive tandem, known as the "Bash Brothers".

In 1988, Canseco became the first player in major league history to hit at least 40 home runs and steal at least 40 bases in the same year, by hitting 42 home runs and stealing 40 bases. After that, the street in front of his former high school was named after him. That same year, he helped the Athletics to the World Series but they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games. Canseco was unanimously named the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1988, with a .307 batting average, 120 runs scored, 124 RBI, 42 home runs, and 40 stolen bases.

In 1989, Canseco missed all but 65 of the regular season games with a broken wrist, but he still managed to hit 17 home runs as the Athletics won their first World Series since 1974, beating the San Francisco Giants in four games. The 1989 Series was interrupted before Game 3 by a major earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Canseco came back to form in 1990, hitting 37 home runs despite being hampered in the latter part of the season by what would become a recurring back problem. The A's returned to the World Series once again, but were swept by the Cincinnati Reds in four games. Canseco continued to be productive, hitting 44 home runs in 1991, but his career hit a plateau, and in the face of frequent injuries and controversy he never accomplished what many felt he was capable of.

Texas Rangers (1992-94)

On August 31, 1992, in the middle of a game and while he was in the on-deck circle, the A's traded Canseco to the Texas Rangers for Rubén Sierra, Jeff Russell, and Bobby Witt.

On May 26, 1993, during a game against the Cleveland Indians, Carlos Martínez hit a fly ball that Canseco lost sight of as he was crossing the warning track. The ball hit him in the head and bounced over the wall for a home run.^[3] The cap^[4] Canseco was wearing on that play, which This Week in Baseball rated in 1998 as the greatest blooper of the show's first 21 years, is in the Seth Swirsky collection. After the incident, the Harrisburg Heat offered him a soccer contract.^[5] Three days later, Canseco asked his manager, Kevin Kennedy, to let him pitch the eighth inning of a runaway loss to the Boston Red Sox; he injured his arm, underwent Tommy John surgery, and was lost for the remainder of the season. In the 1994 strike shortened season, Canseco again returned to his former status of power hitter with 31 home runs and 90 RBI in 111 games. Canseco also stole 15 bases and posted a .282 batting average. He was named comeback player of the year in 1994, and finished in eleventh place in the American League Most Valuable Player voting.

Final seasons (1995-2001)

After playing with the Rangers from 1992–94, Canseco moved on to play with the Boston Red Sox from 1995-96. Following an unsuccessful return with the A's in 1997, Canseco did have a productive season again with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998, when he hit 46 home runs and stole 29 bases, the most he had stolen since the 40 he stole in 1988. He won the AL Silver Slugger award, but his comeback was missed by most fans because of the home run race in the National League between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

Canseco went to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999, where he hit 34 home runs in 114 games and was named to the AL All-Star team, until he injured his back and was lost for the season. He was claimed off waivers by the New York Yankees down the stretch in 2000, but was not a factor at all in the playoffs, making only a token appearance in one game of the World Series against the New York Mets.

Canseco played with the Chicago White Sox in 2001, after being cut by the Anaheim Angels in spring training and spending half of the season with the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League. In 2002, Canseco was signed by the Montreal Expos but was released prior to the regular season. Canseco retired in May 2002. He made a brief comeback attempt in 2004, but was not offered a spot with the Los Angeles Dodgers after a spring tryout.

Awards

His 462 career home runs rank him 32nd on the all-time list. Canseco was at one time the all-time leader in home runs among Latino players; he was later surpassed by Manny Ramirez, Carlos Delgado, Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez, and Sammy Sosa. Canseco has been distinguished four times with the Silver Slugger award: three times as an AL outfielder in 1988, 1990, and 1991, and once as a Designated Hitter in 1998.

Independent League career

On June 29, 2006, the independent Golden Baseball League announced Canseco had agreed to a one-year contract to play with the San Diego Surf Dawgs. The League said Canseco had agreed to be subjected to its drug-testing policy "that immediately expels any players found using steroids or illegal drugs."

On July 5, 2006, Canseco was traded to the Long Beach Armada after only one game. He requested the trade due to "family obligations." On July 31, 2006, Canseco won the Golden Baseball League's Home Run Derby.

Canseco signed a short team deal with the Laredo Broncos of the United Baseball League on August 14, 2010. He served as bench coach and designated hitter.^[6]

On April 11, 2011, Canseco signed a deal as a player/manager for the Yuma Scorpions of the North American League.^[6]

Steroids

In 2005, Canseco admitted to using anabolic steroids with Jorge Delgado, Damaso Moreno and Manuel Collado in a tell-all book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big. Canseco also claimed that up to 85% of major league players took steroids, a figure disputed by many in the game. In the book, Canseco specifically identified former teammates Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Giambi, Iván Rodríguez and Juan González as fellow steroid users, and admitted that he injected them.^[7] Most of the players named in the book initially denied steroid use, though Giambi admitted to steroid use in testimony before a grand jury investigating the BALCO case and on January 11, 2010, McGwire admitted publicly to using steroids.

At a Congressional hearing on the subject of steroids in sports, Palmeiro categorically denied using performance-enhancing drugs, while McGwire repeatedly and somewhat conspicuously refused to answer questions on his own suspected use, saying he "didn't want to talk about the past." Canseco's book became a New York Times bestseller. On August 1, 2005, Palmeiro was suspended for 10 days by Major League Baseball after testing positive for steroids.

On December 13, 2007, José Canseco and Jorge Delgado were cited in the Mitchell Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation Into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball.^[8]

On December 20, 2007, Canseco was also named in Jason Grimsley's unsealed affidavit as a user of steroids. Canseco and Grimsley were teammates on the 2000 New York Yankees.^[9]

On December 30, 2007, it was announced that Canseco has reached a deal for his sequel to Juiced. The new book is Vindicated, which Canseco's lawyer, Robert Saunooke, said would hit bookstores by Opening Day 2008. This book is said to have "stuff" on Alex Rodriguez, and Albert Belle as suggested by Canseco. The book will be a "clarification" of names that should've been mentioned in the Mitchell Report. On January 5, 2008, a potential editor for his upcoming book, Don Yaeger, a former Sports Illustrated associate editor, said he would not edit the book. He told the New York Daily News that he thought Canseco didn't have a book in the material he gave him. However, on February 7, 2009, Sports Illustrated reported that A-Rod did test positive during his 2003 season, which could make Canseco's book seem more real than it was believed.^[10] Finally, on Monday, February 9, 2009 A-Rod confirmed Canseco's previous allegations of steroids use in an exclusive interview; A-Rod admits to using steroids from 2001 to 2003. However, Rodriguez denied the allegations written in Canseco's book that Canseco introduced him to a steroid deal, calling that information "100% false".

After baseball

While still a player, he guest starred on The Simpsons and Nash Bridges. Since his retirement, Canseco has appeared on Late Show with David Letterman, 60 Minutes, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, "Boomer and Carton", Howard Stern, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, CMI: The Chris Myers Interview, and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. In 2003, he was featured in the reality-TV special Stripper's Ball: Jenna Jameson with Dennis Rodman and Magic Johnson.^[11] He was a cast member in Season 5 of The Surreal Life with Janice Dickinson, Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa, Bronson Pinchot, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, Caprice Bourret, and Carey Hart.^[12]

In 2007, he received 6 Hall of Fame votes. This accounted for 1.1% of the ballots, failing to reach the 5% threshold necessary to stay on the ballot for another year. However, he can be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Committee of Baseball Veterans.

In May 2008, Philadelphia sportscaster and former NFL football player Vai Sikahema accepted a challenge from Canseco to fight him for $30,000. Canseco claims to have earned black belts in Kung Fu and Taekwondo, while Sikahema fought in the Golden Gloves tournament won by Sugar Ray Leonard. The fight took place on July 12 in Atlantic City at the Bernie Robbins stadium.^[13] The 5'9" Sikahema knocked out the 6'4" Canseco in the first round.

On January 24, 2009, Canseco fought radio personality and former child actor Danny Bonaduce in Aston Township, Pennsylvania; the three-round match ended in a majority draw.^[14][15]

Canseco holds black belts in karate and taekwondo, and also practices Muay Thai.^[16] He made his mixed martial arts debut at Dream 9 on May 26, 2009, where he lost in the first round against 7'2" kickboxer and occasional mixed martial artist Choi Hong-man as part of Dream's Super Hulk Tournament.^[17][18]

On November 6, 2009, Canseco defeated Todd Poulton in a Celebrity Boxing Federation bout in Springfield, MA.^[19] As of December 2010, he has launched a Twitter campaign in hopes of getting invited to Spring Training by Mets GM Sandy Alderson.

Beginning March 6, 2011, Canseco was a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice. He quit the show on the April 3, 2011 citing his father's ailing health. Canseco later announced on Twitter that his father passed away shortly after he left the show.

Personal life

Legal issues

On October 10, 2008, Canseco was detained by immigration officials at a San Diego border crossing as he tried to bring a fertility drug from Mexico. He stated the drug was to help with his hormone replacement therapy, needed due to his use of steroids.^[20]

The 2008 A&E Network documentary Jose Canseco: Last Shot chronicles Canseco's attempts to end his steroid use.^[21]

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