Baseball just isn't the same without Jose. At least not for me. I haven't
watched one game this year, and I don't even really care about watching
highlights. It's just not the same when there's no chance of seeing a
mammoth Canseco blast.

When I started writing this email earlier today, I was going to tell you
that I haven't heard anything new, but I got distracted a few times, and
now that I'm finally back to writing it, I have news. Jose was offered a
minor league contract from the Blue Jays. He would basically be a backup
(and "insurance policy," in Jose's words) and would only get called up if
there was an injury. At this time, he's considering it. Hey, it's better
than nothing.

I know this mess isn't Glenallen Hill's fault, but it does please me to see
him really sucking in Anaheim. He's batting something like .135 with no
RBIs. Yeah, 'cause Jose wouldn't have way better numbers than
that. Stupid Angels...

I've been getting a lot of emails every day asking if I've heard
anything. Don't get me wrong, I always enjoy hearing from you, but the
emails really pile up and it's depressing having to write back and say "no"
over and over and over again. So please just trust me when I say as soon
as I hear anything, I will let everyone know via this list. Thanks.

A reliable source told me that Jose said he is completely healthy, and will
not consider retiring until he reaches 500 home runs. That's
encouraging... For the latest, see below.

I'll keep you posted...
Mark

==========
From ESPN.com:
As Canseco's game faded, his dignity soared
By Ray Ratto
Friday, March 30

I suppose someone should mark the passing of Jose Canseco's baseball
career. After all, when you've been released by the Angels ... well, you
get the idea.

But that seems slightly mean-spirited if not altogether cruel to a man who
handled the downside of his career with commendable dignity, as opposed to
the upside of his career, which he handled with understandably pre-teen zeal.

But that's not what we're here to do. We are here, in fact, to show the
dangers of assuming greatness before greatness is actually achieved --- of
sending out Hall of Fame plaques to be engraved before a career is even
half-over.

And we're here to show that Jose Canseco learned more in struggle than he
could ever have learned as a star.

In 1992, Canseco was the brightest light in all of baseball. He was Mark
McGwire before Mark McGwire got to be Mark McGwire, plus he was on repeated
pennant winners, plus he had a sense of goofiness that amused as much as
his home runs amazed.

He was a stone-cold lock for the Hall of Fame, and anyone who thought
different was spoiling for a fight.

But Jose Canseco was also a comet, and the Hall of Fame isn't designed for
comets. He glowed bright, but he did not glow long. True, much of this was
his own doing, with a considerable assist from the Texas Rangers for
letting him pitch in a meaningless game and wrecking his arm.

He didn't complain, though, at least not in any substantive way. He saw the
lessons a life lived too well, and he spoke willingly and often about them.
By the time he had reached the Yankees last year, he knew what he was there
to do ... to not be on another pennant contender.

He even told the Orange County Register's Jeff Miller that he didn't feel
like a Yankee, and didn't even know if he had earned the World Series ring
the Yankees said they would present him.

Now many players in such an instance would bitch about not being used
enough, about being disrespected, about wanting a contract extension.
Canseco didn't, and while this is a fairly low bar we are setting here, a
commendation is in order, as well as a cautionary tale.

The Hall of Fame is won in time as well as deed, which does us practiced
conclusion-jumpers no particular good. Canseco was a lock, and missed
badly. At one point, Ruben Sierra was a lock, and missed incredibly badly.
Will Clark, Albert Belle, on and on and on. All All-Star-caliber players in
their day, but not great enough for long enough.

Canseco, though, might have achieved just as much on the way down by not
going out in a blaze of sniveling. And we all know much sniveling is in
vogue these days. Teams ranked No. 1 and complaining about getting no
respect. Players cheerfully signing contracts one day and demanding to play
Renegotiation Or Consequences the next. Turning on the media drone army in
good times, sucking up to the media drone army in bad.

To find someone who kept his dignity when those around him are losing
theirs is something noteworthy. More, to find someone who rebuilt his
dignity after chipping huge holes in it during the good times, even more so.

Maybe there ought to be a Hall of Fame for that, for players who didn't
become all they could be and recognized their own culpability in that failure.

Again, we are talking about a fairly low bar here -- facing one's
responsibilities is after all more an art form than ever.

Still, Jose Canseco wasn't someone you thought would be credited with
self-awareness, and so should be recognized now that it seems to be true.

And now, back to Vince McMahon and "How America Screwed The XFL."

==========
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
O Brothers, Where Art Thou?
McGwire, Canseco took divergent paths
By Ron Kroichick
Wednesday, April 4, 2001

THE HABIT of pairing Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire once qualified as pure
folly. It happened anyway, because they were both big, strong,
homer-hitting members of the A's. They were the Bash Brothers, forevermore.

In reality, Canseco had zoomed into his own realm by the early 1990s. He
was the one bound for Cooperstown -- the one with staggering skills, the
one with bat speed so amazing he sent pitches soaring into distant galaxies.

McGwire seemed destined to become Dave Kingman, hitting his share of homers
but hovering near .230. There were even rumors the A's might trade Mc-
Gwire for (gulp) Wally Joyner.

Now, in 2001, it remains pure folly to pair Canseco and Mc- Gwire -- for
slightly different reasons.

McGwire returned to Oakland last Friday night as the conquering hero, a
modern-day baseball god. Fans cheered his every move. A's players watched
with wide-eyed awe as he took batting practice. Starting pitcher Gil
Heredia sent over baseballs for McGwire to autograph.

Two days earlier, the Angels released Canseco. They muttered about his
unreliable health and diminishing ability -- and they raved about his
replacement, Glenallen Hill, as if Hill were their savior. One full week
after his release, Canseco is still searching for a job.

This is the same Jose Canseco who once launched an epic home run into the
fifth deck at Sky- Dome. The same Canseco who once hit a rising line drive
so hard at Anaheim Stadium, the shortstop leaped for the ball and then
watched it disappear over the left-center-field wall.

"Heck," then-teammate Dave Stewart said after that homer, "the shortstop
could have gotten on that thing and taken a flight to New York."

All that and here's Canseco, six teams and counting, desperately trying to
find No. 7. Baltimore considered signing him, then backed away because the
Orioles prefer a DH rotation that includes Delino DeShields and Melvin
Mora. That's sad.

So if you seek an explanation, a reason McGwire's career headed north and
Canseco's went south, start with this: Hard work. McGwire persevered
through his terrible '91 season and his injury-ravaged '93 and '94 seasons.

He adapted as a hitter and became Babe Ruth, without the gut and the train
rides.

"Mark wanted to keep hitting simple, not make adjustments," St. Louis
manager Tony La Russa said, recalling those early-'90s days with the A's.
"In the major leagues, pitchers will work you over. He just didn't want to
think the game more.

". . . What Mark has done is learn from everything. He takes better care of
his body, he's improved as a hitter and he's learned how to be a leader for
his team.

"Jose had one hiccup -- he signed that deal and he got off track for a
while. It just got away from him. He got back and put up some numbers, but
then he just couldn't stay healthy."

By "that deal," La Russa meant the five-year, $23.5 million contract
Canseco signed in June 1990, the richest deal in baseball history at the
time (stop chuckling, A-Rod). It prompted Canseco to lose interest in
defense and winning, among other things.

Before one game in Toronto, he strolled through the A's clubhouse wondering
if anyone had seen the lineup card. Told he was the designated hitter,
Canseco smiled mischievously and said, "Stealing money."

The curious thing is, Canseco was a good outfielder early in his career,
before he came to equate home runs with money. Swift, strong arm, good
instincts. Then, eventually, baseballs began bouncing off his head.

McGwire, conversely, always resisted the temptation to find refuge at DH.
He's not the first baseman he once was, but he still trots out there, still
tries to help the team with more than his mighty bat.

"I know what Mac has to do to get ready every year," said Cardinals general
manager Walt Jocketty, a longtime A's executive. "I'm not sure Jose paid
attention the same way. He was such a great athlete, he could get away with it.

They both had injuries, but Mac seemed to come back from them better."

And here they stand: McGwire assured of a spot in the Hall of Fame, eyeing
600 career homers (he's at 554), inspiring idolatry everywhere he goes;
Canseco, stuck on 446 homers, calling around looking for work.

There's a lesson in their divergent paths, something about talent taking
you only so far.

E-mail Ron Kroichick at rkroichick@....

==========
From Billy-Ball Daily 04/05/01:
www.billy-ball.com
(This is a parody, with a plug for my site, actually)

Top of the 8th
NO WAY, JOSE

I’m looking for work. Does anybody have a job for a
36-year-old outfielder/DH who is 54 homers shy of 500? I’m a six-time
All-Star and was
named American League Most Valuable Player in 1988 when I was baseball's
first ``40-40'' player, hitting 42 homers and stealing 40 bases. I’m a
little injury prone and I have a tendency to strike out…a lot. But, I look
damn good doing it. If you’ve got anything for me you can reach me at
www.canseconet.com.

==========
From the AP:
Canseco watches, waits for new chance
By BEN WALKER
April 10, 2001

Jose Canseco turns on the TV set, flipping between games and rooting for
the Rocket, A-Rod and his other friends.

Only one thing wrong with this picture: He is watching from his Miami home,
rather than from a ballpark.

``It's utterly ridiculous,'' Canseco said by phone Tuesday. ``I am
completely healthy and ready to play, and I'm willing to take any test to
prove it.''

Released by the Anaheim Angels right before opening day, Canseco has an
offer from the Toronto Blue Jays to sign with Triple-A Syracuse.

Canseco hit 46 home runs with 107 RBIs and 29 stolen bases for the Blue
Jays in 1998, but they now have a productive DH in Brad Fullmer.

``I'd be more of an insurance policy for them, in case someone got hurt,''
Canseco said. ``There are some other possibilities in the minors, but I
think we want to wait and see what develops.''

In the meantime, Canseco has a more immediate and important goal -- to let
the baseball world know his body is fit and able.

``There's a shadow over me, a doubt about whether I'm OK,'' Canseco said.
``There's a perception that I'm damaged goods, an undercurrent that I'm
hurt, and I need to dispel it.''

``I'm willing to let anyone come here to Miami to work me out, give me an
MRI or a lie detector or any test there is,'' he said. ``There's a lot of
baseball left in me.''

Canseco hit 15 home runs with 49 RBIs in a combined 329 at-bats for Tampa
Bay and the New York Yankees last season. He batted .252 in 98 games, his
playing time limited once he joined the eventual World Series champions in
early August.

The 36-year-old slugger ranks 23rd on the career home run list with 446.
The 1988 AL MVP has been picked for six All-Star teams, most recently in
1999 with the Devil Rays.

Canseco squarely blames the Angels for floating the notion that he's
banged-up beyond repair.

Signed by the Angels to an incentive-laden, minor league contract in
mid-January to replace injured Mo Vaughn's power, Canseco was cut on March 28.

Canseco was batting .231 without a home run in 39 at-bats in spring
training when Anaheim dropped him and got Glenallen Hill in a trade with
the Yankees.

Canseco said Angels general manager Bill Stoneman told him he was released
because he had not homered. Canseco said manager Mike Scioscia told him he
had doubts whether the slugger could stay healthy for a whole season.

At the time, Scioscia said he had concerns about Canseco's ``long-term
health.''

Scioscia also said, ``The bottom line is he's healthy now. There was no
misinterpretation and no misunderstanding. I told Jose, `If people ask me,
I'll tell them your back is healthy, your hamstring is healthy.'''

Canseco did not play in 10 exhibition games because of lower back and
hamstring injuries, and missed another game because of a twinge in his neck.

``Of those 10, I could have played in six. They kept telling me to take
another day to get ready,'' he said. ``I didn't realize it was an audition.
I thought I was part of the team and was preparing for the opener.''

Canseco missed 46 games last season because of a strained left heel, and
has spent time on the disabled list in five of the past six seasons.

``There's a very strong perception out there that he has a bad back,'' said
his agent, Jeff Borris. ``It's true he's been on the DL in the past, but
guys do get healthy and can come back.''

Borris said he's more than willing to structure a contract based on plate
appearances, so that a team does not pay for what it does not get.

``We think that's fair, that we owe clubs that,'' he said. ``But if he
plays, he'll hit.''

For now, Canseco can only watch.

``I cheer for my friends -- Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Alex Rodriguez,
Ivan Rodriguez, a whole bunch of them,'' he said. ``I just think I should
be there with them.''