Hey everyone...

Before I even mention Jose today, there's something I need to say. If for
whatever reason you ever want to unsubscribe from this list, you simply
need to send a blank email (from the address you want unsubscribed,
obviously) to canseconet-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. I realize it says
that in the headers of each message I send, but I can't tell you how many
people send me harassing, vulgar emails demanding to be removed from this
list. I don't know why so many Canseco-haters subscribe to be on a Jose
Canseco fan list in the first place, but to each his own. Keep in mind,
it's not possible to sign up for the list without confirming your intent to
do so, so it's not like someone else (especially me) forced them to be on
this list.

One more thing while I'm off on this tangent... In these emails I send out,
I can't please everyone, so I tailor them to what I think the majority of
the subscribers want to read. For every one person who has written me to
tell me to lay off the Angels and Glenallen Hill (or the Stankees who
benched Jose last year), there are three who tell me how much they love
it. For the record, I have nothing against Hill. I wish him all the best
on any team BUT the Angels. In the mean time, I'm going to continue to
enjoy watching him prove to the Angels how terrible of a decision it was to
release Jose.

Ok, enough of that - on to the good stuff. First, let me remind you that
one of the most impressive Canseco collections I've ever seen for sale is
on ebay right now. The collection is worth over $3400 according to
Beckett. Check it out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1139488459

There's a great article about Jose below. It recaps most of his career and
discusses his current situation. Enjoy!

-Mark

==========
FANS SLUGGISH -- Jose and Ozzie Canseco will be there. Jim Leyritz, Lance
Johnson, Jaime Navarro and Jack Armstrong will be there too. With one week
remaining before the Bluefish host the Newark Bears in their home opener at
Harbor Yard (4:05 p.m.), the question is will there be any fans to watch
these former big leaguers?

As of Monday there were only 3,400 tickets sold for the opener and Games 2
and 3 of the series stood at approximately 1,500. These are hardly the
figures Dowd is looking for.

"It bothers me to some extent a week before Opening Day," Dowd said. "I
think last year we also had not a great number prior to and then we ended
up selling out. I would think with the Cansecos and Jimmy Leyritz and just
having the Fish back that would create a little bit of a fervor. I would be
disappointed if we didn't sellout. I'd be disappointed if the second and
third games of the Newark series weren't big with those guys."

==========
From the Orlando Sentinel:
After the Bash
By George Diaz
May 2, 2001

Jose Canseco's career got off to a fast start with Oakland. He was AL
Rookie of the Year in 1986 and had 106 homers, 286 runs and 354 RBIs in his
first three full seasons combined. He also became the first 40-40 player in
major-league history when he hit 42 homers and had 40 steals in 1988. But
his big numbers have dwindled as he has battled injuries. Some particulars
since 1988:

He has had just two seasons -- 1991 and 1998 -- in which he had more than
500 at-bats.

He has played in more than 125 games just three times ('90, '91 and '98).

He has had more seasons with 100 strikeouts (eight) than 100 RBIs (three).
He has had as many 100-strikeout seasons as he has had 100-hit seasons. For
his career, he has 56 more strikeouts than hits.

He hasn't reached the 30-steal mark, hitting the 20 mark just twice. He
still has good power, though, with nine seasons of at least 20 homers.

HAINES CITY -- Eleven people sit on aluminum bleachers as he steps to the
plate, a baseball bat dangling from his sculptured forearms.

He boasts a muscular 244-pound frame that can crush baseballs into
oblivion. He once hit a rising line drive so hard at Anaheim Stadium that
the shortstop jumped to catch the ball, only to see it disappear over the
wall in left-center field.

But with the cheers of that night long faded into silence, one of
baseball's dominant power hitters waits for his next meaningful at-bat.

Far from the ballparks where he drilled his name into baseball history,
Jose Canseco plays for the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League.
Released by the Anaheim Angels on March 28 during spring training, Canseco
has signed with Newark for $3,000 a month, spare change in today's baseball
economics.

His intentions here are strictly cameo: Canseco is setting himself up for a
casting call throughout the country, hoping that in a few weeks, maybe a
few months, a major-league team will sign him.

"How can you be turned off by a guy who is one of the fastest players, can
steal 40 bases, can play outfield and can hit you 40-50 home runs?" Canseco
asks after a recent exhibition game at Baseball City. "How can you be
turned off by that?"

He no longer stops traffic

As traffic on Interstate 4 whistles past in the distance, Canseco awaits a
pitch as yesterday's hero, miscast among others who are mostly footnotes in
baseball history. Canseco has been joined by a handful of familiar faces --
former big-leaguers Jim Leyritz and Lance Johnson among them -- with
similar quick fixes in mind.

"Steeeerike," the umpire says as the pitch to Canseco catches the inside
corner. Perhaps taking aim at the pine trees beyond the chain-link fence
330 feet down the left-field line, Canseco does not miss the next pitch. He
swings, knocking a hole into the air with his massive stoke. But the ball
simply sails high in the air before dropping harmlessly into the first
baseman's mitt.

Canseco returns to the dugout, takes a seat on the bench, and waits for his
next at-bat while trying to disprove an unflattering scouting report.

Baseball executives argue that the sticker price on Canseco should include
a "buyer-beware" clause. Elbow, hip and back injuries -- coupled with his
impending 37th birthday July 2 -- have reduced Canseco's market value,
making him an iffy, high-maintenance gamble. His last big-numbers season
was 1998, when Canseco had 46 homers, 107 RBIs and 29 steals for Toronto,
coinciding with the first time since 1991 that he played as many as 120
games in a season.

With no concessions to age or injury, Canseco remains true to a brash "Bash
Brother" profile he established while keeping company with Mark McGwire and
Madonna in the late '80s and early '90s.

"I've already proven that I'm healthy," he says. "I've already proven that
I'm one of the best athletes in the game. I've already proven that I'm
probably one of the fastest guys in baseball, and for my size, the fastest.

"No one is going to question that. Nobody has questioned my ability, but
under the circumstances, I'm here."

"Here" is a weeklong camp for the eight Atlantic League teams at the
spring-training site of the Kansas City Royals -- a long way from the
glamorous appeal he showed in his early years with the Oakland A's.

Seeing double

Canseco is out of the majors for the first time since 1985. He was
convinced by his twin, Ozzie, to join him with the Bears. A career
minor-leaguer, Ozzie led the Bears -- and the league -- with 48 home runs
last season.

"All he can do is get in the best shape that he possibly can, and play here
and stay healthy," Ozzie says. "He should be at the major-league level, no
question about it."

Canseco says he still can run a 40-yard dash in under 4.5 seconds. "I ran
the bases extremely well, hit, threw, the whole works," he says.

The Angels signed Canseco to an incentive-laden minor-league contract in
the off-season after his release by the New York Yankees. But in 39 at-bats
during spring training, Canseco failed to hit a home run and batted only
.231. But familiar injury problems (back, neck and hamstrings) forced him
to miss 10 games this spring and made team officials wonder if he could
still withstand the grind of a 162-game season.

Hitting third in the lineup, one spot in front of his brother, Canseco is
intent on showing enough muscle to to reach 500 major-league home runs.
Canseco ranks 23rd on baseball's career list with 446.

Hitting the remaining 54 "would be one healthy year or two mediocre healthy
years," Canseco says. "It's only a matter of time if I can get back up to
the major-league level."

Unforgettable

Consumed by memories, Canseco clutches them like a precious keepsake he
desperately wants to preserve.

After being named the American League Rookie of the Year in 1986, Canseco
in 1988 became the first big-league player in the modern era to hit 40
homers and steal 40 bases in the same season. He played in three
consecutive World Series with the A's from 1988-90, winning the title in '89.

Persistent rumors of steroid use, a social life that included an aggravated
assault charge for ramming his Jaguar XJS into a new car driven by his
former wife and a late-night visit with the Material Girl made Canseco a
prince of paparazzi and tabloid fodder.

Addressing the intense scrutiny during his prime in a 1989 interview with
Sports Illustrated, Canseco said, "I love playing baseball, but sometimes I
feel like the gorilla in the zoo. People watch the gorilla, stare at it,
point at it, trying to figure out why it's doing what it's doing."

Now, though, those gorillas draw much bigger crowds.

Canseco walks with his brother back to the clubhouse after a one-for-three
day in the exhibition and contemplates a postgame meal.

"How about Wendy's?" Jose asks Ozzie before stepping into the clubhouse,
his every move no longer drawing paparazzi and pop queens.