Hello again...

Wow, I sure have send out a lot of email over the past few days,
huh? Hopefully this won't be the last time I have a reason to send so
much. Hopefully Jose will get a job offer, come out of retirement, and get
to 500 homers. Hopefully.

But in the mean time, Jose is retired.

I'd like to schedule a chat session, so people can share their thoughts
about the situation (or anything else). Let's say Friday night, at 9:00
ET. And since some people probably won't be able to make that, how about
if we schedule another chat for Monday night at 9:00 ET as well. Sound
good? Here's the link:
http://www.canseconet.com/josechat.htm

I'll try to stop in for a while both nights, but I can't guarantee I'll be
able to. In any case, have a fun chat!

Oh, by the way, I added some new photos of Jose to Canseconet.com tonight
(at the bottom of the main Photo Gallery page). Subscriber Mike Burke sent
in what might turn out to be the last photo of Jose crossing the plate
after a home run. Thanks, Mike.

-Mark

==========
From the Chicago Sun Times:
Bay Area was shaken up when Canseco departed
May 15, 2002
BY RON RAPOPORT

So, Jose Canseco retires from baseball, and immediately the Bay Area has an
earthquake.

Not quite like the one he saw from a front-row seat, of course. The earth
shook and bridges fell during the 1989 World Series at Candlestick Park
when Canseco was playing for the Oakland Athletics. The 5.2 Richter jolt
Monday night was so small by comparison that hardly anybody playing ball in
the area even noticed.

"They were either too excited or too cold to feel it,'' San Francisco
Giants manager Dusty Baker said of the 36,331 fans at Pac Bell Park. "This
building is pretty loud, so it was shaking anyway.''

The San Jose Sharks, who were in the midst of a playoff game with the
Colorado Avalanche, had their show go on, too.

Everybody has their own memories of Canseco, of course, but my favorite
always will be his line-drive grand slam early in the first game of the
1988 World Series that was hit so hard, it left a dent in a television
camera beyond the center-field fence. You figured the Los Angeles Dodgers
were in big trouble if they couldn't do any better than that, but Kirk
Gibson had the answer in the ninth inning of that game, and the A's were
barely heard from after that.

Certain segments of the Bay Area went into mourning when Canseco left the
A's. Some merchants were particularly hard hit. Canseco's wife, Esther, was
reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to have spent $20,000 in a year in
one store on leather bicycle shorts and the like, while a Porsche dealer
said: "His leaving hurts us all. I mean, just as people aspire to hit
homers like Jose, some people aspire to drive the same cars he does. And I
must say, he has excellent taste in cars.''

==========
From the Chicago Daily Southtown:
Best Seller

Jose Canseco, who announcing his retirement Monday as a member of the
Triple-A Charlotte Knights, said he plans to author at "tell-all" book.

Manuel, who managed Canseco for a part of last season with the Sox, wasn't
worried about any bombshells from Canseco.

"I probably won't make it in (the book)," Manuel said, laughing. "We didn't
talk that much.

"To be honest, I hate to see that he hung it up."

==========
From Fox Sports:
Baseball Etiquette Always a Sticky Subject.
BY RANDY HILL
May. 16, 2002

Baseball doesn't seem to mind if you cross the line, but does reserve
vigorous and dirty looks for anyone who may step on it. For the record,
spitting on this line within the flow of the game is encouraged.

Today's issue is maintenance of baseball protocol, a solemn consideration
that was pushed into this week's limelight by Sammy Sosa.

My agenda regarding baseball protocol is progressive: we'll examine two
recent and taboo incidents - one starring Sosa, the other highlighted by a
self-proclaimed bombshell from Jose "I Think I" Canseco.

When that smokes clears, I'll list a few more staples of baseball etiquette
that can't be violated without a companion free-for-all.

Anyway, Sammy, who works for the Chicago Cubs, has been accused of stealing
signs that belong to the St. Louis Cardinals....

...Unlike your card-carrying mime, Jose Canseco has a lot to say. And his
writing partner will have a lot to type.

Mr. Canseco, who also numbed the baseball world by retiring from Triple-A
this week, is planning to spill his guts in a "tell-all" book.

Expect a meeting of the minds over this one on Oprah's Bookie Club.

Realizing that Jose is in cahoots with a prospective author smells even
more dangerous and promising than strapping a polygraph on Bill Clinton.

During a controversial radio interview he granted to explain his
motivations, Canseco promised the dirt on several big issues and many large
names.

A team of radio commentators encouraged Jose to reconsider. You'll lose all
of your baseball cronies, they said.

I no longer have any baseball cronies, Jose replied.

Well, you'll never be able to return as a big-league coach, they said.

Who would want a guy who allowed a fly ball to bounce off of his head for a
home run as a coach? Jose should have replied.

Good point, they would have said. OK, smart guy, you'll completely
annihilate any chance you have for the Hall of Fame.

My chances are slim and none ... and slim ain't showin', Jose said.

Time out while we chew on that Hall of Fame jazz. According to many talking
baseball heads, Canseco would have a puncher's chance of landing in
Cooperstown if he'd slugged 500 home runs.

Not counting the homer that bounced off of his head, Jose has retired just
38 short. So, by this reasoning, if Canseco had loitered for another, oh,
three years and managed 38 marginal taters, he's in?

That's wild. But the worthiness debate rages. Pro-Jose forces remind us he
was Rookie of the Year, MVP, a six-time All-Star and MLB's first 40-homer,
40-steal citizen.

Jose's critics remind us he was a full-time DH by age 29 and recorded an
insufficient number of monster seasons.

However, he may have a Cooperstown-caliber manuscript.

Hey, if Omar Vizquel can lay the Albert Belle-bat-corking revelation on a
yawning audience, a publisher should beg for Canseco literature.

What's Jose's sacrifice, an Old-Timers' Game invite?

Baseball is terrified at the prospect of careening toward another strike
while fans learn that players drink a lot, cheat on their wives or
boyfriends, take steroids, cork their bats, cheat on their wives or
boyfriends some more, and do all of this while swearing in French.

According to sources who think "steroids" refers to a video game, Jose may
even reveal that he's 67 years old, not the 37 listed on his bio.

While searching for a publisher, Canseco can goose the interest by
revealing these sample chapters:

Baseball's First 40-40 Man: How Double-Play Eyesight Caused Me to Mistake
My Wife's Car For A Hall Of Fame Voter In A Crosswalk.
Steroids: They're Not Just For Ben Johnson Anymore.
Evil Twin: How Ozzie Head-Butted A Fly Ball Into A Home Run.
Madonna: What's Really Up With Those Armpits.
Growth Hormone Over Miami: Who Uses Illegal Muscle-Building Substances And
Who Coughed Up Good Money To Keep Off My List.
Danny Almonte: Our Crazy High School Days.

Now that I'm in the mood for lists, how about leaving Jose and picking up a
few more baseball etiquette no-no's?...

...Obviously, the greatest baseball no-no I can think of would be another
labor-related World Series cancellation.

As for Sammy Sosa, I advise opposing teams to use trickier signals.

Canseco? Well, a tell-all book won't help his popularity with the
rank-and-file, but he would be guaranteed a new best friend.

Guy by the name of Larry King.

Randy Hill can be reached at his e-mail address, rhill@....

==========
From Fox Sports:
Canseco Was One of a Kind
BY DAVE VAN DYCK
May. 14, 2002

Jose Canseco is gone. And along with him went the last of baseball's
characters.

Never again - at least not any time soon - will baseball allow another Jose
Canseco, someone who created his own fun and his own trouble, and could
laugh about both.

It just doesn't work that way anymore, not since baseball became reliant on
the corporate business world.

Baseball now wears a button-down shirt and has a motto of button-up your lip.

Players are now processed to be carbon copies of each, sterilized to avoid
contamination, threatened if they step out of line. What the heck, you
can't even chase down your wife in the family Porsche anymore.

I'll miss Canseco, that big galoof, the last of the do-it-my-way baseball
players who probably could have been better at baseball but had too much
fun doing other things.

Think baseball hasn't changed? Name one young character now. Even Turk
Wendell was muffled and hog-tied before he reached the major leagues, so
that his quirkiest characteristic became his fascination with the number 9.

"It's hard to be a character in today's game," said Ken "Hawk" Harrelson,
baseball's version of Joe Namath and now a White Sox broadcaster. "Jose was
one of the most enjoyable guys to watch I have ever seen. He could laugh at
himself.

"The clubhouse today is a different place. There's so much pressure on
these guys. What's happening today is that corporate money is coming in and
driving baseball people out."

"It's too bad there's not two or three characters on every team, because
the game of baseball would be better," said Tom Grieve, the man who brought
Canseco from Oakland to Texas. As general manager, Grieve also gave
approval for Canseco to pitch, not knowing he would blow out his arm in the
process and create an even larger mystique around his career.

"Players have media consultants now, they are taught sound bites," said
Grieve, now an announcer for the Rangers. "I think maybe they try to
condition kids too much not to be flaky. I don't know if he was the last
one, but he was a true character. He was more like a rock star than a
baseball player."

Now we have Alex Rodriguez, more of a CEO than a baseball player. That is
nothing against Rodriguez, except to illustrate the point that the days of
players-as-personalities are over.

"Characters were good for the game, they were good copy, made for good
stories," said long-time executive Roland Hemond, who learned his trade
under ownership character Bill Veeck. "Maybe we're just more serious now as
a society."

There is no more Harrelson, Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, Joe Pepitone, Bo
Belinsky, Pete Rose, et al. For some, David Wells is as close as it gets,
and he's at the end of his career as well.

Name a young one.

"We still have them," said Ken Williams, the young White Sox GM who gave
Canseco his last major league job. "They're just under the radar screen,
they're flying stealth."

Maybe, but I don't think so.

Sure, maybe Harrelson could have played longer and been better. And we know
that Canseco could have prolonged his career had it not been for the late
nights with Madonna and perhaps the steroid abuse.

But, as Harrelson says: "Nobody ever had more fun than I did. When I
retired, I was the fourth-highest paid player in the league and I called my
mama and told her and she said, 'Come on home.'

"I did. I went and played golf."

Turns out Harrelson was never quite the pro golfer he thought he was. But
at least he tried.

As for Canseco, you get the feeling he is leaving before his career is
over. But, obviously, the fun had passed for him, a 37-year-old playing in
the minor leagues with the new-generation kids. He was a square peg in a
round hole.

Maybe he could have caught on somewhere and hit the 38 homers he needed to
reach the magical 500 plateau. Maybe not.

As it is, he finishes with 462 home runs and his Hall of Fame class will
include Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn and his old Oakland teammate Mark McGwire.

He was more talented than any of them - the first 40-40 man, six of the
most storied baseball years as a youngster in Oakland - but he will not
make the Hall of Fame. He doesn't deserve to.

He didn't exactly fritter a career away, but he never allowed himself to
fulfill his potential either. Maybe he was just having too much fun living,
making his star burn out too soon.

That's OK. Jose Canseco surely enjoyed doing whatever it was he was doing
all those nights after games and in the off-season. And people who know him
really well say he did marvelous things for youth foundations and
children's charities. He was a Ruthian-type figure, able to swat home runs
so easily and able to make headlines just as easily. Well, I'm not even
sure that Babe Ruth could play now. His act would have to be stifled at a
young age, those tons of hot dogs would have been changed into yogurt and
all that beer would have become Gatorade.

In the end, Canseco packed up his bags and moved around, playing in an
independent league, in the minor leagues, always looking to re-capture what
once was and never could be again.

He told us last year he would write a tell-all autobiography, Madonna and
all. Now he says he might name names about the steroid users in baseball,
which will make for some sleepless nights around several cities. Let's hope
that's not part of it, unless he just wants to tell on himself.

When Canseco was pushing his yet unscripted book, this is what he had to say:

"I've been probably the best player in the world, the worst player in the
world, disregarded, nobody wanted me to play for them, sent down to the
independent league, rumors, this and that, that and this, and I will
probably be the only individual where no one has ever known who I really am.
. . .

"People who are going to look at (my career) in total are going to be
totally confused."

Amen. And we think there's nothing wrong with that.

Dave van Dyck can be reached at his e-mail address: dvandyck@....

==========
From www.charlotteknights.com:
Canseco Q & A

Last week, Jay Catalano sat down one on one with Jose Canseco for an
interview to be published in JOUST, the official publication of the
Charlotte Knights. Below is the transcript of that interview. For those
attending Knights games this interview will be published along with a one
on one with Joe Borchard available at Knights Stadium starting May 24th
through May 31st.

JOUST: You've been playing professional baseball for about twenty years now
and have played for several teams and had hundreds of teammates. Are there
any players that stick out as being great teammates or that you've
developed close friendships with?

CANSECO: Anyone that has played with him would tell you that Roger Clemens
is a great teammate. He stands out because I'm friends with him and he's
actually been a golfing buddy of mine when we were together in Boston and
again with the Yankees. But normally off-the-field, I like to spend most of
my time with my family.

JOUST: Over the past few seasons several players have accomplished amazing
individual feats. Which players or accomplishments are you most impressed with?

CANSECO: I think Bonds' 73 home runs was obviously a great achievement,
especially when you consider how much he was pitched around. Also, I'd put
Sosa averaging 60 homers over the last four years in that same category.

JOUST: If you had the type of season that you had in 1988 when you went
40-40, stayed healthy and swung the bat well all year, what kind of
statistics do you think that would translate to in today's power-oriented game?

CANSECO: I think probably about 60 home runs. Remember I've had years where
I had 31 and 29 homers at the All-Star break so the main thing for me has
always been just staying healthy.

JOUST: Over the past several years we've seen players whose careers look to
be in decline who rededicate themselves and come back to have great years.
Do you consider yourself as one of these players who is on a mission to
prove to everyone, especially the teams that passed you over, that you can
still be a productive player?

CANSECO: Injuries are part of any sport. One thing that a lot of people
don't understand is that just because you're injured doesn't mean you're
skills have diminished. Once you get healthy, you're still the same player
as before the injuries.

JOUST: You've mentioned a few times that you think you're a better hitter
than when you were younger. How has your hitting approach changed over the
years? Are you thinking the same thing now when you walk up to the plate as
when you were a rookie?

CANSECO: No. I'm not thinking the same things as when I was younger. I'm
usually thinking about the pitcher because over the years you get to know
how the pitchers throw. Although, that doesn't really apply here in
Charlotte since I've never faced these pitchers. But I'm also more
knowledgeable about myself in terms of knowing my own strengths and
weaknesses and I think, like most hitters, have adapted my swing to suit
what I can and can't do. I'd say I'm probably more productive power-wise
and driving in runs than earlier in my career, I just haven't had the
opportunity the last few years.

JOUST: You've had some remarkable accomplishments throughout your career
and have 38 homers to go before you reach 500. To this point, everyone in
the 500 home run club is in the Hall of Fame. Do you think that your Hall
of Fame candidacy hinges on whether you reach the 500 home run plateau?

CANSECO: Yes. If I don't make it back to the Majors and reach 500 homers, I
don't think there is any way I would make it into the Hall. I'm only 38
away, but if I don't reach 500, then I might as well be 200 away.

JOUST: Do you think your chances for Hall of Fame induction will be hurt
because you've spent so much time strictly as a DH?

CANSECO: Maybe, but I still think the determining factor will be whether or
not I can reach 500 homers.