Hey everyone,

I just wanted to let you all know that I will be going away for a few weeks
in a couple of days. I'm heading down to Florida, where I am going to work
on getting certified as a Divemaster (scuba diving), and am going to take a
family vacation too. Chances are that you won't hear from me again until
sometime in July. I just wanted to let you know.

I haven't gotten around to posting your notes for Jose yet, and I probably
won't get a chance to until July. If you haven't sent something in yet and
would like to, you still can. Just email "mark@..." and be sure
to use the subject line "Email For Jose"...

Last week, I wrote that I was "disappointed" when I found out Jose admitted
to taking steroids. I received an interesting response from that
comment... Many of you brushed off the news, saying "lots of guys do it"
and making other excuses for Jose. Another groups of you was furious with
him, calling him all sorts of names, and cursing me just for being a
fan. Most of you seemed to feel like I do though - disappointed, probably
knowing deep down that Jose had been on the stuff, but hoping he really was
just a (natural) freak of nature.

In any case, here's my view on the whole thing... Yes, a lot of players use
steroids and I can see how there would be temptation for other guys to
juice up as well, to try to level the playing field. But that doesn't make
it right. Steroid use taints the accomplishments of those using them. Is
Jose's 40-40 season as impressive, now that you know he was probably taking
steroids at the time? How about those 500 foot homers? Are you still as
in awe, knowing they might have been drug enhanced? I still have many very
fond memories of Jose, and I'm trying not to let this latest news take that
away from me, yet still.... I am disappointed. There's really no other
word for it that that.

You can only imagine what guys like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays
or Ted Williams could have accomplished if they had access to all of
today's technology, let alone illegal performance enhancing drugs. But
personally, I'd rather imagine that Jose
could have still accomplished all he did in his career without using
them. Now I guess I will always have to wonder.

The same goes for guys like McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds. Even if they are
clean, you can't help but wonder...

As for Jose's upcoming book (which probably won't be in book stores until
at least the fall), I still think it's a bad idea. Hopefully, Jose will
write an entertaining book that will clear up the negative perceptions
about him... but unfortunately, I think it's more likely that he will be
perceived as a sore loser who is bitter and just trying to tarnish other
players' good names and the game of baseball. Then again, maybe some good
will come of it. Maybe baseball will actually begin random drug testing
and clean itself up.

Ok, I'm done my rant now. And please, don't get me wrong - I'm still a
Canseco fan, and I always will be. I'm just a disappointed one.

-Mark

==========
From the Palm Beach Post:
Bouton: Canseco 'a jerk' with pen
By Karen Crouse
Friday, May 31, 2002

If Jose Canseco is smart -- um, scratch that.

If Jose Canseco has any sense -- nope, that won't work either.

If Jose Canseco doesn't want to waste his time, he won't bother seeking a
bon mot from Jim Bouton for the back cover of the bestseller he says is
waiting to be written about his life and times in baseball.

Bouton has been there, written that. He is the author of the definitive
outside-the-lines book about baseball. Ball Four was a groundbreaking look
at the former knuckleball pitcher's 1969 season with the expansion Seattle
Pilots.

Ball Four did for sports books what MTV would do 32 years later for Ozzy
Osbourne; it revealed the real people behind the public personas.

Bouton's literary debut, which was published in 1970, remains the
largest-selling sports book ever, with millions of dog-eared paperback
copies gracing America's bookshelves.

Canseco has made like Babe Ruth and pointed his finger at the section of
sports classics and promised that his book is going to land right there.

"It's going to be the most interesting book sports has ever seen,'' Canseco
said this month, after announcing his retirement from baseball. "It's going
to be incredible."

Bouton and Canseco, a pair of bookends in the sports reality genre?
Puh-leeze. You might as well compare Howard Stern's commentary to Charles
Osgood's.

Bouton wrote a valentine to baseball. His love of the game and his fondness
for the overgrown boys who play it permeated every page. What Canseco is
working on sounds like a pipe bomb that will injure the reputations of some
very prominent ex-teammates. His bitterness toward the game is palpable
when he speaks of "not getting an opportunity" to reach the 500 home run
milestone because erstwhile friends in the majors turned their backs on him.

Canseco, 37, was in Class AAA when he retired, sitting on 462 home runs.
Hell apparently hath no fury like a slugger scorned.

Canseco, who grew up in Miami, is promising to be more like Matt Drudge
than Roger Angell, recklessly throwing everything he knows into an unsavory
stew not fit for the discriminating palate.

Bouton has a hard time digesting the news that Canseco plans to out
teammates who were steroid users and sing about incidences of racial
disharmony.

"I hate to say this because I don't want to be attacking a fellow author,"
Bouton said when reached at his home in Massachusetts, "but (Canseco) has
always been a jerk. He's just entered a new level of jerkdom and you can
quote me on that.''

Bouton wasn't without his critics. Long as he lives, he'll never forget the
quote from an opposing player, Pete Rose, who screamed during a game that
Bouton was pitching:

"(Expletive) you, Shakespeare!"

Bouton didn't uncover dirt in Ball Four so much as he lifted the milky veil
on the professional ballplayer's life. That was crime enough for many
insiders. A lot of baseball people -- particularly in management -- had a
problem with the sport's apple-pie image being sliced and diced at all.

The readers, on the other hand, loved that Bouton humanized their heroes.
That wasn't Bouton's intention when he set out to keep a diary of the
Pilots' first season. Upon further reflection, he's glad it turned out that
way.

"I think we are all better off looking across at someone, rather than up,''
he wrote in the preface of a 1981 reissue of the book.

Bouton kept paper and pen at the ready in 1969, the better to scribble
things he saw and heard. "If Jose Canseco didn't keep a daily diary, how's
he going to write his book?" Bouton wondered. "What's it going to be, based
on his memory?"

Bouton's copious notes formed a first draft that was 1,500 pages. Bouton
carefully weighed what he put in the final draft.

For every "bombshell" revelation that he included -- about the players' use
of amphetamines, for example, or Mickey Mantle's fondness for the bottle --
there were juicy nuggets that Bouton deliberately left out.

"I don't like being described as the guy who wrote the first shocking
tell-all book about baseball,'' Bouton said. "It wasn't a tell-all book. It
was a tell-some book. I had a line I didn't cross out of respect for my
teammates. I wasn't going to invade their privacy so I left out a lot of
things."

The walls of privacy, once erected around professional athletes by
publicists and journalists, have come tumbling down in the past 30 years.
Today we know more than we want to about their habits and hobbies and home
lives.

The revelations in Ball Four that players cheat on their wives and stay up
late drinking and partying? Those insights seem quaint as a curfew today.

Honestly, what is Canseco going to write that can possibly shock us? That a
teammate stole his bat and tried to sell it on eBay? That a clubhouse
attendant allegedly molested little boys he invited into the team's inner
sanctum? That some of those players allegedly had the little boys buy drugs
for them?

That one teammate was out partying at 4 a.m. and was robbed of $44,000 in
cash and jewelry that he had on his person? That a former league MVP winner
suffered a pre-season wrist injury while popping wheelies on his Harley and
had to sit out seven weeks? That there are gay players in baseball? That
there are recovering alcoholics and steroid users, too?

No way, Jose. Baseball fans already have read it all -- in their morning
newspapers.

"I don't think anything he writes is going to be shocking to anybody,''
Bouton said. "Most people understand professional ballplayers are teenagers
in adult bodies.''

Bouton's book provided us with the first clues of why they are called the
boys of summer. We don't need Canseco to slam home the fact that our
baseball stars are flawed. We get pelted with evidence every day. Unlike
Bouton in his time, Canseco wouldn't be telling us anything we didn't know
or at least strongly suspect.

"I think his book is a bad idea,'' Bouton said. "I don't think anybody's
going to read it.''

==========
From the Sacramento Bee:
Steroid use claims shake game, bring varied responses
By Nick Peters
Sunday, June 2, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO -- One week ago, the juiciest baseball topic was speculation
that a baseball player would admit his homosexuality. Since, two steroid
users came out of the closet, unleashing a furor that dominated the game.

Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti merely confirmed what everyone believed all
along, yet their candor ignited a nationwide controversy and elicited a
varied range of responses that touched on all elements of a heretofore
taboo subject.

Sports columnists suddenly had the green light to expound on steroid use,
which is either rampant or miniscule, according to who's talking. Canseco
claimed 85 percent of major-leaguers use muscle-enhancing substances.
Caminiti's estimate was 50 percent.

The reaction came in different stages. There was anger, indignation,
denial, disbelief, confirmation, moralizing about tainted records and,
finally, the key to the issue -- a legitimate concern about health risks
and finding a solution to the problem.

"Everybody hates a snitch," observed Dusty Baker, a modern manager who
embraces the old-school philosophy that what you say, hear and do in the
clubhouse, stays in the clubhouse. That notion, of course, is widespread.

Athletes, in general, regard the locker room as their sanctuary. It helps
develop a them-vs.-us mentality that permeates the sports world and
ostracizes those who break the code, as pitcher Jim Bouton did in his
groundbreaking "Ball Four" many years ago.

Whereas Caminiti's confession in SI created some sympathy because of his
longtime dependency on drugs and alcohol and the fact he's regarded as a
"gamer," Canseco was condemned for his intent to make his memoirs a
tell-all exposé.

"I think this downgrades Caminiti a little," Phillies catcher Mike
Lieberthal said. "Canseco, he's a little shaky anyway. I don't know if
anyone pays attention to what he says anyway. But Caminiti? He's a
respected guy. I'm surprised he would do that."

Marlins outfielder Cliff Floyd: "I can respect Caminiti, but Canseco?
Please! Unless you know 100 percent that someone is doing steroids, you
shouldn't say anything. He should put down everybody's name he thinks is
using it. He might have to move to another country."

Mets first baseman Mo Vaughn: "Don't use the game for 10 to 15 years, make
your loot, then when it's over, bad-mouth the players. That's bull."

Conspiracy theory
When Canseco and Caminiti came clean, it provided fodder for those who
would taint the recent record-shattering achievements of Mark McGwire,
Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, among others.

There's no question Canseco and Caminiti fueled the conspiracy theorists,
but some prominent players immediately pointed out that the recent home-run
outbursts are more a reflection of skill and dedication than of outside
influences.

"Let me tell you why Barry Bonds hit 73 homers," Vaughn said. "Because he's
a great hitter. Because the Giants moved out of Candlestick Park into a
place where the wind doesn't blow as much."

Added Giambi: "I know this stuff is newsworthy, but hopefully, people don't
buy into it. There's no miracle thing for this game; either you have talent
or you don't. One common thread of all the greats in the game, they've had
longevity."

Mike Piazza: "I think this has created a lot of unfortunate hysteria
because this is still a skill game. If all it took to hit a home run was
being big and strong, then every Mr. Olympia contestant would be in the
major leagues hitting home runs.

"I just find it disturbing that people think the only reason guys are
hitting 50, 60, 70 home runs is steroids. There are a lot more young
pitchers in the game who haven't had time in the minors to develop, and the
ballparks are smaller."

Integrity of the game
The issue of performance enhancers brushed the Cardinals' clubhouse during
McGwire's assault on the single-season home run record in 1998. It was
learned he used androstenedione, a legal substance available over the
counter at health stores.

Tony La Russa, McGwire's manager in Oakland and St. Louis, underscored his
belief that McGwire did nothing improper while developing his body but
conceded that Caminiti's admission raises an issue of credibility.

"I knew Mark his entire career, and I know the amount of work and training
he put into developing himself," La Russa said. "Caminiti is a guy who I
respected for the way he played. But numbers in this game are sacred. What
you're talking about creates a taint."

Added Arizona manager Bob Brenly: "It sucks for the guys who have earned it
naturally. The guys who spend the time in the weightroom, watch what they
eat, take care of themselves. It's a shame to cast a cloud of suspicion
over them because of the actions of a few people."

White Sox DH Frank Thomas, a 6-foot-5, 275-pound former football player,
said his strength comes from pumping iron and that he advocates testing
players to determine steroid use.

"I don't know who's on and who's not on," Thomas said. "There is definitely
more activity in the weight room nowadays. I was hoping that it was just
old guys working hard in the weight room."

Padres reliever Trevor Hoffman, a teammate when Caminiti earned Most
Valuable Player honors while on steroids in 1996, wouldn't concede the
achievement was tainted, but he realizes that others will.

"That's not my call," Hoffman said. "Unfortunately, it's not going to hold
the same credibility that it did before we knew what went on. I look at it
as a situation where Cammy still had to square the ball up, he still had to
hit the ball out of the park.

"And he had to do it in situations that are not easy, with runners in
scoring position and 45,000 or 50,000 people screaming. Just because you're
on steroids, that's not easy. He literally picked us up on his back and
carried us to the title."

How serious is it?
Despite the claims of Canseco and Caminiti, there are indications steroid
use isn't that widespread in baseball. Steve Finley and Luis Gonzalez,
former Caminiti teammates, insist they were unaware of his involvement.
Padres general manager Kevin Towers, who has been outspoken for years about
the need for Major League Baseball to test players for steroids, wasn't
surprised. Nor was former San Diego pitcher Sterling Hitchcock.

"I didn't know for sure," Towers recalled. "Guys don't do it in front of
you. But guys get bulked up during the offseason and come in bigger and
stronger, and you wonder."

Hitchcock, now with the Yankees: "I don't think it's a big surprise to
anybody. You knew he used them. And it would be hard to say (Padres
management) didn't know it was going on."

Most people involved in the game, however, suggest that claims of even 50
percent steroid users are ludicrous.

"I don't question that (steroids) are in the game, but I definitely don't
think it's rampant," Piazza said. "It's ridiculous to speculate how much.
I'm not defending, criticizing or condoning it. I just think this is
another example of society obsessed with finding something negative."

Phillies trainer Jeff Cooper: "The numbers they're throwing around are
outrageous. I would say it's in the low single digits. It's out there, but
it's not exclusive to us or pro sports or college sports. It's in society.
You see it, but it's still in the single digits."

Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon: "I know we don't have anybody in this
locker room on steroids. I'm just dumbfounded how you get that percentage.
I'd be really surprised if anybody on my team is using steroids."

A cry for testing
When the anger subsided, it dawned on some that the recent confessions
finally took a potential problem off the back burner and moved it up the
priority list in the restructuring of baseball.

MLB and the Players Association both have ignored the problem, hoping it
would go away. Arizona pitcher Rick Helling, a member of the union's
negotiating committee, said the union has never fought testing because the
owners have never asked for it. The latest proposal from the owners does
contain such a provision.

"The feeling I'm getting is we've fought against it or turned it down,"
Helling said. "Well, it's never been an issue. Obviously, it's going to be
an issue this time. We'll talk about it and try to figure out what's best
for players, first of all, and the overall game."

The question is why hasn't it been an issue? When the Blue Cross and Blue
Shield Association's Healthy Competition Foundation issued a call to the
game's 60 top sluggers in 2000 to take a drug-free pledge, merely two
signed the pledge.

According to Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty: "I don't think we have enough
facts or information. We've received nothing from baseball to give us any
indication for us to be concerned. I would think that baseball will start
paying attention to it."

Sacramento's Larry Bowa, the crusty Phillies manager often regarded as too
old school, is in favor of testing, as is Philadelphia pitcher Robert Person.

"Maybe they can kill two birds with one stone," Bowa said. "Agree on a
(labor) contract and steroid testing. That would do a lot for baseball and
fans' perception of the game."

Added Person: "I wish they would (test). There's no testing, and you're
supposed to wonder why everyone is a home-run hitter. You see some guys,
and it's obvious. I want testing."

The Blue Shield/Blue Cross group projects that one million youth and 17
million adults are using performance-enhancing substances, steroids among
the most prevalent.

The survey also found that nine in 10 adults and youths disapprove of
athletes taking performance-enhancing drugs. These drugs have adverse
effects on virtually every organ in the body.

"Something's going to have to happen, somebody dies, somebody gets cancer,
and all of a sudden, there will be so much public pressure that something
will have to be done," Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell said.

Twins outfielder Jacque Jones grasps the severity and places it in perspective.

"Your body's going to start breaking down," he said. "It's just bad for
your health. You think of how it's going to help you get more money, but
you've got to think about who's going to play with your kids when you're
done playing."