Hey Cansecoites,

Jose turned 35 today! Hopefully he'll give himself a homer or two tonight
as a present. He was in a terrible slump for the past couple of weeks, but
it looks like he may have snapped out of it in Boston. He ended up going 3
for 5 with 7 walks and only 1 strikeout in the 2 game series. Jose's
headed back to Toronto tonight - hopefully he'll again show the Jays what
they're missing.

Jose's 28 homers by the end of June are the most he's ever had. He has hit
exactly 50 homers since last July 19th. Here are Jose's homer totals as of
June 30th for ever year he's played, and how many he finished the season with:
1986 - 19 (33)
1987 - 14 (31)
1988 - 20 (42)
1989 - 0 (17)
1990 - 20 (37)
1991 - 18 (44)
1992 - 18 (26)
1993 - 10 (10)
1994 - 22 (31)
1995 - 3 (24)
1996 - 24 (28)
1997 - 17 (23)
1998 - 24 (46)
1999 - 28 (??)

In case you hadn't heard, Jose won the All Star voting for DHs by a
landslide. I can't wait to see him in this year's home run hitting
contest. Jose sounds excited about it too (see article below).

The demand for Canseconet.com t-shirts has been pretty good - it looks like
we're going to sell out. Don't worry, I'll make as many more as it takes
so everyone who wants one can get one. Due to popular demand, I'm also
planning on having different sizes made up in the next batch - not just XL.
This will raise my costs (since I won't be able to buy the shirts by the
case), but I don't know if I'll have to raise the price of the shirts or
not - hopefully not. I'll let you know the details in a few weeks after
all of this batch is sold and shipped. If you'd like to order an XL
Canseconet.com t-shirt, visit http://www.canseconet.com/shirts.htm

Remember, if you'd like $5 off the price of a Canseconet.com t-shirt, all
you have to do is subscriube to ESPN the magazine by July 12th through the
following link:
http://enews.bfast.com/enews/click?sourceid=231066&bfpage=mag_espn
A subscription costs only $14.95 for one year (26 issues). Just attach a
note with your t-shirt payment saying you
subscribed to ESPN magazine (or email me if youve already sent your
payment), and take $5 off your total. After I verify that you did indeed
subscribe, I'll mail you your shirt...

Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be completely redoing the
Canseconet.com Photo Galleries. I'm going to be reorganizing them, adding
lots of new photo, rescanning some old photos, etc... I think you'll really
like them once they're done.

Oh, by the way, Jose is on the back cover of Beckett this month, and I
heard he's also on the cover of Baseball Digest and featured in ICON magazine.

Take it easy,
Mark

==========
From the Boston Globe:
Canseco has Star power
Former Sox slugger's ticket will be punched
06/30/99

You never know with Jose Canseco, who tends to overlook the details. It
still amuses Red Sox people, for example, that when he played here, he used
to refer to former Sox bullpen coach Herm Starrette as ''Norm.''

So maybe Canseco, speaking from Florida as a card-carrying member of the
Tampa Bay Devil Rays, really didn't know Monday afternoon that he was a
runaway leader in the voting to be designated hitter for the American
League All-Stars July 13 in Boston. And that another former Sox player,
Wilfredo Cordero of the Indians, was second.

''I haven't made the team yet,'' Canseco said. ''There's still two weeks of
voting left. And Wil Cordero is second? What about Frank Thomas? Or Edgar
Martinez?''

For the record, the voting ended Sunday. And while Canseco could have
rattled off any number of names that he thought warranted inclusion on the
team, he still wouldn't have come up with anybody in the American League
with slugging credentials better than the ones he's bringing to Boston
tonight for a two-game set with the Red Sox.

And of the Three Amigos - Roger Clemens, Mo Vaughn, and Canseco - what were
the odds that Canseco, who one day will be known as the only member of the
500-home run club to play for five teams in six seasons - is the only one
assured of a place among the All-Stars?

Yankees manager Joe Torre, who will manage the AL Stars, has said he's
leaning toward taking Clemens, while Vaughn's triumphant arrival in Anaheim
is resembling an exile to Elba.

Canseco, known in these parts as the Man Traded Straight-Up for John
Wasdin, is on pace for a Ruthian 60 home runs with the Devil Rays, having
hit 28 home runs in the team's first 76 games. He is averaging a home run
every 10 at-bats, a rate better than Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, or Ken Griffey.

He is tied with Nomar Garciaparra and Shawn Green of the Blue Jays for the
most extra-base hits (42), and only recently was overtaken by Griffey
(.650) and Garciaparra (.642) in slugging percentage.

Recently, he's cooled off drastically - he's batting just .125 (5 for 40)
in his last 10 games, striking out in exactly half (20) of his 40 at-bats
in that span. In a three-game set against the Yankees, all Tampa Bay
losses, he went hitless in 12 at-bats.

''How did that happen?'' he asked, repeating a question. ''I was facing
Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte when he was on, and El Duque [Orlando
Hernandez]. One, two, three.

But now, two days before his 35th birthday, he's about to face the Red Sox,
the team against which he has hit more home runs (39) than any other team
in baseball, including three earlier this season.

And he won't be facing Pedro Martinez, whose next start isn't scheduled
until Friday in Chicago.

''Thank God,'' Canseco said. ''Is he the best in the game right now? No
doubt. He's just incredible.

''He has such command of the strike zone. The most important thing is the
unbelievable movement on his fastball. It moves four or five inches. A guy
throws 95 miles an hour, with that movement, that's indescribable. And his
changeup probably moves even more. He can throw any pitch any time he
wants. It's a struggle just to get a hit off him.

''[But] I'm looking forward to going to Boston,'' he said. ''I've got a lot
of fans in Boston.''

Oh, really? While Canseco doesn't hear the type of vicious catcalls still
directed at Cordero, from the moment he steps on the field here, he is the
target of the kind of booing that marks him as a villain in the WWF vein.

It's the kind of treatment you'd expect for a guy with biceps built to
comic-book dimensions, has had fly balls go ''Boink'' off his coconut and
over the fence, and says things like, ''If I played defense all the time,
I'd have 500 home runs and 600 errors,'' which is what he said upon his
return to Oakland earlier this season.

''I guess I've always given them their money's worth,'' he said. ''I've
always considered myself an entertainer. Fans pay good money to be
entertained. They want to be entertained, they want to see characters. In
that sense, I guess I've always done the job for them.''

But even though he hit 46 home runs last season for the Toronto Blue Jays -
No. 40 came last Sept. 6 off Pete Schourek of the Sox - no one really
expected Canseco to assume his latest role, as newest challenger to the
exalted home run levels established by McGwire, his former Bash Brother in
Oakland.

Canseco had been emphatic, earlier in the season, in saying that no one any
time soon would hit 70 again, unless it was McGwire himself. And yet here
he is, a week and a half before the All-Star break, with an outside chance
of being nearly halfway there.

''Not even close,'' Canseco says when asked if he'll mount an assault on
70. ''It's way too early to tell. For any kind of chance, I'd have to keep
up that same kind of pace after the All-Star break. I always have had
trouble staying healthy. To hit 70, too many things have to go right.''

Canseco is playing for a team in his home state of Florida for the first
time in his career. And while he's happy to be living in St. Petersburg
Beach, just a 10-minute ride from the ballpark, and is just a three-hour
ride from his family in Miami, the Tropicana Dome hasn't exactly been kind
to him. Of his 28 home runs, only nine have come at home. Then there's the
ball he hit into a catwalk in the Dome that never came down and was ruled a
double.

''Is that the highest ball I've ever hit?'' he asked. ''I don't know, how
can you measure it? But it's right up there.''

At the start of the decade, Canseco used to routinely lead everybody in the
All-Star voting, the Griffey of his time. But while he is a five-time
All-Star, this will be his first trip back in nearly a decade. His election
kicks in a $50,000 bonus in his contract, an incentive-laden $2 million
deal that automatically vests for next season at $3 million, plus
incentives, if he reaches 500 plate appearances.

What he'd really like is an invitation to the home run-hitting contest the
night before the All-Star Game.

''I haven't been in one in a long time,'' he said. ''It's going to be
really exciting for the fans. I can't remember where my last one was, it's
been so long, but I don't think I got the ball out of the infield.

''I think whoever wins, because of the Wall, will be whoever hits the most
fly balls. On a certain day, any of six guys could win it. Six different
days, six different guys would win it.

''It doesn't have to be the biggest, strongest power hitter. Griffey? Yeah,
he'll be at a disadvantage, hitting lefthanded, because it's longer to
right field, but I'll guarantee you, there are going to be a lot of long
shots.''

And almost certainly, some of them will be hit by Canseco, a long shot in
itself.

==========
From the St. Petersburg Times:

GOOD WITH THE BAD: Jose Canseco came into play Wednesday in a 5-for-40
slump (with 20 strikeouts), but Rothschild didn't sound too worried. "He's
a power hitter and power hitters go through slumps and it's that simple,"
Rothschild said. "As quickly as he went into it, he'll come out of it." ...
With 19 homers in the first 42 road games, Canseco is on pace to challenge
the record of 32 homers away from home shared by Babe Ruth (1927) and Mark
McGwire (1998).

==========
From the Boston Globe:
There's just no way, Jose: Canseco will remain a Fenway Park visitor
By Karen Guregian
Thursday, July 1, 1999

The moment he stepped into the cage for batting practice, all the fans in
the stands had their eyes on him.

Whether Jose Canseco is playing the hero or the villain in Fenway Park,
people can't help but watch with interest, especially when he's at the plate.

While Canseco put on a rather modest (for him) BP show - only five screen
shots - everyone knew he arrived at the park last night leading the
American League in home runs. They knew Ken Griffey Jr. trailed him. And
that Mark McGwire wasn't even close to him in bombs.

What Red Sox fans may or may not have known is that Canseco asked to come
back to Boston prior to the season. Typical Jose. Only he could rip Red Sox
general manager Dan Duquette mercilessly during the two seasons he's been
away and expect that Duquette would want him back.

``We spoke to Boston briefly,'' said Canseco, who was a free agent. ``But
they said they didn't want me here.''

Perhaps even more amusing was Duquette's response when asked about why he
didn't entertain thoughts of a Canseco return to Boston.

``We were happy with our (designated hitter),'' Duquette said last night.

And, which one would that be? C'mon Duke. This had nothing to do with
Canseco's critiquing of your people skills, as well as GM capabilities?

``We were happy with the way the team was staffed,'' Duquette. ``That's why
we didn't pursue a number of free agents.''

Yup. And the Green Monster is really colored purple.

Granted, the club has survived quite nicely without Mo Vaughn's bat. It's
scored plenty of runs on most occasions. Canseco's bat, however, has always
looked good here and would look even better in the current lineup. Canseco,
1-for-2 with four walks in the Rays' 11-10, 10-inning win last night, even
suggested that while he loves playing close to home in Tampa, if the Sox
were to make a deal with the Devil Rays for him down the stretch, he
wouldn't balk at the move.

``I still have a lot of friends over there, even though Duquette and I
haven't always seen eye to eye,'' Canseco said. ``I know we've had our
problems in the past, but I'd do the best possible if that were to happen.
If Tampa wants to trade me, I'd help out whichever team I was on to try to
win.''

Given the way Canseco hits in this park - he has 46 lifetime homers at
Fenway, including the three he hit during the Devil Rays' first trip this
season - it's only natural he'd want to revisit the Green Monster. Chances
are, however, his only trip back here after this series will come July 13
for the All-Star Game. And won't Duquette just hate it if Canseco wins the
home run derby?

Let's just say Jose is probably a done deal here. No amount of need on the
Sox part will make Duquette desperate enough to bring him back.

When asked if he was surprised at how well the Sox fared without the three
amigos - him, Vaughn and Roger Clemens - Canseco claimed he wasn't.

``They have a great ballclub, a well-balanced ballclub,'' said Canseco, who
had some pregame fun chatting with Sox hitting coach Jim Rice, as well as
Tim Wakefield and Mike Stanley. ``I think (Nomar) Garciaparra has come into
his own. He's picked up a lot of slack in the power hitting category.

``He's doing a great job. And their pitching is excellent. They just have a
well-rounded ballclub. And the younger players have come through, as well.''

As for Canseco, he claimed the secret to his success this year basically
boils down to health, luck and golf. Actually, the lack of the latter.
Canseco said he gave up playing golf during the season. While his
chronically troubled back still isn't in the best of shape, (he is said to
be suffering from a bulging disc and a bad shoulder) not having the added
stress of a golf swing has helped. Whatever his method, it's working for
the slugger, who turns 35 on Friday. He's second in the majors with a homer
every 10 at-bats (Sammy Sosa leads with 9.7).

``I'm getting up there in age,'' Canseco said. ``So I better start hitting
some more home runs because I think Junior and a few of the guys are going
to pass me. Lately, I've been struggling. Hopefully, I can put it together
here.''

==========
From the St. Petersburg Times:

RAYS BITS: DH Jose Canseco turns 35 today... Canseco set a team record by
walking four times Wednesday...

==========
From Providence Journal:
Happy 35th, Jose!

Happy Birthday to former Red Soxer (and Oakland Athletic, Texas Ranger and
Toronto Blue Jay) Jose Canseco . He is 35 today. Canseco is having quite a
season. He leads the American League in home runs with 28 and is bidding to
become the first player in major-league history to hit 30 home runs in a
season with four different teams. He belted at least 30 five times with the
A's, once with the Rangers and once with the Blue Jays.

With 19 home runs in 44 away games this sreason, Canseco also has a chance
to match the American League record of 32 homers on the road set by Babe
Ruth in 1927 and tied by McGwire last year.

==========
From the Boston Globe:
Tampa's trio belts out a winning tune
By Allen Lessels
07/02/99

Batting practice was coming to a close and members of the Tampa Bay Trio -
led, of course, by Jose Canseco - were down to one swing apiece.

Wade Boggs, as to be expected, put his off the wall in left-center. Paul
Sorrento, of the Peabody Sorrentos, hit a shot to deep right field. And
Canseco jumped in for his single swing and launched one - really launched
one - over everything in left.

As the grounds crew broke down the batting cage, the crowd applauded the
veterans for the show.

Soon the three were back to bedevil the Red Sox and help Tampa Bay finish
off a two-game sweep. The Devil Rays were off to Toronto after the game and
that wasn't soon enough for the Red Sox.

Sorrento, 33, was breaking out. Boggs, 41, was closing in. And Canseco, 35
today, just kept on bashing.

Sorrento, who sat out Wednesday night and has not been playing a lot, had a
single, a double, a home run, and walked once.

''It's been a frustrating two or three weeks, you know,'' Sorrento said.
''You can't control what goes on and when you're in there you've just got
to give 100 percent and see what happens. I got some good pitches to hit
tonight and hit 'em.''

And how.

Sorrento, who had been in a 1-for-16 slump, had three of Tampa Bay's 16 hits.

Usually a first baseman, Sorrento had been starting in the outfield until
the Devil Rays recalled Bubba Trammell. Suddenly, Sorrento was a spot starter.

Boggs added two hits to the pair he had Wednesday night and now has a magic
number of 29 on his way to 3,000 for his career. For good measure, he just
about flew around the bases.

He ran his Wall ball into a double in the second inning, sustaining a
bruised hip in the process, and scored on Mike DiFelice's single. Later, he
scooted from first to third on Sorrento's single in the seventh. Boggs
scored that time, too.

''I've got so many at-bats in this park that it relaxes you and makes you
feel comfortable,'' Boggs said. ''And then you know you've got that little
thing in left field to play with. In my opinion, it's the greatest hitters'
park in baseball. The fun part is coming back and hitting to left off the
wall. In some other parks you can hit bullets to left-center and guys run
them down.''

Even though Tampa Bay paid its final visit to Boston of the season, don't
assume it's the end of the line at Fenway for Boggs.

''I haven't declared the Farewell Tour yet,'' he said. ''I'll just continue
to play and have fun and see what happens. That's out of my control. If you
continue to hit .300 at 41 or 42 and you're healthy and continuing to play
well and it's still fun ... ''

Boggs, by the way, improved to .295 with his 2 for 4. His numbers at Fenway
as a Devil Ray: 12 for 27 (.444).

Canseco added no home runs to his league-leading 28, largely because he was
walked seven times in two nights.

Still, he nearly beheaded Sox starter Jin Ho Cho with a line single in the
third inning and added a long double to center in the ninth.

Canseco likely won't have to wait until next year to again take aim at
Fenway's wall.

Chances are he'll get another shot in the All-Star Game.

==========
Mark Petrillo
mark@...
Canseconet.com - The Jose Canseco Site
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