Hey everyone...

Jose turned 39 years old yesterday. I'm sure the best birthday present he
got was being released from jail for 5 days, so he can visit with his
daughter Josie, who is in town from California, where she lives with her
mother. The details of that story are below, and so is a story about the
$2500 "Day with Jose" packages you've heard about. Not only that, but our
own Joey Santer (the member of this list who was the first to visit Jose)
wrote in to share his story with all of us.

Some of it is a bit hard for me to believe (Jose being offered $10 million
movie deals, a reality tv show, etc), but who knows? Hopefully it's all
true. That would be cool.

Anyway, enjoy the story, email Joey if you want, and if any one else out
there has been down to visit Jose, please send me an email and tell us all
about your experience.

Take it easy,
Mark


==========
From CNNSI:
Big Man in the Big House

Posted: Wednesday June 25, 2003 9:51 AM


When Jose Canseco welcomed me into his South Florida home one day in
mid-June, the only 'roids he had to fear were hemorrhoids. He was rooted to
his sofa, under house arrest, in a kind of extravagant prison: Sing Sing
with bling-bling.

Not long ago the first question Canseco might have asked, when sentenced to
house arrest, was, "Which house?" He had five of them, including a
22,000-square-foot estate in Weston, Fla., patrolled by $25,000 turtles.
"It had four acres, a 5,500-square-foot gym, a waterfall, lagoon, pool,
caves, Jacuzzi, koi ponds all over the place," said Canseco. "And I was
alone there. The most miserable time I've ever had -- the most depressed
I've ever been -- was in that house."

So Canseco sold the place, and the one in Miami Lakes, and the one in
Brentwood, Calif. He pared his fleet of Benzes to three, Navigators to two
and Rollses to one. The ex-Athletic turned ascetic. And it's a good thing,
for last Friday police came to take what remained of Canseco's freedom,
removing him from his current house after a drug test -- mandated by the
court as part of his sentence -- turned up positive for steroids.

"I was a nerd, a little dweeb, when I was a kid," Canseco said four days
before the arrest. "In high school I was skinny and little. I am the
perfect example of Before and After."

Today, at 38, Canseco is a Carrara marble sculpture. "I run into people all
the time who knew me in high school, and a lot of them don't recognize me
as the same guy," he said. "They're always like, 'You have changed so much.
You've turned into a different human being.'"

He is a bigger, wealthier, vastly more renowned human being. Just not a
happier one. "How many millionaires commit suicide?" he asked me. And when
I replied that surely he has never been that despondent, the former MVP of
the American League smiled weakly and said, "Not lately."

How much of his depression may owe to steroid use Canseco would not say,
though the tentative title of his tell-all memoir, which he still plans to
self-publish in October, may provide a hint: The Ball Was Never Juiced.
What was juiced, then? "I think we're all aware of that," he said when I
asked him if steroid use was rampant in baseball. "I can't believe
society's that ignorant.

"I brought something to the game that restructured and changed the game,"
he said. "How that can be explained so that anyone can understand it will
be in my book."

Canseco was in the third month of a two-year house arrest for violating the
probation he was given following a felony aggravated-battery conviction
resulting from a brawl at a Miami club on Halloween night in 2001. On the
date he was required to be in Florida, he was in Los Angeles, visiting his
six-year-old daughter, Josie (who lives with Canseco's second wife,
Jessica), and offering his services to movie studios. "One thing Hollywood
has never had," Canseco said, "is a Latin action hero."

And so he was placed under house arrest. For this latest violation he was
facing up to 15 years in real prison, though his current house, to hear him
tell it, is already more San Quentin than San Simeon. For instance, he
cannot bear to look at his baseball memorabilia. "Those are hurtful
memories," he said. "It's like you were married for 15 years, and suddenly
you break up. You're not gonna keep pictures of your ex-wife all over the
house."

On his website, josecanseco.com, he is auctioning off all his baseball
souvenirs, most of which were scattered across his dining-room table last
week: his MVP plaque, two World Series rings, a photograph with Queen
Elizabeth. Said his agent, Doug Ames, "He told me, 'If it's from baseball,
get it outta here.'"

And yet, in the next room, on a TV screen just smaller than a queen-sized
mattress, a 25-year-old Canseco was circling the bases at Memorial Stadium
in Baltimore. Watching the highlight video were Joe Santer, 22, and his
21-year-old girlfriend, Genie Ficks. Santer, responding to a solicitation
on Canseco's website, had paid $2,500 to Spend a Day with Jose. "My
friends," Santer said, "think I'm crazy."

Santer works the third shift at a window factory in Selins Grove, Pa. A
"33" medallion (Canseco's old number) dangled from his neck. How long had
he labored to spend a single afternoon with his hero? "Every night," he
said, "for the past month and a half."

Before Friday's arrest Canseco had sold 30 future visits to his home, some
of them on the installment plan. "We have an Oakland cop who made two
payments," said Ames.

When I left, Santer and Ficks were in the pool with Canseco, chatting about
baseball. Not all of his memories are bad. "I remember once up in Boston,
during the playoffs, the fans were chanting "STAIR-oids! STAIR-oids!" said
Canseco. "So I flexed my arm at them like that." He flexed like the guy on
the Arm & Hammer box.

"And they went crazy," he continued. "It was funny because I won the crowd
over by acknowledging them. A lot of times the fans just want to be
acknowledged. So if you say, 'Hi,' or just have fun with them, they say,
'Hey, he's just like us. He's a nice guy.'"

==========
From Joey Santer:
santer36@...

Okay where do I start....first of all the entire day was great. I
wasn't picked up by a limo at the airport because I made a vacation out of
the trip and went down on the Friday before. So I met up with a friend of
Jose's at a gas station about 3 min from his house. My girlfriend and I
were taken there in one of his navigators. When I got there we just walked
right in and there were reporters everywhere. Jose's good friend Doug
talked to me for a few min and told me to just walk around the house and
look at the memorabilia and things like that. It felt weird being in his
house and walking around without even actually meeting him yet. I saw him
because he was sitting on his couch giving an interview to Tampa bay news 9
at the time. After about ten minuets Jose came over and greeted us. We
talked for a few min and put on a little show of me knocking on his door
and him answering it for the news station. (But it was all set up)

Then he offered us a drink and brought me into his living room
where he had about 12 tapes setting out on the coffee table of all of his
homeruns. His father had collaborated every one of his homers on to
separate tapes listed by year and team. We sat there and watched about
40-50 of them but the time went quick. All of the reporters wanted me to
put on his championship rings and pose for them. NO PROBLEM!!! Only about
6 million dollars on my fingers!!!!! Then we went out in the yard to play
with his two dogs. (Weimrieners) Zeus and Zena. The TV. Reporters and
newspapers were still there at this point asking us questions and taking a
lot of pics. After awhile we went and got our bathing suits on and got
into his pool. We played with Zeus in there for awhile while sports
illustrated took some more pictures. And then for about 2 hours we stat
there in the 95 degree weather and talked. It was very interesting. After
that we got out and Genie (my girlfriend) and I had a few beers while Doug
cooked us some chicken and hamburgers. We had fresh fruit and corn
also. just a simple little bar-b-que. We still sat there and talked for
awhile and then the phone rang. It was my mother and my friend who also
came along on the trip with us. Just not to his house. Jose said to let
them through the gate and they got to meet him too. My mom wouldn't just
let me go on this special trip alone. She had to meet Jose and thank him
and tell him how big of a fan I was. Things like that. It's cool though
my mom is a great person.
The 5 of us took some pics together and we exchanged email addresses, phone
numbers and said our goodbyes.

The day seemed really short but that's just because I gave you a
quick rundown of what all we did. I was actually there for about 6 1/2 hours.

Some interesting things I learned.....first the house we were in is
just an investment house of Jose's. He had two days to furnish it when he
was released from jail. And since California doesn't have a house arrest
"program" he was forced to stay in Florida. He sold all of his other homes
in Florida and only had this one and three in California. So really he
doesn't have anything there with him. I don't mean to rip on the whole
idea of spending the day with his because for me it was wonderful. But for
some other people who are expecting to throw baseball with him like I
was. Or take batting practice, lift weights, learn martial arts and all
the other things the site says you can do with him they might be
disappointed. Jose didn't even have a baseball glove there with him! That
was the only thing I was let down by. I just wanted to be able to say I
threw baseball with him ya know? On and this just came to mind. If you
have seen his 40/40 ring. Jose actually designed it has 47 diamonds and is
the only one in the world.
When the company made the ring they sent him the mold and Jose broke it so
it would never be a replica. That one alone is 2 million!
At his old house in Fl. he used to have 4, 25,000 dollar tortoises,
a 7 ft. iguana, dogs, and lots of fish. Jose loves animals. And if you
don't like dogs he won't like you.

I know I am really going to jump around here so bare with me. Let's
see. The money I spent to see him went to the boys club and also paid for
some of the cost to have me there. I don't know I guess the chicken,
hamburgers, and beer. Jose is or was anyway allowed to leave him house for
an hour a week to get groceries and get his hair cut. He was also allowed
to go to the gym 3 times a week and he spent alot of time at the boys club.
That's where he does most of his community service.

Other fun facts. Madonna actually asked Jose to marry her. There
was also a story he told about when she lived across the lake from him she
had called him and asked him to come over and take her out to dinner so he
jumped in his boat and sped 105 mph over to her house with a helicopter
hovering over him with cameras so they could get the low down on the whole
madonna/jose story. He had to call her and tell her about the helicopter
and that he wouldn't be over. I don't know if you guys know this or not
but Jose never threw any punches in the bar fight 2 years ago. He
explained the whole story to me. He even mapped out the entire bar so I
could picture everything taking place. I guess Ozzie threw three punches
and broke the two guy's faces with an open palm. The reason for the whole
thing was Jose and Ozzie both had dates with them and ozzies date brought a
girlfriend of hers along. The girls needed to use the bathroom so the
three of them walked towards it and Jose and ozzie stood and watched. They
saw some guy lift up Jose's girlfriends skirt and grab her ass. Jose
explained to me he and ozzie looked at each other and said "I know I didn't
just see that, there's no way he just did that in front of us" then the
whole thing started. The other interesting thing about the ordeal is the
courts had Jose take a lie detector test. Jose passed clearly but they
don't use a polygraph test for the good of someone, BUT if he would have
failed it would have been used against him!!! Also the guys that were
involved and the bouncers at the club refused to take the damn test!!!! So
Jose throws no punches, passes the test and the other money hungry assholes
(sorry) refuse. But Jose is sentenced to 30 days in jail and then two
years of house arrest. Whatever!

We talked about the book which will be released during the
playoffs and World Series this year. We also talked about the reality show
he has in the works. Actually when I was there his manager took the call
that it was approved. I can't say which station it will be on. But then
again he's in jail so who knows what will happen with that. Genie and I
were invited to be on the show; Jose even said he would fly us down to be
on it! Basically all its going to be is like the Anna Nicole show where
you see what a day is like in her life. Only you will see a day in Jose's
life. And trust me you won't want to miss it! Lots of women, let me tell ya!

Jose told us stories of his cars, his fights with his ex wife's,
getting pulled over doing 180 mph and getting off cause the officer just
wanted to see inside his car. Jose told him he can drive the damn thing
for all he cared!!

And as a big surprise to me his fav. Team to play for was Tampa.
I'm sure you guys all know that now but before he never came out about it.
I would have thought it was Oakland. That reminds me. Jose isn't to happy
with big mac, Jose talked to mark McGuire's agent a few weeks ago and asked
why mark retired and Jose was told because mark was sick of baseball and
getting bored with it. That's just not something you're supposed to say.
His fav. Teammate of all time was Walt Weis.

Of course we talked about steroids. He admits it as you all know.
He explained that there's a right way and a wrong way to take them. He
basically does them for stamina to make it through a whole year. He also
told me that once this book is released he will be writing a book on "how
to take steroids". And if you guys don't know he had 4 movies to star in
each paying him 10 million. Obviously he wasn't going to do all 4 but he
did like two of the scripts. One of the scripts was on his counter. And
I'm sorry but I forget what the damn name of it was. Something about a
wife in the title though, I know that.

You guys have to know I didn't do this to go get "the scoop" on Jose
I did this just to hang out with him and have some memories. I have loved
him since I was 7 years old and never cared what people thought or said
about him. I'm not very gullible and I do believe everything he told
me. I know some of you are going to think I'm nuts for saying that but I
really do think he and I hit it off well. I know not everyone that goes to
meet him is going to be invited back down or given his phone
number. Everyone will have a great time and I do recommend doing it but
not everyone is going to have the same experiences I did. esp. being the
first one. All the media attention it got was nuts!!!!!!!! When I got home
from Fla. I had 11 msges on my answering machine from radio stations
wanting interviews with me.
Espn, fox sports, sporting news radio, Wsv in South Carolina, sports talk
15 in Baltimore md. Those are just to name a few. Hell there was an
article in the newspaper in my home town before I even got home and no one
from my town had talked to me about it yet. then when I did get home I had
more pics taken and more articles written. I was in the Miami herald, the
Tampa tribune, and the daily item in pa. Tampa bay news 9 had two part
news broadcast on Tuesday and wed. The 17th and 18th. Tuesday night was
all about Jose and wed. Night was all about me. It's just my 15 min of
fame. I guess I am in the sports illustrated this week actually if you
subscribe you should have it if not it comes out in stores on Friday the 27th.

That's about all guys. If you have any questions I don't mind at
all emails asking me. Just be patient for the reply. If I'm not busy when
I read it I'll reply right away. one more thing......There is a guy out
there who bid 10,000 to spend the day with him and have a candle lite
dinner and watch a movie. if you belong to this list PLEASE email me I
want to talk to you!!!!! thanks guys I hope you enjoyed the story.

==========
From the AP:
Judge releases Canseco for five days to be with daughter

July 2, 2003
MIAMI (AP) -- A judge ordered former baseball player Jose Canseco to be
released from jail Wednesday for a five-day visit with his 6-year-old
daughter.

Canseco, the American League MVP in 1988, has been in jail since last month
after allegedly violating probation a second time for a nightclub scuffle.
Canseco was ordered held until a court hearing July 21 on whether he
violated his probation by testing positive for steroids.

Canseco's daughter is visiting from California, where his ex-wife lives.

Canseco, who retired from baseball last year, was charged with his twin
brother, Ozzie, for the 2001 brawl in Miami Beach. He was sentenced to
probation after pleading guilty last year.

Jose Canseco already violated his probation by leaving Florida for several
weeks and failing to start community service and anger management classes.
He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years of house arrest. He was
warned that further violations could result in a 15-year prison sentence.