Hey Cansecoites,

Jose still seems to be struggling a little at the plate lately (his average
has dropped to .276), but he's still hitting the longball too... He hit #30
in Toronto on Sunday, making him the first player in major league history
to hit 30 or more homers for 4 different teams. I wonder how many people
have hit 40 or more for 3 different teams... At this rate, Jose will join
that club sometime in August.

Jose was voted in as a starter for the AL in the All Star game next
Tuesday. He'll also be in the home run derby, which takes place on
Monday... The events are being held in Boston this year, and I can't wait
to see Jose launch some balls over the green monster. He has the perfect
swing for that park, if you ask me...

I sent out the first batch of Canseconet.com t-shirts when I was home this
weekend, and will send out another batch this coming weekend. I'm shipping
them in the order I receive your payment... WHEN (and it is a "when") we
run out of shirts, we're going to have more made, but some people might
have to wait a couple of weeks to get theirs. Moral of the story - the
sooner you send your payment, the sooner you'll get a shirt! If you
haven't ordered a Canseconet.com t-shirt yet and would like to, go to
http://www.canseconet.com/shirts.htm

Below you'll find all the latest Canseco news - some of the articles are
really good! It sure is nice to see the media appreciate Jose for once.

That's all for now... Don't forget to watch the HR derby Monday night on ESPN!
Mark

==========
From the St. Petersburg Times:
At end of Rupe, Rays hold on
By Marc Topkin
July 3, 1999

TORONTO -- It was happening again. Put the Devil Rays in SkyDome and
something bad is bound to occur. Just consider it their own house of
horrors...

...The Rays did plenty to be in position to win. Jose Canseco celebrated
his 35th birthday with a home run, and Dave Martinez marked his return to
the lineup with four RBI. Bubba Trammell, who didn't have any known special
occasions, added a two-run homer...

...Early, it looked as if it was going to be Canseco's birthday bash.

Canseco homered to lead off the third, his 29th of the season, to key a
five-run surge against Toronto starter Kelvim Escobar. After McGriff
walked, Trammell ripped a 2-and-1 pitch over the centerfield fence, a
409-foot blast that extended Tampa Bay's lead to 4-0.

The homer was just Canseco's second in his past 12 games, but it was no
surprise it came here. He has hit 41 at SkyDome, including his 400th
earlier this season. This one was No. 426, tying him with Billy Williams
for 24th all-time...

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

BIRTHDAY BOY: Jose Canseco turned 35 Friday, but you couldn't tell by
looking at him, or by listening to him. "I don't know what a 35-year-old is
supposed to feel like," Canseco said. "I don't feel any older than when I
was 25. I don't feel my abilities have diminished, or my skills. I think
I'm getting better, and my statistics should prove that, especially my home
runs per at-bat." In his 1988 MVP season, Canseco hit 42 homers, one per
12.4 at-bats. This season he is averaging one per 10.1 at-bats. "I think in
general I'm getting a whole lot better," Canseco said.... Canseco and Rick
White will square off against Shawn Green and Darrin Fletcher in a pregame
bowling exhibition today. "My best game's a 240 or something. I've got a
big hook, a real big hook," Canseco said.

COSTLY LOSS: The fans who booed Canseco at Fenway Park this week apparently
aren't the only ones there who don't like him. Canseco said a 61/2-carat
diamond ring, appraised at $120,000, was stolen from his locker during
Thursday's game. He said he had cash taken from his wallet during a spring
game at Fort Myers, too.

==========
From the Toronto Sun:
Canseco aims to play at 40
By Steve Buffery

Jose Canseco is healthy, wealthy and wise to the workings of pharmaceutical
enhancements.

The Tampa Bay designated hitter is fully up to speed, so to speak, on the
virtues of all the important nutritional supplements, such as creatine,
androstenedione, amino acids and multi-vitamins.

It is this knowledge which has put the brawny batsman in the driver's seat
during the so-called twilight of his career.

Canseco hammered his American League-leading 29th home run last night at
the SkyDome.

It was the 426th homer of his career, tying him with former Chicago Cub
Billy Williams for 24th on the career list.

Canseco, once major-league baseball's bad boy, turned 35 yesterday and
celebrated with a declaration sure to strike terror in the hearts of
pitchers everywhere.

"I think I can play until I'm 40," the former Blue Jay said. "I feel good
-- I don't drink and I don't smoke. I've always been into nutrition."

There is no denying that. Canseco isn't shy in admitting nutritional aids
have played an important role in allowing him to maintain his strength and
stamina year-round. He also admitted to using the controversial andro for a
short period.

In fact, the Cuban-born slugger said supplements, combined with a broad
knowledge of fitness, have enabled most ball players to extend their careers.

And he considers himself a pioneer in that regard.

"When I first came into the league in '85, weightlifting was a no-no," he
said. "Now you see a weight room in every ball park."

Canseco is on track to surpass his career high in home runs (46, set last
year with the Blue Jays) this season and the 14-year major leaguer said he
feels better now than he did when he was 25.

He doesn't play outfield much any more, but he hasn't lost his power, or
his wicked sense of humour.

During a dugout dissertation, a female reporter quizzed Canseco as to the
size of his arms and chest.

"There's only one thing guys measure," he said.

==========
From the Toronto Star:
What's the measure of a man?

``There's only one measurement a man cares about. And we both know what
that is.''

JOSE CANSECO was not referring to the length of his dingers.

Certainly not that puny 377-footer, a runt by Canseco standards, which
barely cleared the right-centre fence at SkyDome last night. It came on a
first pitch from starter Kelvim Escobar - slammed silly by the Tampa Bay
Devil Rays in their last encounter - to start the third inning.

The pitch was high and outside but Canseco reached for it anyway, all
forearm strength muscling the ball.

It was the beginning of a doomed excursion for the Jays, as the Devil Rays
batted around the order, taking a 6-0 lead and chasing Escobar from the
mound, before Canseco grounded out. Toronto would fight back valiantly over
the course of a 3 1/2-hour game but still lose 8-7.

Canseco - celebrating his 35th birthday yesterday - is the only
major-league ballist to have hit the fifth-level deck at SkyDome twice. And
the last time he did that was April 12 off, yes, Escobar.

No wonder the former Bash Brother loves this yard. ``I think this ballpark
is awesome,'' the birthday boy was observing to a handful of scribes prior
to the game, as he discussed matters small and large.

Which brings us to that quote at the top. The subject had been the
dimension of Canseco's Popeye biceps, which he claimed not to know. Just as
he pleaded ignorant on the breadth of his washboard chest.

Canseco gives good quote, but I don't believe he was telling the truth on
this matter. Surely his personal measurements - all of them - are at his
fingertips.

Yet there was this well-cut (in a bodybuilder sense), acutely defined
fellow - advertorial spokesman for one particular ``nutritional
supplement'' manufacturer - claiming the andro he took for some four or
five months last season had absolutely no effect on his 245-pound physique,
which is why he ditched it; and that the creatine he pops would be useless
without the effort he puts into his training regimen.

Which is true. Except nobody's ever seen Canseco working diligently on his
bod. That's always been something of a mystery, even during the memorable
season he spent as a mostly DH Jay last year.

``The secret to the fountain of youth is you eat right, you don't do drugs,
you don't smoke, you exercise, you work out, you oxygenate your body.
(That) is cardio and building muscle, and that's what keeps you young.''

Thirty-five is not young in sports, though Canseco figures he can DH his
way right to age 40. Yesterday felt no different than the day before.

``I don't know what a 35-year-old is supposed to feel like.''

Alas, in the most regrettable of Gord Ash's off-season manoeuvres, free
agent Canseco was allowed to take his big bat to Tampa Bay, where he signed
for a relatively modest $4 million, with two option years and a contract
valued at $16 million if all incentives are reached.

This would have been completely do-able for the Jays, despite Ash's claims
that the franchise was in flux at the time, with a possible corporate sale
and undetermined budget. Bollocks.

That was home run No. 29 for Canseco last night, which puts him behind only
Sammy Sosa. Meanwhile, the Jays have wrung a measly seven homers (and 29
ribbies) from the dozen candidates rotated in and out of their black hole
at DH.

Imagine grafting Canseco's 29 homers onto the Jays' record thus far. That
would put them way over .500 and thick in the wild-card race.

That's the real measure of the man who got away.

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

CASHING IN: At a $2-million base salary, Jose Canseco has been the bargain
free agent deal of the year. But Canseco is starting to collect some of the
bonuses in his contract, which basically reward him for staying in the
lineup. Canseco earned an additional $200,000 last week when he made his
300th plate appearance, and will cash in with an escalating amount for
every 50 from here on. All told, he could earn an additional $2.9-million
in bonuses. Plus, he'll pocket $50,000 for making the All-Star team.
Canseco can guarantee a $3-million base salary with similar incentives for
next season by making 500 plate appearances.

==========
PIN-BALL: Jays Darrin Fletcher (34) and Shawn Green (35) outscored Jose
Canseco (29) and Rick White (25) during a three-frame bowling exhibition in
the outfield before the game. Even though White pitches right-handed, he
bowls, writes, eats and fishes left-handed. "My dad taught me to do a lot
of things left-handed," he said. "He tried to get me to pitch, but I
couldn't do it." White, by the way, claims to average around 180 in two
off-season bowling leagues.

==========
From the Toronto Sun (referring to Blue Jays pitcher Chris Carpenter):

..."He throws 95, 96 miles per hour, with a curve ball from hell and a
changeup," designated hitter Jose Canseco said. "When he has got his
location, he is tough."

Canseco knows that all too well. He is hitless in 10 at-bats this season
against his former teammate and has struck out six times.

"You have to guess right with him and he was definitely outguessing me
today," the American League home-run leader said. "He's going to be a stud."

==========
From the Toronto Sun:
Grebeck a reluctant hitting hero
By Mike Rutsey

Forget what the boxscore shows, there was only one designated hitter in the
Blue Jays-Devil Rays game yesterday at the SkyDome.

His name was Jose Canseco and he batted for Tampa Bay.

In the DH spot, the Blue Jays had Craig Grebeck, who came through with a
4-for-4 day and drove in a run.

Canseco was hitless in four at-bats, but that's not the point.

Grebeck, 12-for-23 in six starts as a DH, is a utility infielder while
Canseco is the designated hitter the Jays let go. He also is the type of
hitter the club is still looking for.

If you want to argue the point, first talk with Grebeck, who is hitting
.404 on the year (36-for-89).

"If I'm the DH here, we're going to be in a lot of trouble," Grebeck said
yesterday after the Jays blanked Tampa Bay 5-0. "I don't dislike being a
DH, but I want to win. For this team to win, we'll need a big-time DH.

"We need a DH who can drive in runs and protect our big hitters. We need a
big bopper and we don't have that guy."

Canseco can do what a DH is supposed to do -- win a game by himself. It's
having a guy who can slam a three-run homer.

DH is a power position and, at 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds, Grebeck is no
long-ball threat. He has zero homers this year.

"There are going to be days when we run into a tough pitcher and you need a
guy who, with one swing of the bat, can get you a run," Grebeck said. "I'm
not the guy to do that."

Grebeck is not running himself down, he simply is stating the obvious...

==========
From the Toronto Star:

...Speaking of DHs, though, the Tampa version you might have heard about.
Jose Canseco's the name and yesterday he had an 0 for 4 with a couple of
whiffs to consider. Lifetime, he's now 0 for 10 with six strikeouts against
one-time teammate Carpenter.

Just another guy up there, right Chris?

``Well, you know it's him,'' Carpenter said.

``You look at him in the box, he's impressive, you know what he can do. You
make the pitches, though, he's out, just like anybody else; you make a
mistake, it's out.''

==========
From the St. Petersburg Times:
Nomadic life results in record
By Marc Topkin
July 5, 1999

TORONTO -- Jose Canseco set himself apart again Sunday, becoming the first
player to hit 30 home runs for four teams. But to Canseco, it was more a
commemoration of where he has been than a celebration of what he has done.

"It shows I've been traded a lot; that's all it really shows," he said.
"I've been around, I guess."

Canseco reached 30 five times for the A's from 1986-91, hit 31 for Texas in
1994 and had a career-high 46 for the Blue Jays last season. With 30 in 81
games for the Devil Rays, he is on pace for 60, but he prefers not to get
too wrapped up in looking ahead or behind.

"I've been out for a while (with injuries), I've been traded around to
different teams," he said. "It's nice to have a few years in you with 30 or
more home runs."

Canseco should be in the news again today when he is expected to be named
the fans' choice as the starting DH in the All-Star Game.

Canseco has been named an All-Star five times, but not since 1992. He
missed that game and the 1989 affair with injuries, and he didn't get into
the 1986 game. He played in 1988 and 1990 and was 0-for-8.

"I've been hurt for a couple years, but I would say I'm back on track in
the sense of putting together consistent number from last year to this
year," Canseco said.

"Hopefully I'll have a lot of fun (in Boston) for the All-Star break and
the home run-hitting competition and it will be a good time."

Canseco's election will make the Rays the third of the 14 expansion teams
to have a starter voted in in their first or second year.

==========
From the Toronto Sun:
Jays need to go after Canseco
By Jim Hunt

It was a great day if you happen to be a Blue Jays fan.

Despite one interpretation of a warning from Nostradamus, the 16th-century
philosopher, the world did not end on the first Sunday of July 1999; the
Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6-3; Pat Hentgen got his 100th
career win; and Billy Koch, armed with the mightiest fastball on the team,
registered his 11th save.

The big question for Jays president Gord Ash, as the team gets ready for
the second part of the season, is whether he satisfied with running a .500
team. If he is, then Ash can afford to sit tight with a team that will lose
as many games as it wins. If the answer is no, and I'm sure for public
consumption that's what Ash is saying, then it's time to step to the plate.

You don't have to know a lot about baseball to realize the Jays are hurting
at the designated-hitter spot. Their platoon of designated hitters has
combined for a batting average of .237 with only six homers and 30 runs
batted in -- statistics that pale by comparison to every other team in the
American League. The Jays are conceding a couple of runs a game every time
they play.

The DH the Jays need so badly was at the SkyDome yesterday, playing for the
Devil Rays. Jose Canseco belted his 30th home run of the season, a towering
blast into the seats in left field.

This, of course, is the same Canseco the Blue Jays elected not to re-sign
at the end of last season. It was a major-league goof, perhaps the biggest
of Ash's career with the Blue Jays.

To think they could have kept Canseco for the four-year, $16-million
contract they gave Joey Hamilton, who has yet to earn his keep as a Jays
starter. Actually, they could have signed Canseco and had money left over.

Would Ash bring Canseco back? It's a question he did his best to duck when
Ol' Hunt put it to him yesterday.

"He's under contract to another team so we can't even talk about it," Ash
said.

Earlier Ash pointed out Canseco was hitting only .181 with men in scoring
position. But the veteran DH also has hit 30 homers and driven in 66 runs,
which would look awfully good if he was doing it for the Blue Jays. It's 24
more homers and 36 more RBIs than the Jays are getting from their
designated hitters.

All I know is the Blue Jays need a right-handed bat between Shawn Green and
Carlos Delgado. There's no one around who fills the bill better than Canseco.

There's not much doubt Tampa Bay would be willing to give him up. The Devil
Rays are hurting on the field and at the gate. Canseco leads the American
League in homers but it's not paying off at the box office. The team's
attendance is down from last season, which is not that unusual for a
second-year expansion team.

Canseco isn't selling seats in Florida. But he might sell a few for the
Jays, who could use a boost at the box office.

It takes a big man to admit he made a mistake. I'm convinced Ash is a big
enough man to do it. Canseco always has hit up a storm at the SkyDome. His
eyes seem to light up every time he comes to the plate at the home park of
the Jays. He has hit 17 homers at the SkyDome with visiting teams.

I don't think Ash has much choice.The Jays are hurting at the DH spot.
Unless they can improve at DH there's no way they can make a serious run at
a wild-card spot. There's really only one candidate for the job and that's
Canseco. It says here Ash has to try to swing a deal to get him, even if it
means swallowing his pride and admitting he goofed in the first place.

==========
From the Toronto Sun:

TRAVELING SHOW: With his solo homer in the fourth inning yesterday, Jose
Canseco became the first player in major-league history to hit 30 or more
home runs for four different teams -- Oakland, Texas, Toronto and Tampa Bay.

Canseco also became the career homer leader among opposing-team batters at
the SkyDome. It was his 17th, one more than Cecil Fielder.

==========
From the Vancouver Sun:

...Overshadowed by Hentgen and Green was a record-setting day for former
Blue Jay Jose Canseco, who became the first player in major-league history
to hit at least 30 home runs for four different teams.

Canseco, who led off the fourth with a shot to left field, accomplished the
feat five times with Oakland, once with Texas and last season with the
Jays, when he had 46.

"I've been traded a lot, that's what (setting the record) shows," Canseco
said jokingly, before adding it didn't matter he set the record in Toronto.
"But it does feel great."

==========
From the Sporting News Report:
7/5

Jose Canseco turned 35 last Friday, but you could not tell by looking at
well-muscled physique and not by listening to him say how he feels better
now than 10 years ago, that the only difference is a lack of stamina.

Canseco says, if anything, he has gotten better as a hitter and cites a
telling statistic. In his 1988 MVP season, Canseco hit 42 homers, one per
12.4 at-bats. This season, he is averaging about one per 10 at-bats.

Canseco takes excellent care of his body, there has been no significant
drop in strength and he has become a more intelligent hitter, learning what
to do with pitches he can't hit out of the ballpark. He also has impressed
the Rays with his knowledge of opposing pitchers and the time he spends
looking at video of his swing.

==========
From the St. Petersburg Times:
Canseco reunion tour rolls on with Star start
After a seven-year absence, the Devil Rays DH returns to All-Star Game as
the starting DH.
By Marc Topkin
July 6, 1999

ST. PETERSBURG -- The last time Jose Canseco was an All-Star? "1942?" he
quipped. "I can't remember back that far."

Actually, it was 1992. But enough has happened that the seven-year lapse,
which ended Monday when Canseco was elected the starting DH for next week's
game, may as well have been an eternity.

"I've come full circle," said Canseco, an All-Star four times from 1988 to
1992. "As a baseball player no one has experienced as much as I've
experienced. I was talked about being the best player in the world, hands
down, by far, at one point, being this freak that nobody understood. I
stood 6-4, 250 pounds and running 4.3 (seconds), 4.4 40s. The first guy to
do 40-40 (homers and stolen bases).

"Then I was, more or less, an outcast in baseball, being completely
forgotten. The worst player. A total joke. Washed up."

Now Canseco is the one who can laugh. Or at least smile. He hit a
career-high 46 home runs for Toronto last season and, at age 35, is on pace
for even grander things this season, piling up 30 homers and 66 RBI in the
Devil Rays' first 82 games.

His renaissance has not gone unnoticed. Canseco received 1,664,282 votes,
easily outdistancing Cleveland's Wil Cordero at DH and finishing with the
sixth-most votes overall among AL players.

Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra edged New York's Derek Jeter by 20,446
votes (1,089,974-1,069,528) in the closest race. Four Cleveland Indians
were voted in: first baseman Jim Thome, second baseman Roberto Alomar, and
outfielders Manny Ramirez and Kenny Lofton. The other elected AL starters
are Texas catcher Ivan Rodriguez, Baltimore third baseman Cal Ripken (who
will make his 16th straight start) and Seattle outfielder Ken Griffey, the
leading vote-getter (2,918,055) for the seventh time in nine years.

Canseco was named to the AL team as a rookie in 1986, then was voted a
starter in 1988, '89, '90 and '92. He could not play because of injuries in
'89 and '92.

The seven-year lapse between elections equals the second-longest since the
voting system was implemented in 1970. Paul Molitor went from 1980 to 1988
between starts, and Steve Sax went from 1983 to 1990.

Canseco, who will receive a $50,000 bonus for making the team, said he was
excited about going back to the All-Star Game and back to Boston, where he
played in 1995-96. But he sounded most enthusiastic about the chance to
show off in the home run contest: "I think that's probably the best part of
the All-Star Game." With Canseco's election, the Rays are the third of the
14 expansion team to have a starter chosen in their first or second season.

"Last year we had our first All-Star in Rolando Arrojo, and I know that
every club ends up with a representative, but the way he performed, he
would have made it on any team," general manager Chuck LaMar said. "You can
say the same for Jose Canseco. The way he has produced and the numbers he
has put up for us this year has been truly great. ... Having him elected is
an honor for Jose and for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays."...

==========
From the Tampa Tribune:
Canseco voted to AL All-Star team
By Carter Gaddis

ST. PETERSBURG - Jose Canseco will return to baseball's All-Star Game as
the first Devil Ray elected to start.

Jose Canseco's latest professional incarnation will be consummated early
next week in the shadow of that extraordinarily tall left-field wall at
Fenway Park in Boston.

For the first time since 1992, Canseco is an All-Star. The designated
hitter is the first Devil Ray to be voted into the American League's
starting lineup.

Between All-Star appearances, he sank to the lowest of professional lows.
The muscular physique and colorful off-field persona always were there, but
only in street clothes did Canseco resemble the player who, as early as
1988, was considered the best of a generation.

A fairly rapid descent ensued after 1991, fueled mostly by injuries. A
disastrous appearance on the mound for Texas in 1993 led to elbow surgery.
And then there was the infamous home run ball that bounced off his noggin
and into the stands.

It was a quick fall from the top. And a long climb back.

``You're talking about being the best player in the world, hands down, by
far, at one point,'' Canseco said. ``Being this freak ... 6-foot-4, 250
pounds, running a 4.4-second 40. The first guy to 40-40. Then, being an
outcast in baseball, being completely forgotten. The worst player. A total
joke. Washed up, whatever.

``Read the book when I retire. It should be interesting.''

The latest chapter of the Canseco saga is a story of redemption and
recaptured youth. At 35, in his 15th major-league season, he's on pace for
career highs in home runs (he has 30) and RBIs (66 is his current total).

``I've come full circle,'' Canseco said. ``I think as a baseball player, no
one has experienced more than I've experienced in this game.''

It's a testimony to Canseco's popularity that he was the only designated
hitter candidate to receive as many as 1 million votes in fan balloting.
With 1,664,282 votes, he finished ahead of Cleveland's Wil Cordero (994,336).

Canseco earned a $50,000 bonus for making the All-Star team.

The real bonus for a slugger of Canseco's prowess will come Monday, when he
and his fellow All- Stars assault the Green Monster in the annual home run
hitting contest.

The prospect of a Canseco- Mark McGwire final in that contest should do
wonders for ESPN's ratings for the prime-time event.

``It's fun,'' Canseco said. ``The home run competition is the best part of
every All-Star Game.''

Canseco's reception from the Boston fans for the homer fest Monday and the
All-Star Game Tuesday may be less than cordial. He has been booed before
each plate appearance for the Devil Rays at Fenway, where he played for the
Red Sox in 1995-96.

``Do I hope [the fans] respond in a certain way? I have to ask myself
this,'' Canseco said. ``Can I control the way they respond? No. So, you
don't hope for what you can't control.''

Regardless of whether they boo or cheer, Canseco will relish his sixth
All-Star appearance as only a fallen former MVP can.

``My time has come and gone,'' Canseco said. ``You have to accept it. I'm
35 years old. I'm not 25 years old again. I had my time. ... You've got to
hand it down to the younger guys, because that's what it's about.''

==========
From the Tampa Tribune:
Portugal splinters Rays
By Bill Chastain

ST. PETERSBURG - Mark Portugal gets the job done in a 4-2 Red Sox win
against the Devil Rays at Tropicana Field.

Jose Canseco examined the splintered remnants of two new bats as he stood
next to the boxes containing the rest of the shipment.

``Those bats are going right to firewood,'' Canseco said, a bemused
expression on his face.

But the slugger wouldn't blame his 0-for-3 performance - nor the Rays' 4-2
Monday night loss to the Boston Red Sox - on faulty wood. Instead, he
credited Red Sox starter Mark Portugal for a stellar pitching performance
before an announced crowd of 21,967 at Tropicana Field.

The loss ended the Rays' four-game win streak against the Red Sox that
included a two-game sweep last week in Boston.

``I've never seen [Portugal's] ball move like that, never. Not even
close,'' said Canseco, who entered the game with a .412 career average
against Portugal. ``I mean, he was coming in there. His ball was moving
three or four feet at the last second. It was ridiculous. He definitely had
it going.''

So well that Canseco had suspected the veteran right-hander was scuffing
the ball.

``We checked the ball two or three times, but there was nothing,'' Canseco
said. ``You've got to tip your cap to him. He did the job.''...

==========
Canseco learns you can go home again
by Tony Massarotti
Tuesday, July 6, 1999

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Next week's All-Star Game will be a homecoming for
Jose Canseco, but it really has nothing to do with his return to Fenway
Park. It has everything to do with his return to baseball's center stage, a
place he once owned.

Along with Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, Canseco earned a starting
place in next Tuesday's game at Fenway Park when final fan voting was
announced early last night. Canseco, named as the starting designated
hitter (a new All-Star position this season), joined a group headed by
Seattle center fielder and balloting leader Ken Griffey Jr., but he's the
only AL starter other than Garciaparra who has played for the Red Sox.

Of course, that group will grow when Yankees manager and AL skipper Joe
Torre names Sox ace Pedro Martinez as his starting pitcher.

``I've come full circle. As a baseball player, no one's experienced what
I've experienced in this game,'' Canseco said last night at Tropicana
Field, where he joined his Tampa Bay Devil Rays teammates in the opener of
a four-game series against the Red Sox.

``I was considered the best player in the world at one point, a freak, the
first player to be 40-40 (in home runs and stolen bases in the same
season), whatever. And then I became an outcast, a total joke, washed up.
Read the book when I retire. It'll be interesting.''

Along with Canseco, Garciaparra and Griffey, Texas catcher Ivan Rodriguez
and Baltimore third baseman Cal Ripken also were named to the AL team. The
remainder of the team was completed with Cleveland Indians - first baseman
Jim Thome, second baseman Roberto Alomar, and outfielders Kenny Lofton and
Manny Ramirez.

The National League starters are due to be announced today. Reserves for
both teams are to be announced by Torre and NL manager Bruce Bochy,
respectively, tomorrow.

Canseco, for his part, said he fully intends to compete in next Monday's
home run derby, an event he called ``probably the best part of the All-Star
Game.'' He said he hoped to be received warmly by Sox fans, and may have
amused a few when he inadvertently left Garciaparra off the list of
candidates as the starting shortstop.

``You've got Alex (Rodriguez), (Omar) Vizquel, (Derek) Jeter. Who else do
you've got?'' Canseco asked.

Um, Nomar?

Responded the 35-year-old Canseco, poking fun at his memory loss: ``I'm
getting old, guys.''

==========
From the Orlando's Sun Sentinel:
Home run derby to be a bashing success
By George Diaz
July 6, 1999.

They are together again for another summer of long-ball frenzy.

"Bash Brothers Plus One" is yet another sequel on this summer's smorgasbord
of entertainment that is trying to divert our attention from the big-screen
portraits of Austin Powers, Pretty Woman Julia Roberts and the eclectic
cast from Star Wars: Episode I.

Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Jose Canseco, taking their whacks at baseball
immortality.

Baseball's obsession with statistical minutiae feeds the Big Mac Attack in
St. Louis, the Summer of Sammy in Chicago and the Jose, Can You See It Fly?
theme in Tampa Bay.

If only the protagonists were enjoying the pursuit with the same passion.

Sosa and Canseco are miscast stars playing for teams that are blips on the
screen in baseball's universe. Tampa Bay is next-to-last in the American
League East. Chicago is last in the National League Central.

And Mr. McGwire continues to find fame an uncomfortable fit, still burdened
with his emergence as a red-haired American icon.

It's obvious that this sequel desperately needs a laugh track.

"I don't want to say I'm not enjoying it," Sosa said after Sunday's 6-2
loss to Philadelphia.

"It'd be better if it was the same situation as last year, but whatever
happens, I have to stay strong. I'm a leader here, and I want the team to
follow me. I came here to play. We're not doing it the way we're supposed
to, but we're going to get out of it."

Swingin' Sammy is again on pace to hit 66 home runs, punctuating his
major-league-leading 32 home runs with his home plate hop as the ball sails
toward Waveland or Kenmore outside Wrigley Field. Sosa has the hops, but
his team might be hopeless. Despite beating Pittsburgh on Monday, the Cubs
have lost 18 of their past 24 games.

McGwire's Cards are just a notch above Sammy's Cubs in the Central Division
standings, but McGwire seems most troubled by expectations.

Singles, doubles, triples, walks and sacrifices are wasted at-bats in the
eyes of fans who dig the long ball.

The barrage of ESPN highlights, charts in newspapers counting down the home
run chase and the constant comparisons to Sosa and their playful rivalry
simply makes the beast hungrier for more. (McGwire's home-base newspaper,
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has a "Mark McGwire home run counter" on a Web
site that displays 26 baseballs documenting all of his home runs in '99).

"It starts with the media," McGwire said earlier this season. "What people
write, what they say, fans believe. Because of last year, and the way the
media wrote about it and portrayed it, there's a feeling out there now that
hitting home runs is easy to do. But nothing has changed. Hitting home runs
is all about getting pitches to hit. And I just don't see much. And I won't
see much."

A repeat of his record-setting 70-home run season might be unrealistic for
McGwire.

Perhaps the historic burden won't be quite so taxing for Canseco, once
McGwire's prolific Bash Brother teammate with the Oakland Athletics.

Canseco can't trip over the Roger Maris-McGwire-Sosa home run charts of
last year. He might play long ball by himself in the American League,
unless Ken Griffey picks up the pace. And a struggling expansion team might
be more willing to acquiesce to the personal gains of one player for the
attention it will bring.

Personally, there aren't a lot of other reasons I would commute on that
cumbersome I-4 stretch to St. Petersburg, most certainly not for the domed
"ambience" of architecturally challenged Tropicana Field.

With 30 home runs and counting, Canseco could be the one to embrace destiny
while Sosa and McGwire watch from a short distance.

A sequel gets stale if you bring in the same cast of characters. So say hey
to Jose, and the blockbuster memories that could unfold in the summer of '99.

==========
From the Tampa Tribune:
Flex appeal makes Jose stand out
By Martin Fennelly

ST. PETERSBURG - It isn't easy being Jose Canseco. Unless, of course,
you're Jose Canseco.

He is this Devil Rays season, in case you didn't know, and not enough of us
do. Tampa Bay's designated all-star starter is by far the largest tree
falling in baseball's forest.

Canseco already has given us 30 reasons to mention him in the same
homer-happy sentence with Sosa, McGwire and Griffey. But who recalls the
fourth guy who walked on the moon?

Like it matters to Jose.

``What is it with these bats?'' he complained Tuesday afternoon in the Rays
dugout at Tropicana Field. He demolished two pieces of wood Monday. Jose
was left holding handles.

Somebody asked Jose if he'd ever broken a bat with a check swing;
Cleveland's Manny Ramirez did that twice in the same game this season.
Jose's eyes narrowed. Slugger time.

``There's no way I can check my swing once it gets going,'' he said. ``Once
I get going, there's no stopping. There's too much torque.''

He looked up and smiled.

``Too much torque.''

MORE THAN THE 30 homers, more than the 67 RBIs, the best thing about Jose
is just how very much he enjoys being Jose. It's as if the whole world's a
mirror and Jose is adjusting his shirt, making sure his muscles show.

We knew this would be fun the first day Jose reported to spring training.
Late, of course. His first act was to reach into his locker and produce a
fielding glove. And grin.

``Think I'll need this much?''

Jose flexing his arms in the on-deck circle. Jose holding baby after baby
for pictures on fan photo day. Jose watching women watch him. Jose admiring
a baseball as it leaves. Jose near the batting cage before a game, arms
folded, surrounded by media, loving it. Jose works better in crowds.

Jose talking about hitting for Boston in Fenway Park, site of next
Tuesday's All-Star Game and more important: the home run derby. Jose
talking about Mark McGwire coming in with Oakland and the Fenway batting
practices they had, baseballs flying over the Green Monster and onto the
not-so- nearby Massachusetts Turnpike.

``But just the eastbound lanes,'' Jose said.

Just the eastbound lanes.

Has there ever been a guy who has more fun talking about what fans talk
about? Will there ever be a better time under this roof than a Jose swing,
even for a strikeout? Be honest. Will there ever?

RAYS MANAGEMENT is in mid- blunder. The team that begs for spectators has
let half a season go without promoting the hell out of Jose. The guy should
be on billboards. On buses. On radio. On TV. Everywhere.

Who needs that ``Off The Wall'' campaign when Canseco is going over the
wall? It's as if the Rays built this season around gimmicks only to have an
actual player step up. It seems lost on this team and its thoroughly
anesthetized, small home crowds.

Baseball in Tampa Bay? Here's your man. The lights never can be too bright.
Forget how Jose has helped the Rays' lineup. This team had little
personality last season. Now Jose flexes, Jose swings.

Jose's world.

Eastbound and westbound.

``He does it without even trying,'' Rays catcher John Flaherty said. ``He
doesn't try to stand out. He just does. Jose is Jose. There's no way you're
going to stop that.''

Yeah. Too much torque.

==========
From the Ottawa Citizen:
Holman swings for fences in big-league bat market
Wayne Scanlan

Sam Holman is outgrowing his workshop on Bayswater Avenue.

At his current home-run pace, Tampa Bay Devil Rays slugger Jose Canseco is
building a career season.

He's doing it with a bat built out of a tiny Bayswater Avenue workshop in
Ottawa's west end.

If Canseco ever visits the "factory" of the Sam Bats he is wielding with
such menace this summer, he will find there isn't room for him to take a
hack without knocking down a shelf or a stack of wood.

Three or four such workshops could fit in the average single-car garage.
Yet, here where the sawdust flies long before the baseball does, Sam Holman
is carving out a small but growing share of the bat market owned by such
American corporate giants as Louisville Slugger and Rawlings.

For now, Canseco, the Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter last season, is
the best advertisement a bat maker could have. With 28 home runs, Canseco
entered last night's games trailing only Chicago's Sammy Sosa (30) among
the lords of the long ball. Canseco led the American League by one over Ken
Griffey Jr.

If he keeps it up, Canseco will wind up in the high 50s in home runs,
securing him a place with some of the great sluggers of the game, albeit in
a season flavoured by unprecedented offensive clout.

The rate at which Canseco is putting them out is very nearly eclipsing the
rate at which Holman is putting out the maple Sam Bats.

You might have heard of Holman, the former stage hand of the National Arts
Centre whose new arena is the many and varied venues of Major League
Baseball.

"It's similar to the entertainment world," says carpenter Sam, who has
become a big baseball fan in the two years he's been in production. "It's a
carnival, a caravan."

If baseball is a carnival, Canseco, the former Oakland Athletics bash
brother of Mark McGwire, has always brought to the game the image of
carnival strong man. The Devil Rays' designated hitter might swing the
heaviest of Holman's bats. But he's only one of many big-name big leaguers
who can't get enough of them.

In fact, Canseco is bugging Sam to get moving on a few more of the behemoth
model Sam Bat, a 36-inch, 37-ounce Rideau Crusher.

Because of a faulty shipment of raw materials, Holman doesn't have the
right wood to make a bat that long. He has to satisfy Canseco with the
weight, but not the length he prefers.

With three lathes, two hired craftsmen, one computer to co-ordinate
specifications and one steadily ringing telephone, Holman, 54, finds it a
lot easier to grip a bat than to get a handle on the orders....

With Barry Bonds as a customer (he uses a two-tone black and brown beauty
of a Sam Bat), small wonder Holman picked up $3,000 worth of business in
one trip to Montreal when the San Francisco Giants were in town.

Oh, the names that get stamped on Holman bats: Shawn Green. Alex Rodriguez.
Albert Belle. Roberto Alomar. Sosa has tried them. Home-run king Mark
McGwire had one in his mighty fists, but is also paid mightily by Rawlings
to swing their lumber. Dozens more are making the switch to the maple bat
with the maple leaf on the knob. Most everyone at least gives them a look,
a fling in the batting cage. Like hockey players checking out the latest
sticks, ballplayers are always looking for an edge with their lumber - as
if a juiced ball, weakened pitching and a favourable strike zone aren't
enough.

Unfortunately for Holman, while interest in his hardware is growing, he is
backlogged about six weeks on production. He needs two more hands, two more
lathes. He has outgrown the shed in the back of his 100-year-old home whose
interior feature -- surprise -- is a kitchen of wall-to-floor wood.

Lured from the NAC stage by Colorado Rockies scout Bill MacKenzie ("we're
breaking too many bats," he said), Holman finally saw one his creations
used in a major-league game last spring, after a year of lobbying Major
League Baseball. He received approval, thanks in large part to letters of
support from such players as Joe Carter, the former Toronto Blue Jays World
Series hero who finished out his career using Sam Bats with Baltimore and
San Franciso last season.

Halfway through Year 2 of the best maple export since syrup, dozens of
major-league players have converted from ash to maple, from Louisville
Sluggers to Rideau Crushers.

Maple is a denser, more durable wood than ash. Holman says Canseco used to
go through about 200 ash bats in a season. He uses half as many maple bats.

Holman produced about 1,500 bats last season, retailing for $60 apiece.
This season, he had reached similar production by May. He has more than 200
different models.

It hasn't hurt his cause that ESPN stopped by recently to film a segment.

And it hasn't hurt that Carter, the slugger turned broadcaster, was once
quoted in the New York Times saying "once you use them (Sam Bats), you
don't want to go back."

What hurts is that, wearing the dual hat of businessman/craftsman/employer,
Holman can't keep up with demand.

"We're swamped," said Holman. "It's like the house is surrounded by 30 feet
of water and I don't know which door to open."

Such is the life of the artist who must also market the wares, working with
and against such mundane necessities as supply and demand.

Holman says his business is at a crossroads. He's trying to make the
transition from quaint yarn to a success story. There are issues. He split
with a previous partner. He needs some warehouse space. Patent costs are
daunting. That undersized wood shipment from a Quebec supplier set him back.

Details. Details.

This is close to being one of the best stories in baseball. Ottawa
carpenter supplies American home-run king with bats from Canadian maple tree.

Bring on Robert Redford and the thunderbolt from the sky.

It is also a wonderful local story. Arc Industries, employer of the
disabled, turns the wood for Holman, from square timber to rounded wood.
Larken Machine Automation of Gloucester designs the computer program.

Holman and his staff create the bat, with a little cutting-edge technology
and a lot of 1945 woodworking technique.

From there, it's up to Jose Canseco and friends to put the ball in play, if
not out of reach.

==========
Mark Petrillo
mark@...
Canseconet.com - The Jose Canseco Site
Get FREE web based email for life at http://www.canseconet.com

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