Greetings from an airplane, Cansecoites...

I'm airborne right now (on my way back to work in Chicago) after a fun
weekend in Tampa. I ended up going to Devil Rays games Friday and
Saturday, but they just weren't the same without Jose there... I hung up my
Canseconet.com sign, but as far as I know it didn't get on tv. I got to
meet some nice people from this list though, which was cool - Hi to those
of you I met this weekend!

Today, while watching some of the Devil Rays game on tv from a sports bar,
I saw a "Get Well Soon Jose" sign on tv... It was made by Mary Hall, a
subscriber to this list who I met this weekend. Good job Mary!

In my last email, I included an article by a guy who said Jose wasn't
worthy of an All Star appearance. It sounds like we flooded his emailbox
with replies - so many that he wrote ANOTHER article defending himself (see
below). I think we should email him again! I did a little digging at the
FSN site, and it turns out the author (Barry Petchesky -
petchesky@...) is a high school freshman. I'm definitely not
saying a high school freshman is too young to have an educated baseball
opinion, but this does help explain things a bit. He's not a professional
journalist like many of us originally thought. Anyway, read what he has to
say, and let him know your opinions...

The results of the latest Canseconet.com Poll are pretty interesting. So
far, over half of you think Jose will finish his career with 500-550
homers. Go to http://www.canseconet.com/poll.htm to vote or to see the
current results.

Jose wasn't noinated, but if you'd like to write in a vote for him for the
25 Man Roster All Century Team, visit http://www.majorleaguebaseball.com

Take it easy,
Mark

P.S. A few months ago, I told you guys about an easy way to get paid while
you're doing you're usual web surfing. Well, to those of you that took my
advice, it's about to pay off. AllAdvantage is finally releasing the
"ViewBar" to their over 2 million members in the order they signed up. I
got mine the other day, and it's a very painless way to earn some extra
money. It's completely legit, and like I said, painless. For more info or
to sign up, visit http://www.alladvantage.com/go.asp?refid=AMR575

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From the St. Petersburg Times:

RAYS BITS: ...Jose Canseco is expected back in the Tampa Bay area this
weekend to be examined by team doctors and then begin his rehabilitation...

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From the Florida Sports Network:
No Way, Jose
The "missing link"?
July 21, 1999
By Robert Cone

Jose Canseco’s recent back surgery may sideline him for the rest of the
season. Can the Devil Rays possibly replace the dashing, bashing Cuban-born
quote machine? Forget about it.

While the organization touts a September 1 return date after the successful
repair of his herniated disk, Canseco's not so sure. He even hinted at
retirement.

“To have all of the ability in the world and not be able to use it, is the
most frustrating thing you can imagine. I’m sad, I’m depressed,” said
Canseco from his Fort Lauderdale hospital bed the day after surgery. “My
future is unsure right now. It’s not a lack of ability, but a lack of
health. My body has failed me again … If my body is different, or my swing
is different or the pain continues, it might be time to hang it up.”

Say it ain’t so, Jose.

The nightmarish season of injuries for the Devil Rays has now reached
“Scream”-proportions. Of course, fans were already screaming after Jim
Mecir fractured an elbow; last year’s team MVP, Quinton McCracken, suffered
a torn ACL; and Tony Saunders freakishly broke his left arm while throwing
off the mound. The coup-de-grace has to be losing Canseco, who gave the
Rays’ anemic offensive lineup instant validity.

And nobody toots his own horn like Jose. After leading the American League
with 31 home runs before the break and being decisively voted in as the
starting DH in the All-Star Game at Fenway Park, he said, “I was considered
the best player in the world at one point, a freak, the first player to be
40-40, whatever. And then I became an outcast, a total joke, washed up.
Read the book when I retire. It’ll be interesting.”

That’s the great thing about Canseco, he’s a juicy sound bite waiting to
happen – even if he’s sitting in the dugout. And I think he’s starting to
rub off on the rest of the team, too. Even Wade Boggs offered a great quote
for reporters when he talked of how Canseco “was the missing link we needed
from last year.”

Missing link? Well, now that you mention it, Boggsy, the bulging,
comic-book physique, the nervous facial tics and grunts, the way he swings
the bat like he’s clubbing a sabertooth tiger. I guess Jose does have more
than a little in common with our Cro-Magnon ancestors.

How important has Canseco been to the Rays thus far?

The team finished the first half of the season at 39-49, five games ahead
of last year despite tripping the light fantastic with the disabled list 18
other times since spring training.

Runs per game in 1999 = 5.0.

Runs per game in 1998 = 3.8.

Canseco accounted for 35 percent of the Rays’ 89 home runs as of July 10.
And he did it playing in 82 out of 87 games, a wildly encouraging sign to
skittish Rays’ management who took the plunge on the oft-injured star in
the off-season.

Now a week of games post-Canseco, the team has tallied 97 homers in a
little over half a season this year. Last season they finished with 111.
And the regular appearance of Canseco in the daily lineup had quite a few
general managers muttering under their breath for not bidding on the
free-agent slugger after he belted 46 big flies last year in Toronto.

But last year was also the first time in eight years that Canseco played in
more than 120 games, and, unless the Rays go to the World Series this year,
he’ll fall short of that mark in ’99, even with a September return to the
lineup.

Hmmm, maybe those GMs knew something Chuck LaMar didn’t. What a shock.

Canseco has now missed 548 games (and counting) in his 12-year major league
career. At 154 games a year (give or take eight games - the DH position is
so taxing physically) that comes out to three and a half seasons. Jose said
it best when he compared himself to a high performance sports car, “One
little spark plug is loose and the whole machine won’t run.”

And oh what a machine. Kind of a mix between a Ferrari and one of those
funky Prowlers.

Now that he’s out for at least two months, players like Paul Sorrento,
Bubba Trammell, Herbert Perry, and maybe even Triple-A Durham call-up
Terrell Lowery, will have to pick up the home run-hitting slack.

I’m not including Fred McGriff because until he hit his 20th homer in
Monday's 16-3 blowout loss, he hadn't gone yard in 69 at-bats. I was
starting to think he had a "No home runs after 19" clause in his contract.

Sorrento and Bubba have hit homers since Jose’s departure. Perry and
DiFelice, too.

So maybe we don’t need to get any one else. Chuck LaMar said, “No matter
what player move we could possibly make, you can’t replace Jose Canseco,
either his numbers or what he meant to this club. But that in no way, shape
or form gives us an excuse to not perform up to our capabilities.”

Hey, I love Bubba as much as the next fan, but it sure would be nice to go
after someone who can hit 50 home runs a year. I hear there’s a kid in
Seattle who’s not too happy with the way they’ve (management) been treating
him...

But even Junior wouldn’t do it for most of us. When Jose comes up to bat,
palpable electricity grips the crowd. From players in the opposing dugout
to cotton candy vendors in the aisles to that silly guy in the Trojan
soldier outfit hawking suds, all eyes glance plateward. People hang on
every swing because they just might see something they’ve never seen before
on a baseball field.

Even when he’s striking out, which he does a lot, well, maybe more than a
lot, it's so beautiful it’s scary.

As everyone’s favorite master of hyperbole, and frequent visitor to the
Trop, Dick Vitale is fond of saying, “He’s awesome, baby!”

The rest of the season won't be the same without him.

Robert Cone is a writer for Florida Sports Network. He can be reached at
cone@....

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Canseco Backlash
For the most part, fans defend Jose Canseco's selection to the 1999
All-star team.
July 25, 1999
By Barry Petchesky

Last week I wrote an article for this web site questioning the selections
of Jose Canseco and Roberto Hernandez to the 1999 AL All-star team, and
suggesting that Kevin Stocker and Fred McGriff should have been in their
place. In the days following the publication of that article, I was deluged
with literally hundreds of e-mail from fans from as far away as
Schweinfurt, Germany. While there were a few people who agreed with me, the
overwhelming majority of letters criticized me and my opinions.

While I did respond to a good number of letters, I feel a need to once
again defend my position amidst heavy fire from my readers. (All reader
quotes are in their original form, aside from censorship. Grammar and
spelling have not been altered.)

-If you do not think,that the 1985 Minor League Player of the Year,the l986
American League Rookie of the Year,the 1988 A.L.M.V.P,the first 40-40 man
in the history of the game,the 1988 and 1991 Home-run king, should be at
the All-Star game,I guess maybe you should start reading some baseball
news,before you write them. -J.A.

This was one of the most common arguments I got on Jose Canseco’s behalf.
Yes, he has had a storied career. Hall-of-fame caliber? Maybe. But that’s
not the point of the All-Star team. Those players went to Boston because
they were (supposedly) the best in their league at the time. Not because
they have had the best careers. If that were the case, one would expect to
see Wade Boggs as an All-Star.

-i don't even have time to tell you all the things i would like to say, but
i do have time to tell you that you are an idiot, you don't have capacity
to write anything about baseball and evidentely you haven't followed jose's
carreer. -Anonymous

More of the same. It’s not about his career, it’s about his season so far.
And aside from the home runs, his season has been unspectacular. And about
his career? I know he has 428 home runs. I also know that he has 1727
strikeouts.

-Its clear that you have a personnel beef with Canseco. -J.R.

I heard plenty of this, too. And my answer was always the same: totally
untrue. Yes, Canseco has had a checkered past off the field, but that means
absolutely nothing when selecting the All-stars. If it did, would Albert
Belle be a regular for the American League?

-First of all, if it weren't for Jose, McGriff wouldn't be "Crime dog"
c--p. Secondly, Stocker is barely a major leaguer...probably a bench warmer
on most teams. -Anon.

First of all, McGriff was the “Crime Dog” long before he ever met Jose
Canseco. A .287 average over 12 years will do that to you. Secondly-Stocker
a bench warmer? I don’t know many bench warmers with a .300 average. I
don’t know many bench warmers who inspire the confidence in their manager
to start them almost every other day. I don’t know many bench warmers who
led their team to the fourth best defense in the league in 1998.

-How can you suggest Kevin Stocker as an all star shortstop when he leads
that postion in errors with 16 or 17? -R.H.

Maybe so. But the true defensive prowess of a player is measured in
fielding percentage. And in that department, Stocker is within 7 percentage
points of Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, Omar Vizquel and Alex Rodriguez,
the best shortstops in the league.

-what about RBI’s? -J.S.

What about ‘em? Personally, I don’t care for RBI as a statistic. There are
too many factors involved. Canseco’s 31 home runs are what gave him 69 RBI,
not any clutch hits. And without Randy Winn, Kevin Stocker and Miguel Cairo
combining to get on base more than 300 times in front of him, Canseco would
be nowhere near 69.

-It's all about ability, not who leads the team in OBP -E.v.B.

True, but I think you’ll find it difficult to quantify ability, while
on-base percentage is the best gauge of how effective a player is. And, as
for Canseco, he has ability to hit home runs. And nothing else.

-how is jose canseco not all-star material when he leads the team in
HR,RBI'S, AND RUNS.HE LEAD THE DIVISION IN HR'S.I THINK YOU NEED A LITTLE
MORE COMMAN SENCE OR FIND A NEW JOB CAUSE U JUST STUPID.-Anon.

No offense to the Rays, but I could probably lead Tampa Bay in some
offensive category. The team as a whole is hitting .275, more than 25
percentage points behind league leading Cleveland. And after Fred McGriff
with 22 home runs, next is John Flaherty. With 9.

-it is crazy to think Baines is more deserving than Canseco -Somebody
identified only as “Jose’s #1 fan"(oh, that’s objective)

Harold Baines-.337 average. Jose Canseco-.276 average. And I don’t think
Jose’s going to be raising that average anytime soon.

-WHAT THE H--L ARE YOU SMOKING? -L.G., journalist.

Ahem.

-you're an idiot canseco is a better dh than stocker is a ss -Anon.

I thought I hammered this point home in my last article. The All-star game
shouldn’t have anything to do with positions. It should be the best players
in the league. And, overall, Stocker is a better player than Canseco.

-Canseco is making a third of what McGriff is. -Anon.

And Kevin Stocker is making a third of what Roberto Hernandez is. Your point?

-believe it or not some of us fans are intelligent human beings that think
with our heads and not our hearts -M.C.

Never once did I insinuate that all fans voted partially, and if I did, I’m
sorry. But you have to think something’s up when Jim Thome, who has stats
comparable to Canseco minus the power, is selected by the fans to start in
the All-star game. Thome plays for a team with the highest attendance in
baseball.

-You probably don't want Rose in the Hall of Fame either. -R.K.

That’s neither here nor there. But it is a whole different article entirely.

Barry Petchesky is a writer for Florida Sports Network. He can be reached
at petchesky@....

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