Hi all,

Just a quick note to let you know Jose will be on "Up Close" on ESPN
tonight. I believe the show runs at 6:00 Eastern, but check your local
listings to be sure. I haven't heard much about Jose's recovery lately, so
I'm looking forward to hearing it straight from him.

Below you'll find a good article about Shawn Green and Jose. Jose really
took Shawn under his wing last year, and the two of them became good
friends... With Jose hurt, I've decided to adopt Shawn as my
temporary-substitute-alternate favorite player - Don't get me wrong, Jose
will always be #1 in my book, but with him hurt, I figure I might as well
have a #2 to keep me somewhat interested in baseball. For more info on
Shawn Green, check out http://members.tripod.com/~greenfan15/home.html -
the site was created by Diane Stanley, a fellow Canseco fan and a
subscriber of this list.

Let's hope for good news on Up Close tonight!
Mark

P.S. I'm a little behind on the Get Well page, but I'm hoping to be caught
up this weekend...

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Green’s Bash Comes From One Of the Best
By Cheryl Rosenberg

Shawn green had no idea what to think of Jose canseco.

Green played for the Toronto Blue Jays with Paul Molitor and Roger Clemens,
but Canseco was a different entity: the only thing bigger than his biceps
was his reputation.

“He’s kind of intimidating,” Green said. “But when you play with him, you
realize he’s a great guy. He was definitely the most influential person for
me.”

Canseco, who now plays for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, took Green under his
enormously muscular wing in spring training last season, and Green
responded. He was the one who told Green he could become the Blue Jays
first 30/30 player.

Then Canseco constantly stayed on him, encouraging Green to do more than
Green thought possible. Green ended up with 35 homers and 35 stolen bases
last season. He had hit 42 and had 20 steals in his previous three full
seasons combined.

“ I never thought I could hit 30 home runs,” He said. “He continuously
reminded me. He told me not to worry about striking out. He saw in me what
he was like when as a young player coming up..”

Still, the two players could not be more different on the surface. Where
Canseco is brash and larger-than-life, Green is humble and low key. He has
an Internet web site where he keeps a journal and answers e-mails from fans
- or sometimes people he grew up with whom he hasn’t spoken to since
leaving Tustin, where he grew up.

“He does all the good things players should do,” Blue Jays manager Jim
Fregosi said. “He likes the game. He studies the game. He’s level-headed.
He’s what I think a big league player should be.”

Green also was embraced by the Jewish community. Green doesn’t consider
himself to be particularly religious, but people have latched on to his faith.

He doesn’t mind being associated with Judaism -- in fact, he’s proud. He
knows there is a large population of Jewish baseball fans, and has no
problem being mentioned with players such as Sandy Kofax and Hank
Greenberg. It’s just that he doesn’t have time to go to all the Passover
seders and bar mitzvahs to which he’s invited. “I’ve learned more about the
religion in five years in the big leagues than in the 21 years before
that,” Green Said.

He has not had to make a decision as to whether he would play on Yom
Kippur, the most holy day of the Jewish holidays, because the Blue Jays
aren’t scheduled to play that day. He honestly does not know what he would
do: in the past, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. But now he’s a roll
model -just like Canseco was to him.

“He’s just like a big kid,” Green said. “That’s why I think he’s gotten
into trouble in the past. I was surprised you could make fun of him like
the other guys. A lot of players of his status would get defensive.”

Green might not date Madonna. and at 6-foot-4 and a lean 200 pounds, he
would never be accused of taking steroids. But what he does take from
Canseco is the encouragement, self confidence and willingness to help a
teammate.

“It feels good to have teammates ask you questions,” Green said. “It’s just
the nature of it. I hope to be that old player and that people make fun of
me.”

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