I wrote about his book Juiced earlier. That book singlehandedly shook the foundations of baseball on the issue of steroids in the sport.
"Say what you will about Canseco, that he’s a self-serving buffoon who is obsessed with his own celebrity and out to make a quick buck. But Canseco was also a one-man reconciliation commission whose allegations, more than anyone else, pulled back the curtain on baseball’s secret."
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/03/jose-canseco-and-mark-mcgwire-roid-boys.html
I enjoyed his book but here's my problem. He criticizes MLB for going on a witch hunt against steroids but then his book basically gave the witch hunt the smoking gun it needed. I just finished Juiced and now I;m onto his sequel of 2008 Vindicated and here I have a real problem with the tact he took. Here in Vindicated, he explains why he wrote Juiced in the first place:
"But I also wrote the book for another reason, and maybe I'm a fool to admit it, but I'll admit it because it's the truth: I wrote Juiced to get back at Major League Baseball for blackballing me from the game. I loved baseball in ways the guys who run the show would never understand; ways they couldn't understand. I wrote my book to let them know that they couldn't destroy lives with impunity. Not just my life, but the lives of plenty of other players. And I wrote it because I had an important story to tell, and I wanted the world to hear it."
https://read.amazon.com/?asin=B0015DWMDY
From when the book first came out he had tried to ennoble it as being for the players against the owners and the player's union. Yet, I have a hard time believing that was the extent of his vengeful feelings. Reading the book, he certainly seems to have some real resentment against Mark McGwire, who he seems to think was played by different rules because he was a great white player.
What his book really did though was hurt not the owners or the Players Association but many of his fellow players. He hurt McGwire who's image as what Canseco had called 'an All American boy' was destroyed. He destroyed the reputation of many other players-Manny Ramirez, Roger Clemens. Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, etc.
What his book didn't hurt Bud Selig but enabled him to do to these players exactly what Canseco claimed was done to him. As to Canseco's claim that he was blackballed from MLB he doesn't present any evidence-which doesn't mean that it isn't true, just that there is obviously room to discount what he says as he gives us no details or proof whatsoever.
It may have happened-there may have been an unwritten understanding among the owners not to offer him a deal after he was 37-I don't know that this didn't happen just don't know that it did either.
Some of what he claims in Juiced is a good point. Many teams don't even try to field a winning team but would rather 'save money. He talked about being sat by the Oakland As in 1997 rather than having to pay him what he was owed on his contract. We saw that happen in 2013 when the Yankees-my team-lied and said A-Rod was hurt or didn't want to play when clearly he wasn't and was willing to play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3UExITRtiw
Mike Francesa pointed out that this was a bad sign for the Yanks who had always been about winning-they left saving money to the Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins.
At this point, Canseco seems to regret writing the book himself.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/07/mark-mcgwire-jose-canseco-apology-oakland-athletics-mlb
Of course, Maybe he thought being the snitch would ingratiate himself back in with baseball but it hasn't helped his reputation, just savaged the reputations of many other players. I have no idea whether his apologies to McGwire are sincere but I get why the guy doesn't feel like ever talking to Canseco again.
I have to say I disagree with Johnette Howard here.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11253460/jose-canseco-regret-being-whistle-blower
Even if baseball is steroid free now, it's also a lot more boring. I can't believe that not a single MLB team had as much as 800 runs in the whole league last year.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting
UPDATE: He seems sure that A-Rod messed with his ex-wife without any evidence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl3Hz8G_8U4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw1D9q8IhVM
Or maybe there is evidence.
http://www.sportsmansdaily.com/Canseco_ARod.html
UPDATE 2.0: He has contradicted himself repeatedly over the years. Here he repudiates steroids.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5244705
Two years later he's saying they're fine-if you want, go ahead and use them.
http://www.steroid.com/video/Canseco-on-Steroids/Jose-Canseco-Jose-Canseco-Bares-All-While-Praising-Anabolic-Steroids.php
I still have some pretty mixed feelings about his status as a whistleblower.
"Say what you will about Canseco, that he’s a self-serving buffoon who is obsessed with his own celebrity and out to make a quick buck. But Canseco was also a one-man reconciliation commission whose allegations, more than anyone else, pulled back the curtain on baseball’s secret."
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/03/jose-canseco-and-mark-mcgwire-roid-boys.html
I enjoyed his book but here's my problem. He criticizes MLB for going on a witch hunt against steroids but then his book basically gave the witch hunt the smoking gun it needed. I just finished Juiced and now I;m onto his sequel of 2008 Vindicated and here I have a real problem with the tact he took. Here in Vindicated, he explains why he wrote Juiced in the first place:
"But I also wrote the book for another reason, and maybe I'm a fool to admit it, but I'll admit it because it's the truth: I wrote Juiced to get back at Major League Baseball for blackballing me from the game. I loved baseball in ways the guys who run the show would never understand; ways they couldn't understand. I wrote my book to let them know that they couldn't destroy lives with impunity. Not just my life, but the lives of plenty of other players. And I wrote it because I had an important story to tell, and I wanted the world to hear it."
https://read.amazon.com/?asin=B0015DWMDY
From when the book first came out he had tried to ennoble it as being for the players against the owners and the player's union. Yet, I have a hard time believing that was the extent of his vengeful feelings. Reading the book, he certainly seems to have some real resentment against Mark McGwire, who he seems to think was played by different rules because he was a great white player.
What his book really did though was hurt not the owners or the Players Association but many of his fellow players. He hurt McGwire who's image as what Canseco had called 'an All American boy' was destroyed. He destroyed the reputation of many other players-Manny Ramirez, Roger Clemens. Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, etc.
What his book didn't hurt Bud Selig but enabled him to do to these players exactly what Canseco claimed was done to him. As to Canseco's claim that he was blackballed from MLB he doesn't present any evidence-which doesn't mean that it isn't true, just that there is obviously room to discount what he says as he gives us no details or proof whatsoever.
It may have happened-there may have been an unwritten understanding among the owners not to offer him a deal after he was 37-I don't know that this didn't happen just don't know that it did either.
Some of what he claims in Juiced is a good point. Many teams don't even try to field a winning team but would rather 'save money. He talked about being sat by the Oakland As in 1997 rather than having to pay him what he was owed on his contract. We saw that happen in 2013 when the Yankees-my team-lied and said A-Rod was hurt or didn't want to play when clearly he wasn't and was willing to play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3UExITRtiw
Mike Francesa pointed out that this was a bad sign for the Yanks who had always been about winning-they left saving money to the Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins.
At this point, Canseco seems to regret writing the book himself.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/07/mark-mcgwire-jose-canseco-apology-oakland-athletics-mlb
Of course, Maybe he thought being the snitch would ingratiate himself back in with baseball but it hasn't helped his reputation, just savaged the reputations of many other players. I have no idea whether his apologies to McGwire are sincere but I get why the guy doesn't feel like ever talking to Canseco again.
I have to say I disagree with Johnette Howard here.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11253460/jose-canseco-regret-being-whistle-blower
Even if baseball is steroid free now, it's also a lot more boring. I can't believe that not a single MLB team had as much as 800 runs in the whole league last year.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting
UPDATE: He seems sure that A-Rod messed with his ex-wife without any evidence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl3Hz8G_8U4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw1D9q8IhVM
Or maybe there is evidence.
http://www.sportsmansdaily.com/Canseco_ARod.html
UPDATE 2.0: He has contradicted himself repeatedly over the years. Here he repudiates steroids.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5244705
Two years later he's saying they're fine-if you want, go ahead and use them.
http://www.steroid.com/video/Canseco-on-Steroids/Jose-Canseco-Jose-Canseco-Bares-All-While-Praising-Anabolic-Steroids.php
I still have some pretty mixed feelings about his status as a whistleblower.
No comments:
Post a Comment