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Jose Canseco: still controversial after all these years

So they checked all of Sammy's bats and none of them were corked. Whether or not this proves his innocence in the whole matter is up in the air; I suppose that's something that the fan decided for him or herself.

Jose Canseco, however, is convinced of guilt. No, not Sosa's guilt, but the media's. After all, says Canseco, this is all about race.

jose_canseco.jpg"I definitely am very disappointed in the media, the way they're attacking Sammy Sosa," Canseco said. "The way they're portraying him because he's a Latin, black athlete is completely wrong. I guarantee you if this were Mark McGwire or Cal Ripken Jr., a so-called 'protected athlete', an 'All-American' name, this would have never happen because I've seen things that some players have done, and they are white players and they're completely covered up ... if he were a white superstar player, this would never, never happen."

I guess Canseco forgot all about McGwire being hounded by the press about steroids. Wait a minute, let me check something.....yep, McGwire is white.

Pete Rose was run out of baseball after he was accused of gambling on the game. Hang on while a check something out.....yep, Rose is white.

Gaylord Perry, George Brett, Joe Niekro...just some other players who have been taken to task by the media for suspected cheating. All white.

And while we are on the subject of the media taking people to task, let's talk about John Rocker. I do believe it was the media who came out against Rocker for being a dimwitted racist.

I don't think Roger Clemens has too many friends in the media and last time I checked, he was white too. Yep, he's white.

Says Canseco: "...this is an attack on his character. This is an attack on minorities in general, and I'm really disgusted with it. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and I know that the media is a part of this."

I am failing to understand how he draws the conclusion that this is an attack on minorities in general.

I looked through all the major papers from yesterday, but I can't seem to find anything that says "Sammy Sosa corked his bat, which means all Latin and black players cork their bats also," or "Sammy Sosa corked his bat because he is black."

If it were say, Andy Pettite throwing a spitball instead of Sosa and his cork, would anyone step up and claim that the media is biased against white players because they were all over Pettite? Don't think so.

Perhaps Canseco just wants a shot at stardom again and this is all just so much bluster in prepartion for his campaign to make people think that he slid into baseball oblivion because he is a minority. Nevermind the arrests, the speeding tickets, the fights, the decline in stats.

"The media is what's destroying the game," Canseco said.

The media only reports the idiocy going on in baseball. From a crappy commissioner to bloated egos and salaries, corking a bat is the least of baseball's problems. And making headlines out of a player's suspected cheating just because he is black is a non-existent problem.

Then again, Canseco never had much of a relationship with reality anyhow.

[Thanks to JimmyZ for sending me the link to the ESPN article. Now go read Jimmy's take on the issue]

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Comments

Amen, sister. And to think - in my grade-school days, I was actually a fan of pro baseball...

Amen, sister. And to think - in my grade-school days, I was actually a fan of pro baseball...

There is a suspicion amongst Hispanics and blacks that when Sosa and McGuire were competing for the HR record, the MLB pitchers made sure they delivered the big fat meatball pitches to McGuire so he would be the one to go into the record books. Given the attitude expressed by guys like Rocker and others, I am not going to reject those suspicions out of hand.

I got disgusted with MLB (and most pro sports) years ago. We can't even pay teachers a decent wage, but we'll pay millions per year to some muscle head with felonious tendencies. Our priorities are really f***ed up in this country.

"Behind the Lines" on ESPN put on Canseco specifically so he would say stupid things, and then not back them in furtherance of selling his as-yet-unpublished tell all on baseball misconduct.

However, it would be useful to see how people reacted, credulity-wise, to Sosa's "it was only one practice bat and it was an accident" explanation (which now appears to be true) and Mark McGwire's 1998 "Andro only helps me recover from injuries" groaner, which can be neither proven or disproven. I happen to need that neither of these roided-up freaks is good for baseball, but that's neither here nor there.

yay, minor league!

do you know what it says on the saint paul saints website?

"The Saints need the community and we realize a community doesn't necessarily need us. So, we're committed to living up to our motto: "Fun IS Good!" Thanks for your past support and we look forward to seeing you here this summer!"

exactly. and can i get a hallelujah?

As American as apple pie? I've long since been of the belief that baseball needs to be gutted and rebuilt, from the top down.

Then again, with all the corruption, maybe there is something intrinsically American about going to the ballpark.

I turn down free tickets to the brand new Great American Ballpark n a regular basis. I just can't muster any enthusiasm for baseball which is good, otherwise I'd have to point out that the bargain basement Reds have beat the Yankees 2 in a row. (That's not a bannable offence, is it?)

Canseco never had much of a relationship with talent either. His bitterness towards McGwire specifically can be traced to parallel careers that didn't exactly parallel, quality-wise. The Canseco twins would have been much better as a single birth.

Actually, their career statistics are remarkably similar. Both hit in the .260s for their careers; Canseco has more 2Bs and 3Bs, McGwire has 100 more HRs, Canseco has more SBs and runs, McGwire walked (understandably) more. McGwire is chiefly a Hall of Fame for 2 gargantuan home run seasons. I mean, he only had 1600 hits in his career.

Actually, not being a stats monkey, I was thinking more of the fact that Canseco had multiple issues with wife-beating, bar-brawling, etc. and McGwire had, oh, not.

Canseco's problem is not racial bias, it's that he's dumb as a rock.

I am a Cardinals fan, but I'm not so sure I'd agree that McGwire is a Hall of Famer. To my way of thinking, anyone with a lifetime batting average far below .300 needs to be very strong in several other categories - career hits, career RBI's, multiple golden gloves, etc.

McGwire was good for a while, then had a couple of great years before flaming out. And the flame-out probably had something to do with performance-enhancing substances. His career sounds more like Roger Maris than Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron.

Yep, Canseco has always been an imbecile. I suspect very few people take him seriously.

Is this the Jose Canseco who promised to write a book on all the steroid abusers in baseball - after all the MLB teams told him he was washed up?

Maybe he wants ESPN to recycle the video of him letting the ball bounce off his head again, or remind us all of how he sucked so badly in the '90 WS that his ass was benched.

Canseco's just pi**ed because he is irrelevant. Confined to his home by way of a court and an electronic ankle bracelet, nobody really cares what he thinks.

Canseco's been making a lot of ridiculous claims to the press in recent weeks. Must suck to be washed up and the only way you can get in the news is to sling mud...

There's little loyaty by the major sports figures of today to the fans, to fellow teammates or to the city where a player is presently attached to. If a player receives a higher salary offer from Baghdad, he'll play there after his present contract expires. In the individual sports Halls of Fame, there are debates about what team's uniform the inductee is suppose to be attired with. As a direct reaction, after players enter the retirement zone, most players are regarded by the public as another Elmo or a Cabbage Patch doll, a fad that has passed. The hero-like status evaporates quickly from a player in his post-sports life and that's reflected in demeaner and reception by the general public when an ex-sports hero is mischaracterized by the press for any tabloid reason. Although on television appearences, past players may seem to have an after-glow in the eyes of the public, that's more due to the format of the show for advertising revenue than through genuine affection by the audience. This lack of interest is partially due to "We all got to go back to work the next day, while the former player with millions is set for life, so we ain't throwing any confetti even if the player is in a parade and fuck the parade, too," philosophy. It's almost mudsville, in retirement for a large number of players, when they're out of the spotlight and the cheering has stopped. You can't blame a retired player for not giving a damn in the boredom. Conseco was one of the best hitters in the history of major league baseball history. He use to continue to take practice swings in the batter's box while the pitcher on the mound was already winding up and ready to deliver the pitch in the next half-second. In Conseco's own words, "My strikeouts are more exciting than most players' home runs," and history is his witness. If Conseco had been healthy throughout his career, he would have smashed the 600 home run barrier. Today, the only homers he sees is when he's eating Buffalo Wings and watching The Simpsons. He admitted that his injuries were due to his own fault for the lifestyle he led and from not keeping 100 percent fit for the game. In retirement, Conseco may, yet, one day say, "My insults are more exciting than most people's ass kissing." But that's just one bloggee's personal opinion, on one day in June.

I just wrote about this whole situation in my blog. Being from Boston, I was made aware of comments made by Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez. Check it out at http://www.mattmargolis.com
the main page says under construction, but if you click the sign, you can enter the existing site and blog... the new site is in on its way.