CHICO, Calif. - Jose Canseco returned to two of his favorite pastimes Monday: playing baseball and making headlines. At 42, he may have slowed on the diamond, but in front of the microphones and TV cameras he was as potent as ever.
The self-proclaimed godfather of steroids in the big leagues accused Major League Baseball of covering up positive drug tests, coercing Rafael Palmeiro to lie to Congress and intimidating those who threaten to reveal the truth. ("They're Mafia. Point blank, they're Mafia," Canseco said of baseball officials.)
All this was before Canseco put on a uniform for his first game with the small-time San Diego Surf Dawgs, who recently signed him to a one-year contract for the league maximum of $2,500 a month. Serving as the designated hitter, he batted fifth in the lineup - just behind a former San Jose State catcher, Nick Guerra. He struck out three times and was hit by a pitch. The one time he made contact, a foul ball in the seventh inning, drew sarcastic cheers from the overflow crowd of 4,501 at Nettleton Stadium, home of the Chico Outlaws.
The six-time All-Star follows in the fleeter footsteps of another former A's star, Rickey Henderson, who played for the Surf Dawgs last season.
Unlike Henderson, however, the 1988 American League MVP has no delusions of using the independent Golden Baseball League as a springboard back to the majors. Canseco said he is here "to have fun, to see if I can still play" and to drum up interest in his upcoming projects.
There is much to promote from the man who portrays himself as a one-man truth squad. At times Monday, Canseco sounded more like a lunatic. Tempting as it is to dismiss him, though, some of his previous accusations have proved true, forcing baseball to toughen its steroid policy.
Canseco vowed to blow the lid off the game with a "devastating" new documentary based on his life. The movie is due out in about a year and a half. "It will win all types of awards," said Canseco, the film's executive producer.
The 1986 rookie of the year also said he is working on a sequel to his book "Juiced." Titled "Vindicated," it will provide even more salacious details; Canseco said he had to hold back the first time around because he was still on probation.
The busy author is also penning a novel about an assassin created by the government. The clone, who just happens to be 6-foot-4 like Canseco, doesn't cast a shadow. "And why not? Because he's a Major League Baseball player."
Still, he apparently will take time out within two weeks to talk to the committee headed by George Mitchell, the former U.S. senator investigating illegal performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.
"What we're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg," Canseco said of recent drug revelations. "There are many, many more things that are coming. I know that for a fact."
Contacted for a response, baseball spokesman Pat Courtney told The Associated Press, "We wouldn't comment on anything he said."
Canseco says he has quit using performance-enhancing drugs, which is why he is down to 230 pounds, from 260. The Golden Baseball League has a zero-tolerance steroid policy, meaning a player is banned after one positive test. Nine players have already been kicked out.
Canseco arrived for work Monday in designer blue jeans and a black shirt with two buttons undone to show off his tan and still-muscular chest.
During a 45-minute session with the largest media contingent in Chico Outlaws history, Canseco said that Major League Baseball is out to quash him.
"It's very obvious, but you can't see it yet," he said. "It's a puzzle with a million pieces, but even with one piece missing it won't make any sense. I have all the pieces."
Canseco's book "Juiced" drew ridicule upon its release in February 2005, when it declared steroid use to be widespread in the big leagues and pointed fingers at stars such as Mark McGwire and Palmeiro.
His allegations put Canseco on the hot seat, but by March the book prompted Congress to summon several star players to testify in what turned out to be an embarrassing display. Palmeiro failed a drug test not long after testifying; McGwire has virtually disappeared from public life.
Canseco alleged Monday that Palmeiro vehemently denied steroid use to Congress because baseball officials had told him they would conceal a positive drug test as long as he rebutted Canseco's attack.
So why would baseball eventually make Palmeiro's test results public anyway? Canseco said Congress caught on to the positive test.
"I know what I know," Canseco said. "People should remember me as a guy who told the truth. I'm not a liar and I've never been a liar."
Canseco hit 462 home runs during 17 seasons in the majors, the first seven-plus seasons alongside McGwire with the A's. In 1988, he became the first player to register 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same season.
The Surf Dawgs' manager, Terry Kennedy, another former big leaguer, recalled Canseco as having "some of the greatest bat speed of any player I caught behind."
In his new role, Canseco will occasionally get to pitch and show off his knuckleball, Kennedy said. But he added: "It won't be in the bottom of the ninth with a one-run lead."
Canseco smiled. "Wait till you see my stuff."
The world is waiting.
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Originally Posted by redsfan28
