http://nydailynews.com/front/breaking_news/story/279973p-239878c.html Canseco book takes swing at Clemens By MICHAEL O'KEEFFE and T.J. QUINN DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS Jose Canseco's stick-and-tell memoir continued to shock the baseball world today with revelations that implicate Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and several journeymen players, as steroid users. The book hit bookstores today and is the subject of a "60 Minutes" segment that will be broadcast on Sunday. Canseco says in his book that he has no direct knowledge of steroid use by those players, and he isn't as brazen when accusing them as he is in describing the alleged steroid use of Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez, which the Daily News first reported Sunday. But he points a meaty finger at the game's biggest names in "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big." Of Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young winner who has always denied using illegal performance enhancers, Canseco never says he knows for sure that the Rocket shot up. Canseco writes, "I've never seen Roger Clemens do steroids, and he never told me that he did." But he then goes on for two pages about how Clemens said he used the term "B-12 shots" - clubhouse code for steroids, Canseco says - with respect to other players. He then says how he remembers "thinking" that Clemens showed "classic signs" of steroid use, like sudden improvement late in a career. Randy Hendricks, one of Clemens' agents, responded angrily today, telling the Daily News: "Neither Roger nor I have seen the book, but any such suggestion is absurd on its face. It's a wonder Canseco didn't name the Pope, given he named President Bush. Roger has not taken any illegal drugs or substances. He has passed all tests and will continue to do so in 2005. In 2004, with stricter testing, he passed the tests and won a record 7th Cy Young Award." Canseco is as vague when discussing Sosa as he is with Clemens, again saying that he has no first-hand knowledge that he was juicing. "I don't know Sammy Sosa personally," he writes, "so I can't say for a fact that he ever took steroids." But again, he writes, he remembers "thinking" that Sosa's body changed more dramatically that McGwire's did before the home run summer of 1998. "It seemed so obvious, it was a joke," Canseco writes. "No comment," Sosa agent Adam Katz said. About Bonds, Canseco says flat-out, "the simple fact is Barry Bonds was definitely using steroids." But he also cites Bonds' testimony before the BALCO grand jury, which was overheard by the Daily News and later revealed in the San Francisco Chronicle, as proof. About Baltimore Oriole Miguel Tejada, the 2002 AL MVP and a former Oakland teammate of Canseco's, Canseo writes, "I started giving him advice about steroids, and he seemed interested in what I was saying." Canseco says he "can't say for sure" that Tejada cheated, but then writes that he would have been justified in doing so. He also says that Seattle's Bret Boone, who grew noticeably bigger before the 2001 season, hinted that he was using steroids. Once again, Canseco doesn't use the "S" word, but says when he asked Boone what he had been doing, Boone said "Shhh, Don't tell anybody," and Canseco took that to mean he was "part of the club." He also says he injected pitcher Wilson Alvarez and outfielder Dave Martinez when they were teammates in Tampa. He says that Tampa pitcher Tony Saunders, who famously broke his arm while pitching in a game, abused steroids. Clemens spoke to the Daily News about steroids and related subjects in June, denying at the time he had done anything illegal to develop his physique. Many players have wondered how he remains able to touch 98 on a radar gun at his age, but Clemens said in June that he had no need to vindicate himself or explain his success. "My motivation, my desire, how I treat people, the respect I have came a long time before I had anything to do with this game of baseball," he said in June. "My mother worked three jobs. She didn't take no for an answer."
It's funny that he mentions Bret Boone because you never here his name associated with steriods; but of any player in the the game, I've always thought that Boone was juiced. He got huge and all of the sudden you have a second baseman bombing 50 plus homeruns, not likely. I was reading a Men's Health article (it was more like a comic stip character of Boone doing a Q & A with the magazine) several years back about Bret Boone's workout program, and at the time, I couldn't help but smirk thinking (knowing) the reason this guy got the way he is/was, was because he juiced up. It was pretty noticable.
I have to think that most major leaguers have taken some sort of steroid at one time or another....most pro athletes for that matter
Well, you can't convict everyone of guilt by association. But there is a good chance that many have tried. For me, I accept it as what it is...... part of the game. Sure, it's a shame to some degree, but it's not going to tarnish my thoughts of the game nor is it going to tarnish some of the memories I have of the game. Hypothetically, if it became known that McGwire and Sosa both used; it's not going to leave a stain on the summer of 98 in my mind. That was a great time for baseball as well as it's fans and nothing is going to take that away from me or make me feel slighted. I enjoyed it. That's my personal opinion, but I do realize that others will differ and feel cheated. To each, his own.
I agree with you. I don't think it will carry the backlash that the media almost seems to be calling for. It's not like this is all some big surprise. We were hearing the cries of all of this even during the summer of 98. This is not a big shock.
Very true. Remember when Sosa pulled out the bottle of Flintstones vitamins during the race. The media was calling for heads even back in 98. The funny thing, in my mind is, it seems to me that the majority of the fans would be alright with a "don't ask don't tell" policy with regards to the players. It seems there is a perception among us that if we fans don't hear about it, we're alright with it.
This is not news to me. The problem in large part the baseball officials and the MLBPA who did not attempt to curb this problem early. You know if there is no law or rule to deter these things, human nature states that people will push the envelop in order to excell. I had suspision that many of these MLB players were juiced so any name I hear now will not surprise me including Bagwell, Clemens, Tejada, Brown etc. Whatever.....
This dude is a joke. He gets caught and his career goes down the drain and now he wants to call out a bunch of names so he won't look as bad. What a loser.
Jose Canseco has an on and off again relationship with the truth, and a burning desire for publicity. Whether or not the people he named took 'roids, I very much doubt that they would let that information get to someone as flaky as Canseco.
What I find more fascinating than anything else is the result of his book. You can even see it here in the forum. Everybody is getting to point that they don't care who used. We are just like whatever. We have mostly arrived at the collective opinion that there are so many users let's just move on. Theres not much fascinating in that, agreed, except for the fact that this is what Canseco has wanted us to understand from the very beginning. I find it fanscinating that we are unwillingly sliding into Jose Canseco's understanding and viewpoint. I think he's telling the truth about those who used. I think he's giving his opinion about who he suspects. Jose is not saying he knows anything about any of those players. He's clear about that. It's his opinion. That can be taken for whatever you want. But he is an expert in its use. So his opinion carries a touch more weight than someone who didn't use.
I am quite disturbed about this attitude, even if I myself feel the same way to a certain extent. It's not so much the fact that they're cheating, but rather the negative effects of injuries and health problems. Look at Giambi, for example. Imagine if the Astros sign a player like that, only to lose him to the side effects of steroids. It would hinder the team's ability to compete greatly. This is what I'm scared of. Players whose value experience a sudden decrease due to steroids' side effects. And you can't see it coming.
the first player who always comes to mind with steroids is luis gonzalez. he got absolutely huge in a VERY short amount of time.
Canseco is an absolute joke. Anything he says is not worth listening to. He's a backstabbing liar trying to sell a book. I don't even want to hear his BS. He's pathetic. If all the people in the world disappeared tomorrow and I was the only one left, then one of the first things I would do is gather up all of Canseco's books, throw them in a big pile, and burn them while I dance around the fire like Jim Morrison listening to "The Doors". No baseball player should be subjected to this crap. This guy is a loser.
It was funny how in the interview with Mike Wallace on 60 minutes he says he could remember "at least one or two times" injecting Mcgwire with steroids. Mike Wallace then reads an excerpt from the book that says he "often injected" Mcgwire. Since when did one or two times become often? All Canseco is doing is trying to sell books... That being said, there is no doubt that some of the players he talks about and others have used...but we don't need Canseco to state the obvious saying that Bonds and Bret Boone juiced up. I'm pretty sure most everyone had it in their mind that they did.
Just because a guy's a loser, wants to sell books, doesn't mean he's not telling the truth. And just because he's doing this for selfish reasons doesn't mean they won't benefit baseball. If his book eventually leads to tougher testing for steroids and lessens the number of baseball players taking it. Wouldn't that be good for us baseball fans too?
