Jose Canseco
Biography
Biography
Having been one of Major League Baseball's most promising players throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Jose Canseco spent his post-career earning scorn from both fans and fellow players for almost singlehandedly exposing the rampant use of steroids in the game, while trying to establish a second career as a reality star. Born July 2, 1964 in Regla, Cuba, Canseco relocated to Miami, FL when he was an infant, where he grew up with his identical twin, Ozzie. Later, he attended Coral Park High School, but skipped college altogether after being drafted in the 15th round by the Oakland Athletics in 1982. Canseco showed his power early on in his minor league career, leading to a call up to the majors late in the 1985 season. He returned the following year for his first full season, which earned him the American League's Rookie of the Year award for belting 33 home runs and batting in 117 runs. In 1987, he was joined by another soon-to-be famous slugger, Mark McGwire, with the two forming a much-feared offensive duo that was dubbed "The Bash Brothers."
In 1988, Canseco earned his place in MLB history by becoming the first player ever to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases, which led to his winning the American League's Most Valuable Player award in unanimous fashion. Though injured for 65 games the following season, he nonetheless helped his team beat the San Francisco Giants in the infamous 1989 World Series, which was interrupted before Game 3 by the devastating 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. More injuries plagued Canseco in 1990, though he remained productive with 37 home runs that year and 44 home runs the following year. Despite such numbers, he was traded to the Texas Rangers in 1992, where the next season he committed arguably the funniest sports blooper of all time, when he lost sight of a Carlos Martinez fly ball that bounced off his head at the warning track and left the park for a home run. After his stint with the Rangers, where he won the 1994 AL Comeback Player of the Year award, the diminishing Canseco spent the remainder of his career as a journeyman slugger, registering time with the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and New York Yankees before ending his career with the Chicago White Sox in 2001. His 462 home runs ranked him 32nd on baseball's all-time list.
Not one to go gently into the night, Canseco spent some time playing in the Independent League while making his mark as a reality show star, appearing on "The Surreal Life" (The WB/VH1, 2003-06) during the show's fifth season. In 2005, Canseco released a tell-all book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big, in which he detailed his career-long use of anabolic steroids - among other many sordid deeds - while making the claim that an astounding 85 percent of major league players took performance enhancing drugs. He also named names, citing former teammates and other big players as being steroid users. His claims and accusations triggered a huge public outcry, years-long media obsession, sudden action by a previously inert league and the tarnishing of numerous careers, some of whom found their Hall of Fame legacies in ruins. Despite initial scorn from media, fans and players, Canseco was proven over time to have been fairly accurate in his claims, particularly when some of the big names mentioned eventually admitted to their steroid use.
Meanwhile, Canseco seemed to revel in his sub-level celebrity as a reality star, which included a stint on the sports-themed "Pros vs. Joes" (Spike TV, 2006-2010). He also tried his hand at a variety of fighting careers, having claimed to be a black belt in Kung Fu and Taekwondo. Canseco made his mixed martial arts debut in 2009 with a much-anticipated bout against the 7'1" Hong Man Choi in the Super Hulk Tournament in Japan. Canseco was beaten just 90 seconds into the fight, thus ending his brief foray into the sport. Previously, he had been knocked out in the first round of a boxing match against former professional football player, Vai Sikahema, while he managed to fight former child star and radio personality, Danny Bonaduce, to a draw. He also appeared in the made-for-cable television documentary "Jose Canseco: The Last Shot" (A&E, 2008), which chronicled his attempt to stop using steroids after 24 years of use. He next joined the season 11 cast of the celebrity version of "The Apprentice" (NBC, 2004- ), where he played for charity opposite the likes of Dionne Warwick, Gary Busey, LaToya Jackson and Meat Loaf.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
