Jose Canseco believes he was the only player telling the whole truth about steroids. Who used and when. For how long.
He was called a liar and a huckster for admitting in two books he juiced for nearly the entire length of a 462 home run career and describing how he injected teammates with illegal anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.
Now that players he named in his tell-all memoirs, like Alex Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro, have admitted using performance-enhancing drugs or flunked drug tests, Canseco wants an apology from baseball for treating him as an outcast.
“It’s time for somebody in baseball to say to Jose Canseco, ‘We’re sorry you got treated the way you did,”’ said Canseco’s attorney, Dennis Holahan.
The former Bash Brother wants more than forgiveness from baseball. He wants to educate the sport, too. Canseco offered to help baseball move on from the steroid era and end the use of banned substances with education about the dangers of drugs, starting at the high school level.
Holahan sent a letter last week to union head Donald Fehr and Gene Orza, the union’s chief operating officer, offering the former slugger’s assistance.
Holahan’s letter explained how Canseco regretted writing his 2005 book, “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big,” and wanted to restore his “good name.”
“Nevertheless, after being vilified and labeled an informant and a liar, all allegations, in both of his books, have now been proven to be truthful, including the recent news about Alex Rodriguez,” Holahan said in the letter obtained by The Associated Press.
Holahan held a conference call on Friday with two union lawyers, including Steve Fehr, and spoke again with Fehr on Tuesday to discuss the letter.
“We want some kind of joint response to the situation and some plan to move forward where Jose is included, instead of excluded,” Holahan said Tuesday night.
Fehr confirmed he spoke with Holahan, but declined to discuss the details of their conversation.
Holahan spoke hours after Rodriguez admitted his cousin repeatedly injected him with a substance from the Dominican Republic.
In his 2008 book, “Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball,” Canseco said he introduced Alex Rodriguez to a steroids dealer. Rodriguez said Canseco’s story was “a hundred percent not true” during an interview with ESPN on Feb. 9.
Canseco, the 1988 AL MVP, declined comment when reached on Tuesday.
“Jose Canseco deserves to be brought back in from the cold,” Holahan said. “He was the guy that blew the whistle.”
Holahan said Canseco, last seen boxing Danny Bonaduce in a celebrity bout, had no plans to write another book or accuse more major leaguers of using performance-enhancing drugs.
“There’s not another book, there’s no more names,” he said. “It’s done. It’s over. He’s got to get on with his life.”
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