For those of you who have been pining away for the next literary masterpiece from Jose Conseco, the waiting is almost over. Scheduled to be release on April 1^st (like that doesn't say something!) is his newest tome, "Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball," which it is safe to assume will be written with the same middle-school flair (and writing level) as his first book, "Juiced." Of course the less than cerebral writing won't be the only thing that the two books have in common as the new release is said to contain new names. According to various press outlets, we'll* read about Roger Clemens (yawn) and what Jose knows about the Rocket's use. We'll also hear about how Canseco shot up Magglio Ordonez with some drug or another while the two were teammates on the White Sox. But the claim he'll et the most mileage out of is that he introduced Alex Rodriquez to a drug dealer named "Max" while Canseco and A-Rod were both on the Rangers. Excerpts from the book were apparently leaked and state that Canseco is claiming that A-Rod asked him for the introduction, but that Canseco never saw him actually using taking anything.

The "…Battle to Save Baseball" portion of that title invokes all sorts of thoughts about a valiant soul who's trying, though brutal honesty, to set things right again. Canseco portrays himself as one who wants to weed out the liars, believing (so it seems) that this is the only real way to break free of the steroid era in baseball once and for all.

While this is all very romantic and wonderful, it is important to remember a few realities. First, Canseco was successful as a baseball player because he cheated. He was not caught because he was (is?) an excellent sneak and an accomplished liar. "Juiced" was billed as a "tell all" book. The problem there (well, one of them) is that it didn't tell all, or at least that's what Canseco would have us believe. Now we have his second installment, with some new names. Add all this together and it, to be honest, smells funny.

The version of the story at Sports Illustrated shows a photo of Canseco all "Guido-ed" with his slicked back hair and his necklace-thing behind a suit and shirt minus the tie. He certainly dresses the part of an underworld hood, which seems like truth in advertising. When questioned about giving more details, Canseco asserted that he wants to wait to see if "they" call him a liar again. This must reference the initial reactions to "Juiced", and in the end, many of the claims that Canseco made in that volume bore out to be true.

In the end, Canseco's motives seem obvious to most. OK. Maybe we can give a ratio of 9/1 – 90% needing rent and hair gel money, 10% zeal for justice. That might even be too generous, though.

*Well, not "we'll", really. I'd opt for a root canal before picking up "Vindicated". I'm still not totally over my experience reading the first half of "Juiced".

Labels: A-Rod, baseball, media

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 3/26/2008 11:36:00 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.