Jose Canseco Biography

Fast Facts

• Was the first major league baseball player to make at least 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same season
• His twin brother Ozzie has also played baseball
• Despite his father's determination to teach him the sport, he was an average baseball player as a child, and didn't make his high school's varsity team until his senior year
• Emigrated from Cuba to the United States with his family in 1965 as part of a group citizens who opposed Fidel Castro's communist government
• After the Oakland Athletics drafted him in the 15th round of the amateur draft, they sent him to play for their Premier League team in Idaho Falls, Idaho, paying him $600 a month
• Quote: "The challenge is not to find a top player who has used steroids․ The challenge is to find a top player who hasn't․"
• Quote: "[on steroid use] "I cared so much about winning, and about making the game more exciting for the fans, that I did what I had to do․""
• In 2005, he returned to the spotlight by publishing a memoir called "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big," which detailed his own steroid use and how steroids affected baseball overall
• A star hitter in the MLB known best for his time with the Oakland Athletics in the mid to late 1980s
• His second book, published in 2008 and titled "Vindicated," further elaborated on steroid use in baseball