Jose Canseco, a Cuban exile from Miami who grew up to become a star baseball slugger in the 1980s, wants people to think his ethnicity is the reason he's being singled out for criticism over steroid use.
His new ghostwritten autobiography, entitled "Juiced," includes accusations of Hispanic prejudice by people in Major League Baseball, mixed in with the details of injecting himself with steroids to boost his strength and being one of Madonna's "boy toys" before she settled down and got married.
"Let's be honest. Back in 1988, no one wanted a Cuban to be the best baseball player in the world," Canseco said. "Maybe it's different today, because there are so many great Latino superstars out there. But in 1987 and 1988, who were the great Latino ballplayers?
"There was only one, it was just me," he said.
Now I don't doubt that Canseco has encountered some prejudice -- particularly in his early years when he was an unknown minor leaguer who played ball in towns like Stockton, Calif., and Huntsville, Ala.
But Hispanic "beisbol" fans are not automatically jumping to Canseco's defense. Some of us are equally critical of Canseco these days.
We remember when Canseco was one of the "Bash Brothers" whose home runs led the Oakland Athletics to a trio of World Series appearances, and when in 1988 he became the first Major League player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a season.
But all those years of tales of bar fights, weapons arrests and even a jail term detracted from his reputation. Many of us who were prepared to admire Canseco as a role model were hurt to see him reduced to the level of just another jock goof.
Two decades ago we hoped that Canseco would join the ranks of Al Lopez or Vernon "Lefty" Gomez -- members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who were of Hispanic descent but were raised in the United States.
Instead he became the Hispanic equivalent of Joe Pepitone, the 1960s New York Yankees star whose own tell-all autobiography was entitled, "Joe, You Coulda' Made Us Proud," to reflect the disillusionment he caused for many Italian-American fans.
But while Pepitone realizes his years of skirt chasing detracted from his athletic achievements, Canseco has not yet made the same connection.
Canseco seems to think his behavior is just an example of the way in which Hispanic people behave.
"Sure, I'll say it: Latinos aren't dead fish," he said. "We like to talk, and sometimes we like to yell. That's just how we communicate. Believe me, to us, long silences seem a lot more awkward than a few flat-out shouts now and then.
"But whenever my first wife, Esther, and I were overheard yelling at each other, you can bet your life some reporter would write it up as if we'd been swinging at each other with machetes," Canseco said.
Of course, the moment with Esther Canseco that caught media attention was a 1992 incident where Jose Canseco ended a quarrel by crashing his car into hers -- while she was driving it.
It also doesn't help Canseco's credibility that he went for years denying steroid use. In his book Canseco claims his ethnicity is the reason why Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell singled him out when writing about steroid use in baseball.
"Boswell apparently decided that I was the player he wanted to make an example of as a steroid user, but he offered no evidence, and he never explained why he was singling me out and saying nothing about Mark McGwire, even though Mac was bigger than I was," Canseco said.
The flaw in that argument is that Canseco now admits he WAS using steroids at that time.
Canseco could significantly rehabilitate his reputation when he joins other ballplayers who have been subpoenaed to testify this week before the House Government Reform Committee, which wants to determine if Major League Baseball was negligent in dealing with steroid use by ballplayers.
Most of the other ballplayers whose presence is being demanded on Capitol Hill are trying to figure out how to say as little as possible.
But Canseco, whose stories told during recent "60 Minutes" television appearances and in his book contain elements of truth, needs to be equally honest when testifying before Congress.
Although many baseball people are trying to label the House committee as a witch-hunt engaging in "McCarthy-esque" tactics, it probably will take an outside party to force Major League Baseball to seriously address the steroid issue.
If Canseco can have a role in cleaning up professional baseball in the United States, he could change his legacy from being a goof to being a reformer of sorts.
So come on Jose, make Hispanic people proud. Or else we'll be forced to remember you for that time in 1993 the fly ball bounced off your head and into the stands of the Texas Rangers' Arlington Stadium for a home run.
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