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Player Profile

Jose Canseco - It's Time to Play Ball

Jose Canseco needs no introduction; he’s one of the most famous baseball names of our time. Jose first began his major league baseball career in 1986 with the Oakland A’s. He established himself as a phenomenal slugger with 33 home runs and was named the American League’s Rookie of the Year.

In 1988, Jose did what no other baseball player had ever done before, hitting at least 40 homers and stealing at least 40 bases in the same season. For that, he was unanimously named the AL’s Most Valuable Player. The next year, Jose helped the A’s go on to win the World Series.

Over the next few seasons, Jose would hit more than 100 home runs, but injuries would start to plague his career. He entered baseball’s revolving door, playing for eight different teams over the next 10 years. One of the highlights was the year he had 46 home runs with the Toronto Blue Jays.

One of the funnier moments happened in 1993 during a game against the Cleveland Indians, when a fly ball hit him on the head and bounced into the stands for a home run. For his amazing "header", a pro soccer team - The Harrisburg Heat - offered him a contract the next day. Apparently they didn’t mind that it was an own goal.

Perhaps as legendary as his baseball accomplishments are Jose’s troubles off the field, which includes accusations of steroid use and a $1 million verdict against him and his brother for a Miami nightclub brawl. In 2005, Jose wrote the book Juiced, which chronicled his years of steroid use and named other baseball players who he claims also abused performance-enhancing drugs.

No stranger to the limelight, it’ll be a real treat to see how well this big slugger does playing against the pros on the Poker Equalizer.