Canseco Goes After A-Rod In His Book 'Vindicated' | News | CW11 New York

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Canseco Goes After A-Rod In His Book 'Vindicated'

BY KEN DAVIDOFF, ken.davidoff@newsday.com

March 25, 2008, 7:35 PM EDT

Since last summer, Jose Canseco had hinted strongly that he would go after Alex Rodriguez in his next book. Now baseball's unwelcome whistle-blower has followed through on his threat.

Newsday obtained a copy of Canseco's new book, "Vindicated," and while Canseco didn't flat-out accuse A-Rod of using illegal performance-enhancing drugs, he did write that he introduced the Yankees' third baseman to a steroids dealer -- after A-Rod had wondered where a person would go to find steroids if one wanted them.

When first told Tuesday morning that Canseco had leveled accusations against him, Rodriguez asked what Canseco had said in addition to his previous accusations. Told that Canseco had written about introducing him to a known supplier of steroids, Rodriguez said, "I really have absolutely no reaction."

Canseco also accused A-Rod of coveting Canseco's former wife, Jessica, before Rodriguez married his wife, Cynthia.

When Rodriguez was told about that, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "He said that in his book?" then said, "I have absolutely no comment."

In "Vindicated," the sequel to Canseco's best-selling 2005 tell-all, "Juiced," Canseco also wrote that he injected Tigers slugger Magglio Ordonez with steroids while they were teammates with the 2001 White Sox, and he theorizes that Roger Clemens used illegal performance- enhancing drugs, as well.

He also accused baseball steroids investigator George Mitchell of a pro- Red Sox bias in his report, and alleged that legendary "60 Minutes" reporter Mike Wallace asked him about steroids and human growth hormone after a 2005 interview.

Freelance writer Joe Lavin first reported the book's details on his Web site, joelavin.com, and they were then published by the sports news Web site Deadspin.

Canseco seems to take the most pleasure in taking on A-Rod, who he left out of his first book with the explanation: "I hated the -- -- ."

According to the new book, in "the latter half of the 1990s" A-Rod came to Canseco's Florida home and began working out -- and ogling Jessica Canseco. At one point, A-Rod asked Canseco, "So, the 'roids: Do they -- -- you up?"

"Do I look like I'm -- -- up?" Canseco wrote of his response.

Later, Canseco wrote, A-Rod "asked me, point-blank, where one would go to get steroids if one wanted them. He was a cautious, cagey guy, Alex. He didn't say, I want to buy steroids. Can you point me in the right direction? Or more accurately, as far as I'm concerned, he did say it, but not in those exact words."

Days later, Canseco wrote, he introduced A-Rod to a trainer and illegal PED dealer he identified as "Max." And, Canseco wrote, he didn't see A-Rod regularly after that, although when he did, he thought that A-Rod looked "buff."

Canseco wrote that A-Rod telephoned Jessica Canseco repeatedly. "I'm not a jealous man," Canseco wrote, "but I could see that A-Rod, a bachelor at that time, was jonesing for my wife." Jessica Canseco recently made news in Clemens' case, as Clemens' accuser, Brian McNamee, recalled Clemens discussing an incident at a Canseco pool party where Jessica Canseco and Roger Clemens' wife, Debbie, compared their breast enhancements.

Canseco closed the A-Rod section of his book with this passage: "So A-Rod, if you're reading this book, and if I'm not getting through to you, let's get clear on one thing: I hate your -- -- guts."

Rodriguez said Canseco's feelings toward him had long been obvious.

Canseco wrote that Clemens telephoned him after the release of the Mitchell Report to complain about McNamee's accusations, and Canseco offered to help. In the book, Canseco repeated what he told Congress, that Clemens didn't attend the infamous party at Canseco's home in Miami.

He flew to Houston and met with Clemens' attorneys, Canseco wrote -- Clemens even picked him up at the airport -- and agreed to sign an affidavit that read, "I have played on three teams with Roger Clemens and I have no reason to believe that he has ever used steroids, human growth hormone, or any other performance-enhancing drugs." Canseco said he was hesitant to sign off on that point.

After watching the Feb. 13 congressional hearing with Clemens, Canseco wrote, "Maybe I'd been right the first time. Maybe he had been juicing. And maybe I'd been wrong to change my mind. But in my heart, during my visit to Houston, I came to believe the guy."

As for Wallace's interest in illegal PEDs, Canseco wrote:

"When the cameras stopped rolling, Wallace asked me if we could talk, off-camera. He kept me there for another hour, clearly curious about steroids ... He wondered how the steroids and human growth hormones (HGH) might help him, a man in his eighties, live a longer, healthier life ... When Wallace was done interrogating me, I could see I had piqued his interest. Whether I'd made a convert of him, I can't say. Still, I know, I was pretty convincing."

Staff writer Kat O'Brien contributed to this story.