Former MLB player Jose Canseco, currently serving two years of house arrest following his 30-day jail sentence, allowed Best Damn Sports Show Period cameras into his residence for a sit-down interview with veteran broadcaster Chris Myers. Canseco addresses his experience in prison, being blackballed by baseball, steroids, A-Rod, McGwire and of course, his tell-all book. The interview was conducted last week at Canseco's Fort Lauderdale home.
- This is an exclusive interview and this information must be attributed to Fox Sports Net's BEST DAMN SPORTS SHOW PERIOD. The show airs at 10:00 PM on Wednesday, May 7.
Here are some of the quotes from the interview:
| Myers: | Some may say that this is sad, that a guy who is on his way to the Hall of Fame and this is what it's come to. What's your response to that? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Canseco: | "My response is that the public will know the truth, from the United States to Japan. They will know the truth." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Myers: | You're bitter about baseball and really that's given you a lot of your life. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Canseco: | "I'm very disappointed about the way they went around doing it, when I was basically used and then used as a scapegoat. I'm disappointed because I broke a promise to my daughter, which means everything to me." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Myers: | Your daughter is what, eight? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Canseco: | "She's six, but because of that, being 38 homeruns shy of 500, because not being given the chance to go back to baseball, and when I did go back, being played sporadically, even though my homeruns and RBI's per at bat were incredible. Three years ago I had a few players come up to me and say that I was being blackballed. One of the players to tell me that I was being blackballed, to me, is the greatest player in the world. Alex Rodriguez. All the athletes know why I am out of the game, it's an internal thing, it's kept in the family." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Myers: | Could you have done something earlier in your career about this? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Canseco: | "I don't know, it's hard to tell, but if you look the way the media has approached and attacked me the last few years, it was always related to steroids. Playoffs, 1988 against the Boston Red Sox, right away Thomas Boswell attacked me about the steroid issue. Do you believe that if I were Mark McGwire that McGwire would have been attacked?"
| Myers:
| Did someone in baseball say if you don't write this book we'll give you a job somewhere?
| Canseco:
| "Absolutely, that's been said a few times."
| Myers:
| From different teams?
| Canseco:
| "From different teams. They're extremely scared of this book to come out, about the truth."
| Myers:
| You'll name players who used steroids while they were playing, in this book?
| Canseco:
| "The whole world will have everything there is to know about it."
| Myers:
| What was it like, being in jail?
| Canseco:
| "It was scary. When I first got into the actual jail, when I walked through, you're looking at 39, 40 other inmates. And you don't really know what they're there for. They look like normal people. But once you get yourself situated, they give you red overalls…You start finding out what those guys are in there for."
| Myers:
| So what were they in there for, some of them?
| Canseco:
| "A few guys were in there for murder, double murder, triple murder, rape."
| Myers:
| You were in the same area as them?
| Canseco:
| "Same cell, couple of the guys were, they call them baby killers. So, you start realizing what am I really doing in here? A violation of a probation?"
| Myers:
| Can 30 days in jail change somebody like yourself?
| Canseco:
| "Oh yes. It's scary. It's definitely scary. You have to take it very serious. There were a few fights that broke out in there."
| Myers:
| Were you involved in the fights?
| Canseco:
| "No, definitely no. But, you start realizing that this is not my life. I really don't belong in here. The people who are basic bank robbers, murderers, child molesters…and killers. So it's scary."
| Myers:
| You're selling off a lot of your baseball memorabilia on your website that was an important part of your life. Do you need the money? Why are you doing it?
| Canseco:
| "No. I definitely don't need the money. The reason I'm doing that is because what baseball in general has done to me in the last two or three years has left a real bad taste in my mouth and I really don't want any memories of it."
| Myers:
| Well we keep hearing about the book. When is the book coming out?
| Canseco:
| "Well the book, hopefully is getting for it to come out around the playoffs or World Series."
| Myers:
| Did you use steroids?
| Canseco:
| "You know, I've never said I have and I've never said I haven't."
| Myers:
| People will say, if this guy's going to tell all, we want to know if he used steroids?
| Canseco:
| "That's for the book to tell. Who used them, what was involved and how."
| Myers:
| You don't think baseball wants the truth to come out about steroid use or more?
| Canseco:
| "The truth about steroid use and the game. The truth about double standards in the game of baseball. The truth about players who are being protected and other players who are being made the scapegoat. There are so many unfair things happening in the game of baseball, it's just amazing." | |
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