Highlighted Year: Jose Canseco, 1999

Designated Hitter/Outfielder, Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Age:  35 (July 2)

1^st season with Devil Rays

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 6’4”    Weight: 240 

Prior to 1999:

A native of Cuba, Canseco and his family resettled in Opa-Locka, Florida, near Miami. He played baseball at the junior-varsity level until he was a senior in high school, at which point he was chosen by the Athletics in the fifteenth round of the 1982 amateur draft. Playing for teams in two leagues at the Rookie and Class A levels in ’82 he batted a combined .242 with 2 home runs and 7 RBIs in 34 games. In 1983 he started the season with Medford of the short-season Class A Northwest League where he was an All-Star selection after hitting .269 with 11 home runs, 40 RBIs, a .378 on-base percentage, and .533 slugging percentage. Canseco moved on to Madison of the Class A Midwest League to finish out the year and hit a measly .159 with 3 home runs and 10 RBIs over the course of 34 games. Playing for Modesto of the Class A California League in 1984, he batted .276 with 15 home runs, 73 RBIs, a .388 OBP, and a .446 slugging percentage. In the offseason he had his first admitted use of steroids as part of a weight training regimen in which he added several pounds of muscle. What followed in 1985 was a big performance with the Huntsville Stars of the Class AA Southern League in which he belted 25 home runs in only 58 games, along with a .318 average, 80 RBIs, a .406 OBP, and .739 slugging percentage. Moving up to Tacoma of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, in 60 games he hit another 11 home runs along with 47 RBIs, a .348 average, a .440 OBP, and .567 slugging percentage. Receiving a September call-up to the A’s, Canseco appeared in 29 games and hit .302 with 5 home runs and 13 RBIs. He was inserted into left field for Oakland in 1986. The result was an AL Rookie of the Year season in which he slugged 33 home runs with 117 RBIs, while striking out 175 times and batting .240 with a .318 OBP and .457 slugging percentage. Canseco followed up with another strong season in 1987 as he hit .257 with 31 home runs and 113 RBIs. He was overshadowed by rookie first baseman Mark McGwire’s 49-home run performance as the two together came to be known as “the Bash Brothers”. Canseco and McGwire fueled the club’s 1988 drive to the top of the AL West and the league pennant. Canseco made good on his stated objective of becoming the first player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a season. His totals were a league-leading 42 home runs and exactly 40 stolen bases. He also topped the circuit with 124 RBIs and a .569 slugging percentage while hitting .307 with a .391 OBP. Shifted to right field he also accounted for 11 assists. An All-Star for the second time, he received the AL MVP award for his performance. Heading into 1989, off-field issues began to tarnish Canseco’s image in addition to his being sidelined by a stress fracture in his left wrist that required surgery. When he finally took to the field for the A’s, he played well, batting .269 in 65 games with 17 home runs, 57 RBIs, a .333 OBP, and .542 slugging percentage. The team again won its division and the AL pennant, as well as the World Series, in which Canseco batted .357 with a home run. He had a solid season in 1990 in which he batted .274 with 37 home runs, 101 RBIs, a .371 OBP, and a slugging percentage of .543. Oakland won a third straight pennant and was swept by Cincinnati in the World Series, where Canseco’s hitting was negligible. He topped the AL with 44 home runs in 1991, in addition to batting .266 with 122 RBIs, a .359 OBP, and .556 slugging percentage for the fourth place A’s. Having run afoul of the Oakland front office and manager Tony LaRussa, Canseco was traded to the Texas Rangers on August 31, 1992 for outfielder Ruben Sierra, RHP Jeff Russell, RHP Bobby Witt, and cash. For the year he ended up with 26 home runs, 87 RBIs, a .244 batting average, .344 OBP, and .456 slugging percentage. In 1993 Canseco was embarrassed in the outfield by having a fly ball hit him on the head and bounce over the wall for a home run. More seriously, a few days later in a runaway loss to the Red Sox in Boston, he was used as a pitcher and injured his arm to the extent that he required surgery. Appearing in only 60 games, he batted .255 with 10 home runs and 46 RBIs. Coming back to the Rangers during the strike-shortened 1994 season, he was utilized as a Designated Hitter and batted .282 with 31 home runs, 90 RBIs, a .386 OBP, and a .552 slugging percentage. In the offseason Canseco was dealt to the Boston Red Sox where he DH’d and hit .306 with 24 home runs and 81 RBIs in 1995. He was again productive at bat in 1996 where he batted .289 with 28 home runs, 82 RBIs, a .400 OBP, and a .589 slugging percentage. Traded back to Oakland in 1997, Canseco appeared in 108 games and hit .235 with 23 home runs and 73 RBIs. He signed with the Toronto Blue Jays for one season as a free agent in 1998 and had a big year with 46 home runs, 107 RBIs, a .237 batting average, a .318 OBP, and a .518 slugging percentage. A free agent again in the offseason, he signed an incentive-heavy contract with the Devil Rays.

1999 Season Summary

Appeared in 113 games

DH – 106, LF – 6, PH – 1

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Batting

Plate Appearances – 502

At Bats – 430

Runs – 75

Hits – 120

Doubles – 18

Triples – 1

Home Runs – 34 [13]

RBI – 95

Bases on Balls – 58

Int. BB – 3

Strikeouts – 135 [5]

Stolen Bases – 3

Caught Stealing – 0

Average - .279

OBP - .369

Slugging Pct. - .563 [9]

Total Bases – 242

GDP – 14

Hit by Pitches – 7

Sac Hits – 0

Sac Flies – 7 [18, tied with twelve others]

Midseason snapshot: 2B – 14, HR - 31, RBI - 69, AVG. - .276, SLG – .622, OBP – .360

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Most hits, game – 4 (in 5 AB) at Montreal 6/12, (in 4 AB) at Chi. White Sox 6/14

Longest hitting streak – 10 games

Most HR, game – 2 (in 4 AB) vs. Baltimore 4/21, (in 4 AB) at Chi. White Sox 6/14

HR at home – 12

HR on road – 22

Multi-HR games – 2

Most RBIs, game – 4 at Oakland 6/2, at Chi. White Sox 6/14

Pinch-hitting – 0 for 1 (.000)

Fielding

Chances – 8

Put Outs – 7

Assists – 1

Errors – 0

DP – 0

Pct. - 1.000 

Awards & Honors:

All-Star

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The Devil Rays went 69-93 to finish fifth (last) in the AL Eastern Division, 29 games behind the division-winning New York Yankees. Off to a respectable 22-20 start by mid-May, the injury-plagued Devil Rays hit a 2-16 stretch that dropped them into fourth place in the AL East. They fell into the cellar for good on September 1. Canseco missed six weeks due to back surgery.

Aftermath of 1999:

In 2000, Canseco missed 46 games due to a heal injury and was waived by Tampa Bay. Claimed by the New York Yankees he batted .252 in 98 games for the year, with 15 home runs and 49 RBIs. He bounced around among a few major and minor league clubs in 2001 and ’02 to finish out his career. Overall, Canseco batted .266 in the major leagues with 1877 hits that included 340 doubles, 14 triples, and 462 home runs. He also accumulated 1407 RBIs, 200 stolen bases, a .353 OBP, and a .515 slugging percentage. With Tampa Bay he batted .272 with 1048 hits, including 186 doubles, 8 triples, and 254 home runs as well as 793 RBIs, 135 stolen bases, a .344 OBP, and .507 slugging percentage. He was a six-time All-Star won four Silver Slugger awards, and twice led the AL in home runs. In 30 postseason games he hit .184 with 7 home runs and 18 RBIs. Canseco’s twin brother Ozzie also briefly played major league baseball. His life post baseball continued to be filled with controversy, particularly after the publishing of his tell-all book Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big, that discussed the alleged extent of steroid use in the major leagues during Canseco’s playing career and fueled the investigation of performance enhancing drugs in baseball.

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Highlighted Years feature players who led a major league in one of the following categories: batting average, home runs (with a minimum of 10), runs batted in, or stolen bases (with a minimum of 20); or pitchers who led a major league in wins, strikeouts, earned run average, or saves (with a minimum of 10). Also included are participants in annual All-Star Games between the National and American Leagues since 1933. This category also includes Misc. players who received award votes, were contributors to teams that reached the postseason, or had notable seasons in non-award years.