Outfielder, Oakland
Athletics
Age: 22 (July 2)
Bats – Right,
Throws – Right
Height: 6’4” Weight: 240
Prior to 1986:
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 and 40 RBIs. 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 and 73 RBIs. 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 and 80 RBIs. Moving up to
Tacoma of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League he hit another 11 home runs along
with 47 RBIs and a .348 average in 60 games. 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.
1986 Season Summary
Appeared in 157
games
LF – 124, RF –
46, DH – 1, PH – 1
[Bracketed
numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]
Batting
Plate
Appearances – 682 [13]
At Bats – 600 [13]
Runs – 85
Hits – 144
Doubles – 29
Triples – 1
Home Runs – 33 [4,
tied with Rob Deer]
RBI – 117 [2]
Bases on Balls
– 65
Int. BB – 1
Strikeouts – 175
[3]
Stolen Bases – 15
Caught Stealing
– 7
Average - .240
OBP - .318
Slugging Pct. -
.457
Total Bases – 274
[13]
GDP – 12
Hit by Pitches
– 8 [5, tied with Chet Lemon, Jesse Barfield & Phil Bradley]
Sac Hits – 0
Sac Flies – 9 [3,
tied with Dick Schofield & Jim Rice]
Midseason
snapshot: HR – 23, RBI – 78, AVG - .274, SLG PCT - .526
---
Most hits, game
– 4 (in 5 AB) vs. NY Yankees 9/1
Longest hitting
streak – 9 games
Most HR, game –
2 (in 5 AB) at California 4/21
HR at home – 14
HR on road – 19
Multi-HR games
– 1
Most RBIs, game
– 5 vs. California 4/13
Pinch-hitting –
1 of 1 (1.000) with 1 RBI
Fielding
Chances – 337
Put Outs – 319
Assists – 4
Errors – 14
DP - 1
Pct. - .958
Awards & Honors:
AL Rookie of
the Year: BBWAA
All-Star
20th
in AL MVP voting (3 points, 1% share)
AL ROY Voting:
Jose Canseco,
Oak.: 110 pts. – 16 of 28 first place votes, 79% share
Wally Joyner,
Cal.: 98 pts. – 12 first place votes, 70% share
Mark Eichhorn,
Tor.: 23 pts. – 16% share
Cory Snyder,
Clev.: 16 pts. – 11% share
Danny
Tartabull, Sea.: 4 pts. – 3% share
Ruben Sierra,
Tex.: 1 pt. – 1% share
---
A’s went 76-86
to finish tied for third in the AL Western Division along with the Kansas City
Royals, 16 games behind the division-winning California Angels. The injury
depleted A’s improved following the firing of manager Jackie Moore, who was replaced
in the interim by Jeff Newman and then by Tony LaRussa, who would guide the
team’s development into a winner over the next few seasons.
Aftermath of ‘86:
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. The two sluggers came to be known as “the Bash
Brothers” and fueled the club’s 1988 drive to the top of the AL West and the
league pennant as well. 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 an even 40 stolen bases. He also topped
the circuit with 124 RBIs and a .569 slugging percentage while hitting .307.
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 his 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 and 57 RBIs. 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
and 101 RBIs. 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 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, and a .244 batting average. 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 and 90 RBIs. 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 and 82 RBIs. 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 as a free agent in 1998 and had a big year with 46 home runs,
107 RBIs, and a .237 batting average. With the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999 he
was an All-Star for the last time in his career, hitting 34 home runs with 95
RBIs and a .279 average. Waived by Tampa Bay during the 2000 season, 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 and 200 stolen bases. With Oakland he batted .264 with 1048 hits,
including 186 doubles, 8 triples, and 254 home runs as well as 793 RBIs and 135
stolen bases. He was a six-time All-Star (5 with the A’s), 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. 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. Canseco’s twin
brother Ozzie also briefly played major league baseball.
--
Rookie of the Year Profiles feature players who were recipients of
the Rookie of the Year Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America
(1947 to present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from
its inception through 1948 and from 1949 on to one recipient from each major
league.
