Canseco: McGwire and I regularly talked 'roids

[RSX-S]

Associated Press


Canseco: McGwire and I regularly talked 'roids


Jose Canseco says he and fellow slugger Mark McGwire were never "buddy buddies" as teammates on the Oakland Athletics, but had at least one thing in common that they talked about regularly: using steroids.

Canseco also admits in an interview with "60 Minutes" that he would never have been a major league-caliber player without using the drugs.

"I don't recommend steroids for everyone and I don't recommend growth hormones for everyone," Canseco tells Mike Wallace. "But for certain individuals, I truly believe, because I've experimented with it for so many years, that it can make an average athlete a super athlete. It can make a super athlete incredible. Just legendary."

The interview was broadcast Sunday on CBS, one day before the release of Canseco's book, "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big."

Canseco said he and McGwire weren't close, but often injected together and treated the subject of steroids as casual shop-talk.

"Mark and I weren't really in a sense of buddy buddies," Canseco said. "But there are certain subjects that we could talk about like obviously steroids and so forth."

McGwire, who has repeatedly denied steroid use, said in a statement to the television news magazine: "Once and for all I did not use steroids nor any illegal substance. The relationship that these allegations portray couldn't be further from the truth."

Canseco also told Wallace that steroids give athletes an edge besides increased size and strength. "A lot of it is psychological," he said. "I mean, you really believe you have an edge. You feel the strength, and the stamina."

Canseco also says he introduced steroids to former Texas Rangers teammates Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez. All have publicly denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

"I injected them. Absolutely," Canseco said.

Tony La Russa, who managed Oakland when McGwire and Canseco helped the A's win a World Series, has stood behind McGwire's denial, telling "60 Minutes" that the first baseman got his strength and size from weightlifting and a careful diet.

La Russa was skeptical of Canseco's version.

"First of all, I think he's in dire straits and needs money," La Russa said. "I think secondly ... I think there's a healthy case of envy and jealousy."

"60 Minutes" planned to air more of Canseco's interview in its Wednesday program.

Canseco hit 462 home runs in a major league career from 1985-2001. A few years ago, he claimed that 80 percent of major leaguers had taken steroids.

Baseball recently adopted a tougher steroid-testing program after the sport came under increased scrutiny about the drugs. Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi testified before a federal grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative known as BALCO.



Just happen to see this, thought it was interesting. Obvious, but interesting.

 

[D_town]

Article Excerpt from MSN.com


Jose Canseco's book, "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big," has already shaken Major League Baseball to its core ... and it's just hit the bookstores today. In this excerpt from "Juiced," Canseco discusses what he perceives as the benefits of steroid use and how the drugs will be used in the future.


<!-- esi: /widget/story/videoAndPhotoGallery?contentId=3396014-->A Look to the Future



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Also...
Canseco: Mac talked 'roids
Rosenthal: McGwire's Hall bid tainted
Poll: Who do you believe?

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These past few years, all you had to do was turn on a radio or flip to a sports cable channel, and you could count on hearing some blowhard give you his opinion about steroids and baseball and what it says about our society and blah blah blah. Well, enough already. I'm tired of hearing such short-sighted crap from people who have no idea what they're talking about. Steroids are here to stay. That's a fact. I guarantee it. Steroids are the future. By the time my eight-year-old daughter, Josie, has graduated from high school, a majority of all professional athletes — in all sports — will be taking steroids. And believe it or not, that's good news.

Let's be clear what we are talking about. In no way, shape, or form, do I endorse the use of steroids without proper medical advice and thorough expert supervision. I'll say it again: Steroids are serious. They are nothing to mess around with casually, and if anything, devoting yourself to the systematic use of steroids means you have to stay away from recreational drugs. I was never into that stuff anyway, cocaine and all that, but if you're going to work with steroids, you have to get used to clean living, smart eating, and taking care of yourself by getting plenty of rest and not overtaxing your body. I'm especially critical of anyone who starts playing around with steroids too early, when they are barely old enough to shave and not even fully grown yet. Your body is already raging with hormones at that age, and the last thing you want to do is wreak havoc with your body's natural balance. If you want to turn yourself into a nearly superhuman athlete, the way I did, you need to wait until you have matured into adulthood. That way your body can handle it. And you shouldn't fool yourself into thinking that all you need to do is just read a few articles on steroids, either. What you need to do is to absorb every scrap of information and insight on the subject — to become an expert on the subject, the way I did.

We're talking about the future here. I have no doubt whatsoever that intelligent, informed use of steroids, combined with human growth hormone, will one day be so accepted that everybody will be doing it. Steroid use will be more common than Botox is now. Every baseball player and pro athlete will be using at least low levels of steroids. As a result, baseball and other sports will be more exciting and entertaining. Human life will be improved, too. We will live longer and better. And maybe we'll love longer and better, too.

We will be able to look good and have strong, fit bodies well into our sixties and beyond. It's called evolution, and there is no stopping it. All these people crying about steroids in baseball now will look as foolish in a few years as the people who said John F. Kennedy was crazy to say the United States would put a man on the moon. People who see the future earlier than others are always feared and misunderstood.

The public needs to be informed about the reality of steroids and how they have affected the lives of many star baseball players, including me. Have I used steroids? You bet I did. Did steroids make me a better baseball player? Of course they did. If I had it all to do over again, would I live a steroid-enriched life? Yes, I would. Do I have any regrets or qualms about relying on chemicals to help me hit a baseball so far? To be honest, no, I don't.

We human beings are made up of chemicals. High school chemistry students learn to recite "CHOPKINS CaFe," which is all the chemical elements that make up the human body: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, potassium, iodine, nitrogen, sulfur, calcium, and iron. Maybe it bothers some people to think of our bodies as just a collection of those elements, but I find it comforting.

I like studying the body and how it works. I like knowing all about what makes us stronger and faster. If you learn about the chemicals that make up life, and study the hormones coursing through our bloodstreams that give our bodies instructions, you can learn how to improve your health through controlled use of steroids. And you can do it safely.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=250 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>

</TD></TR><TR><TD class=caption>Jose Canseco discusses the allegations made in his book with Mike Wallace. (CBS / AP)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Yes, you heard me right: Steroids, used correctly, will not only make you stronger and sexier, they will also make you healthier. Certain steroids, used in proper combinations, can cure certain diseases. Steroids will give you a better quality of life and also drastically slow down the aging process.

If people learn how to use steroids and growth hormone properly, especially as they get older — sixty, seventy, eighty years old — their way of living will change completely. If you start young enough, when you are in your twenties, thirties, and forties, and use steroids properly, you can probably slow the aging process by fifteen or twenty years. I'm forty years old, but I look much younger — and I can still do everything the way I could when I was twenty-five.

When I talk in detail about steroids and how I single-handedly changed the game of baseball by introducing them into the game, I am saying what everyone in baseball has known for years. To all my critics, to everyone who wants to turn this into a debate about me, Jose Canseco, let me quote my favorite actor (besides Arnold Schwarzenegger, that is) and say: You can't handle the truth.

That is the story of baseball in recent years. Everyone in the game has been hoping the lie could last as long as possible. They wanted steroids in the game to make it more exciting, hoping they would be able to build its popularity back up after the disastrous cancellation of the 1994 World Series. So when I taught other players how to use steroids, no one lifted a finger to stop me. When I educated trainers and others on how to inject players with steroids, there was nothing standing in my way. Directly or indirectly, nearly everyone in baseball was complicit.

How do I know that? I was known as the godfather of steroids in baseball. I introduced steroids into the big leagues back in 1985, and taught other players how to use steroids and growth hormone. Back then, weight lifting was taboo in baseball. The teams didn't have weight-lifting programs. Teams didn't allow it. But once they saw what I could do as a result of my weight lifting, they said, "My God, if it's working for Jose, it's gotta work for a lot of players."

So all of a sudden ballparks were being built with brand-new, high-tech weight-lifting facilities, and at the older ballparks they were moving stuff around and remodeling to make room for weight rooms. I definitely restructured the way the game was played. Because of my influence, and my example, there were dramatic changes in the way that players looked and the way they played. That was because of changes in their nutrition, their approach to fitness and weight lifting, and their steroid intake and education.

If you asked any player who was the one who knew about steroids, they'd all tell you: Jose Canseco.

Who do you go to when you want information on steroids?

Jose Canseco.

Who do you go to if you wanted to know if you were using it properly?

Jose Canseco.

<TABLE cellSpacing=5 cellPadding=0 width=236 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 width=231 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR class=bgC><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 19px" align=left div>"I'm telling the truth about steroids in this book because someone has to do it. We're long overdue for some honesty and, as any ballplayer will tell you, I know the real story of steroids in baseball better than any man alive." <TD>



<TR class=bgC><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 15px" align=right div>— Jose Canseco</TD></TR></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


If you picked up this book just for a few juicy tales about which players I've poked with needles full of steroids, or what it was like when Madonna sat on my lap and asked me to kiss her, that's fine with me. I've lived a colorful life, and people have always been curious about the things I've done. If you want to flip through the chapters looking for the highlights, I have no problem with that (as long as you pay the cover price, of course).

But let me be clear that I'm writing this book for people who are ready to think for themselves. That's all I'm asking. Hear me out, listen to what I have to say about baseball and other things, and come to your own conclusions. That might sound easy, but believe me, coming to terms with a true picture of what has been going on in baseball in the past ten years or so might not be what you really want.

Do I expect some skepticism from people? Of course I do. I've made some mistakes in the past. I've made mistakes in my personal life, and I've made mistakes in public, too. There have been times when I spoke out without realizing how my comments might sound to people. That's all water under the bridge. Now, I'm looking to the rest of my life, not dwelling on what might have been. I'm telling the truth about steroids in this book because someone has to do it. We're long overdue for some honesty and, as any ballplayer will tell you, I know the real story of steroids in baseball better than any man alive. I'm also in a position to tell you the truth because I no longer have any ties with Major League Baseball, and I have no interest in the politics and double standards of Major League Baseball. I'm my own man and always have been.

 

[chasec]

i believe conseco. half those people gained 40lbs in 1-2 years during a time in there life when testosterone production has been proven to decline. im skeptical it's a "careful diet". maybe if it includes some of that barry bonds flax seed oil.

 

[jarhead]

Canseco is a self serving piece of ****. That's what happens to famous egotistical people when the public stops giving a **** about them. I could care less who juices. Doping in one form or another will always be a factor in every major sport. It cracks me up that they focus on baseball, yet a 230lb rb in the nfl is now average size. Screw canseco. You just don't do that kind of ****. Effin scumbag. Diming out former teamates, way to go. What?! Professional atheles use drugs?! Yeah riiiiighhht.:rant:

 

[jarhead]

Oh and Mike wallace said in an interview tonight that canseco knows more about roids than anyone on the plane. Give me a break. I'd be willing to bet the average NPC competitor knows more than him. This whole thing just makes me sick , especially with all the media attention it's getting.

 

[Nullifidian]

I think someone from A-minds should offer to do an anonymous interview with 60 minutes. Seriously. I think it would be really interesting to the public. You know one of those "face is shadowed, voice is altered" interviews. Ask his opinions, and get some REAL information out there on steroid use and what kinds of precautions proper steroid usage entails. Talk about how difficult it can be to get educated and how few people get good information.

 

[tattoopierced1]

gotta love that barry bonds flax seed oil!!

Null: that is a great idea...I'm tired of people talking about how bad steroids are, babbling off rhetoric they hear on the news when they actually know nothing on the subject...as hard as you try to talk to these people, they pretty much shut down when you put the two words "steroids" and "good" in the same sentance....sad but true.

 

[sweet-physique]

My concern would be these people freaking out when you start discussing PCT. They would have little to no idea the science behind using a AI or EA or why we would be using what they know to be female fertility medications or breast cancer medications within our PCT arsenal. Can you imagine what would these people think of HCG, clen , IGF? It could open a whole new attack on research chems. ancillaries etc.

The general population and mass media are not willing, able , nor ready for this information. IMO they never will be. They will edit the information to sensationalize it and our point, perspective, science, and ideas would be lost or wholly edited out. They would further demonize our lifestyle. We may be gym rats, but the media is just plain rats.

 

[KCPreki11]

yet a 230lb rb in the nfl is now average size.

Ummm...why not, there's kids coming out of HS who are 200 natural. Give them 4 more years under close supervision of a D I university and it's possible. The reason a 230lb RB is average these days is because size is stressed a lot more in football than baseball.

 

[ivydude]

When Wallace asked Canseco about how often he had injected Big Mac, Canseco said "probably twice." Why would he say that in light of Wallace prefacing the question with, "You wrote in your book you injected McGwire 'often'." I think the book is a colorful ethnographic piece, but Jose needs to keep his story consistent to maintain the little credibility he has left.

 

[ryansm]

McGwire was always a big guy with a large frame. He could of easily attained the size he had when he hit 70 homers by hardwork, and nutrition. And from what I hear he did just that. I really don't think you would find a bottle of andro in his locker if he was using gear. Of course that may have been a ploy. . .

 

[Lean One]

Canseco is a self serving piece of ****. That's what happens to famous egotistical people when the public stops giving a **** about them. I could care less who juices. Doping in one form or another will always be a factor in every major sport. It cracks me up that they focus on baseball, yet a 230lb rb in the nfl is now average size. Screw canseco. You just don't do that kind of ****. Effin scumbag. Diming out former teamates, way to go. What?! Professional atheles use drugs?! Yeah riiiiighhht.:rant:

Actually, even if Conseco had selfish motives for ratting out team mates, I think it is a good thing that he went public.Finally someone had the balls to turnthe lights on and show the general public what is really going on.Mabey it's a first step on a long journey of changing public perception. And misconception.

 

[jarhead]

Ummm...why not, there's kids coming out of HS who are 200 natural. Give them 4 more years under close supervision of a D I university and it's possible. The reason a 230lb RB is average these days is because size is stressed a lot more in football than baseball.

Size has always been stressed yet players of 20 years ago look nothing like the players of today. You're missing the point. Why is size stressed nowadays? Because you have offensive and defensive lineman that go over 300lbs. Linebackers at 260.Wide receivers creeping up and over 200lbs. Go back 10 or twenty years and look at the average sizes of each position. The players are MUCH bigger in general, while being faster than ever. What accounts for this? Improvements in sports training and knowledge of proper nutrition account for part of this, of course. The other part....drugs. Don't kid yourself bro.

 

[jarhead]

Actually, even if Conseco had selfish motives for ratting out team mates, I think it is a good thing that he went public.Finally someone had the balls to turnthe lights on and show the general public what is really going on.Mabey it's a first step on a long journey of changing public perception. And misconception.

I can see your point, but I just will always think he is scum because he didn't do it to bring awareness, or change public perception, he did it for himself. He could have not singled anyone out in particular and still made his point. I hope you're right that it somehow can help change the publics perception, but it doesn't appear that it will. Steroids are the national menace of the hour. And people have been brainwashed about them for so long most people are beyond reason. If I have to see another pencil neck sports reporter preach about the dangers of roid use, I'm gonna puke. And anyone who has actually tried to hit an80-90 mph fastball will tell you that all the test in the world ain't gonna help you make proper contact with the ball. IMO the are really blowing the aid in performance these drugs may or may not have given these guys out of proportion. It's just so frustrating....

 

[John Smeton]

im wondering if canseco will reveal/revealed in his upcoming book which steroid cycles are good for anti aging.

I dont want to get into talking about the drugs ,but ill read his book if it sayd which steroids are good for anti-aging and if used property can actually benifit me.

btw canseco looks great at forty.

 

[D_town]

Haven't read the book yet. But, I've heard it's more than a "rat out" book. It's Canseco's learned mentality and new understanding of hormonal chemistry. It is the "fountain of youth" in such words and he goes into details. Besides being a RAT, he is supposedly on our side when it comes to education. however, noone will take him seriously at this point. Let's just see how this plays out.

 

[jarhead]

im wondering if canseco will reveal/revealed in his upcoming book which steroid cycles are good for anti aging.

I dont want to get into talking about the drugs ,but ill read his book if it sayd which steroids are good for anti-aging and if used property can actually benifit me.

btw canseco looks great at forty.

Actually he did bring this up in the mike wallace interview. He asked him, "if you could live healthy and vibrant(not his exact words) for an extra 10-20 years by taking steroids, would you?" I don't know how much the book gets into this.

There have been studies on the benefits of using test and gh in aging men.

 

[Bean]

regardless of canseco's true motivation, he seems that he's going to lay out the whole story and the whole truth; and its damn well time by god... i'm so sick of juicers being labeled as fucking drug addicts or some ****...
its fucking time man! its time! i'll be buying the book

 

[Bean]

Size has always been stressed yet players of 20 years ago look nothing like the players of today. You're missing the point. Why is size stressed nowadays? Because you have offensive and defensive lineman that go over 300lbs. Linebackers at 260.Wide receivers creeping up and over 200lbs. Go back 10 or twenty years and look at the average sizes of each position. The players are MUCH bigger in general, while being faster than ever. What accounts for this? Improvements in sports training and knowledge of proper nutrition account for part of this, of course. The other part....drugs. Don't kid yourself bro.

amen... jeremy shockey being a beautiful example... 6'6 or so and 260lbs, stong as ****, and runs like a mid 4sec 40 yarder... 20 years ago he would be been an incredibly dominant linebacker and not a tight end; since tight ends were more used for blocking on the run

 

[CEDeoudes59]

La Russa said on the TV interview that Canseco bragged openly about not having to work out to build muscle mass and strength.

"He would laugh about the time that other guys were spending there and how he didn't have to because ... he was doing the other 'helper'. ... He would kid our players," La Russa said. "You know, it was a joke with him."

 

[ivydude]

im wondering if canseco will reveal/revealed in his upcoming book which steroid cycles are good for anti aging.

I dont want to get into talking about the drugs ,but ill read his book if it sayd which steroids are good for anti-aging and if used property can actually benifit me.

btw canseco looks great at forty.

I just finished reading the book and he never delves into specifics as to which combos he believes will slow the aging process.

I think an appendix of combos based on purpose, i.e. speed and stamina gains/strength gains/anti-aging would have been an interesting addition from the man that calls himself the "Godfather" of AAS.

 

[Rictor33]

Actually, even if Conseco had selfish motives for ratting out team mates, I think it is a good thing that he went public.Finally someone had the balls to turnthe lights on and show the general public what is really going on.Mabey it's a first step on a long journey of changing public perception. And misconception.

The reason he went public is because he was "blackballed" from baseball. The sameway the "Chicago Blacksox" that rigged the world series were. He was a "known juicer" for a long time and knows he won't get the recognition for the Hall of Fame or much of MLB because of it. So he decides to take down the popular players who he knows juice as an attempt to get back at MLB. He is right about many of the players he mentioned, even ones that I didn't originally think juiced, like Rafael Palmeiro and Pudge (Ivan Rodriquez). Now I am still skeptical about Pudge juicing, but he did become a better player after his years being a teammate of Jose's. Palmeiro, however was always an incredible hitter, but mostly hit for average (with good power) throughout his younger years. If you look at the last 5-7 years his home run numbers have gone up an incredible amount. Bret Boone, who used to be around 165-170 lbs at second base blew up over one spring training to 190-195 (he is 5'8) and his power numbers also skyrocketed. When Jose mentioned "steroids can make an average athlete into a good athlete, and a great athlete into a legendary athlete" I pondered it for a while then noticed that what he said had some truth to it. Speaking from someones point of view I could tell the difference when anabolics were involved. A journalist from ESPN said that out of this whole juiced era there is only one juicer that would have made the hall with or without juice and that would be Barry Bonds. And then it become easier to put together, you give someone with incredible athletic talent steroids and it really does make a difference. I really don't hold steroids against any of the players who used them. Baseball didn't really start testing until a very short time ago and any player given the opportunity to become more athletic and powerful in his right mind would take it. Can you blame them? I could tell you right now, If I was in the minor leagues battling for a shot at the majors and I had an opportunity to improve myself through science I would take it no problem.

To end my string of bullshit: I really wish people would just forget about this steroid ****. Everyone has enjoyed the inflated offense and the superstars with huge numbers. Why bitch about something you like? People say it's cheating, well how the hell can it be cheating if it really wasnt banned until last year?

 

[BuiltOne]

I'm sure that soon enough the media will get ahold of research chems as well just to spite us. The government knows. They have to know. They come on these boards just like we do and watch. That's what scares me and always has. I agree though Jose is a scumbag for ratting. WTF!!! Asshole!!