Jose Canseco: Misunderstood?

Not many good things come to mind when Jose Canseco enters your ear. Cheater, meathead, sellout, idiot… the list goes on and on. Luckily for him things are beginning to change. More and more names are added to the list of known cheaters, players who someday will find the hall of fame. Because of these new circumstances a question is raised. Why not Jose Canseco for the hall of fame? Okay, maybe not the hall of fame, but he deserves to be seen differently than how he is currently portrayed.

 For this to happen, the way that we view the hall of fame needs to change. For all intents and purposes, the hall of fame is a museum. It is there solely for the reason of teaching the public about the history of the game. Whether we like to believe it or not, the steroid era will forever be a part of history of the game. It is an era that can’t be ignored. If we change the way that we view the hall of fame, then the case for Jose Canseco can be made.

 The steroid era has done this to the game. Fans have to assume that everyone is using some sort of aid. It will be impossible to distinguish between those who cheated and those who didn’t based on a "he said, she said" system. Fans are no longer shocked when a new name comes out. No one was surprised when the Alex Rodriguez story dropped. It’s coming to the point where fans become surprised if players come out and admit to being clean their entire career. The era deserves its own separate wing or hall with a sign that reads the following:

            These players played in a time period known as “The Steroid Era”

 The wing would be split up into two different rooms. One room with known users such as A-roid (oops, I mean A-Rod) Mark McGwire, Canseco, Bonds, Palmeiro, Clemens and Sammy Sosa. The other would hold names that we are pretty sure didn’t use anything. Names like Greg Maddux and Derek Jeter would be in this room. The player in the first room would be a permanent asterisk on their careers. It would be more shameful for them to be on display in the Hall of Fame than them not being in there at all. It would be better to put these players on blast than let them hide in the dark. The plaques for the players could say a variety of things. Palmeiro’s would say something along the lines of him blatantly lying to congress and then testing positive a few weeks later. A-Roid’s (oops again) would say that he lied on national TV, then less than a year later he admitted to using Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs.) 

 That brings us to the Bust of Jose Canseco. Seen just from a player standpoint, he is a hall of famer. Two World Series rings, he was a six time all star, was a rookie of the year and an MVP. He was the first ever 40/40 man. He accumulated 462 career home runs and had over 1400 RBI’s. Canseco was also part of one of the most feared and famous hitting duos dubbed the “Bash Bros.”  

 The thing with the hall of fame, it takes more than just numbers and career achievements to get you in. The biggest hurdle for Canseco is what he has done since he has retired. Openly admitting to using steroids has permanently taken him out of the hall of fame for most people. But people tend to look past what he has actually done for the game. He has started to clean up the game. He has taken the dark beast that is steroids and has put it into the light. He is a leading man in the cleanup of the sport.

 As more and more names of good baseball players who used PEDs come out, it’s likely that the likes of McGwire and Sosa get in. McGwire and Sosa helped “save” the sport with their chase for the single season home run record in 1998. Their contributions to the game were obvious. They put people into the stands, and brought better ratings to networks carrying their games. It may not happen soon, but they will get into the hall (They just have to admit to using, and ask for forgiveness a la Pettite, Giambi.) Canseco saved the game of baseball in a different way that is less obvious. His book “Juiced” was groundbreaking at the time, dropping several names of great baseball players who were thought to be clean. Everyone thought he was absurd for making such claims, and that he was just missing the spotlight of being a pro athlete. Since the book however, several of those names have been revealed as using PEDs. He placed the whisper that was steroids in front of a megaphone.

 When the likes of McGwire, Sosa and Bonds eventually get into the hall of fame, then the question for Jose Canseco has to be raised. Who would you rather have in the hall, a cheater who continually lied, or a cheater who admitted to his wrong doing, and has asked for forgiveness?