Carol Secor shares this touching story with us:
My name is Carol Secor and I live in San Jose Ca. and I have been a Jose fan since 1995. My mother and I would go to Oakland to see him play. In 1991 My mom got told she had bone cancer but know matter how sick she got she still had to watch Jose play. In 1993 I wrote Jose a letter in Texas thanking him for all the great times my mom and I had watching him play. I ask him if he could send my mom a picture. My mom died a couple of weeks later after a long and brave fight. When we retured from the buriel in New York there was a package from Texas waiting with a signed picture for my mom and a hand written note to me saying how sorry he was for me and my family. I know my mom would had been very happy!!! Jose will always be my favorite baseball player for the kindness he showed me at a very hard time.

[email protected] writes:
I am a diehard Jose fan from the past who just got a computer for Christmas. I can't believe i found a site about him! I am 30 years old and live in Cleveland, and I have seen every game that Jose has played in the city for the last 4 years, and that has included paying up to 4 times the ticket price! It was well worth it and I hope to hear from you soon. I do not want any privacy, the more people the merrier, I just want to talk to SOMEONE that likes Jose. My friends can't stand him. Just some background info, I play Strat-O-Matic Baseball and I traded Barry Bonds and a future draft pick for Jose 2 years ago!

John Morrison sent me this email after Jose was traded to the Blue Jays:
I just wanted to say thanks for keeping all the Cansecoites up to date during the negotiations with Toronto. I live here and will see as many games as possible this season. Jose has been my personal baseball God since I read about what a great prospect he was in the 1986 BILL MAZEROSKI'S BASEBALL PREVIEW. I have seen him hit 4 home runs in the Skydome over the years and I figure about 30-40 more this year. Wishful thinking maybe? Nevertheless this is a good fit for him with a coach and organization he will be able to work for. Love your page !!

Dave says:
Wow, you really have an AWSOME Jose Canseco page here. I am a HUGE Jose fan too, not as big as you thou, but I am a huge fan of his. I live in Kitchener, ONT about half hour from Toronto, and you should have saw me when I found out we had signed Jose. I hope he does good this year. I was at an A's/Jays game last year at the Dome, and I actually caught a BP HR hit by Jose Canseco. Now everyone i tell this story to never belives me, but I really caught a ball hit by Jose, during BP. Every game I go to against a team that has sluggers like the A's, Mariners,WhiteSox, and Indians, I always go up to the 5th deck for BP, and its almost always empty up there 1.5 hours before game time, so when I was up there, I told my friend that I bet Jose will crush one up here, and sure enough he did. I ran for the ball and got it with ease since there was only like 40 people up there for BP. I have the ball in a glass case now, after the game I tried for like 2 hours trying to get Jose to autograph it. I even went to the SkyDome hotel to see if he was there so I could get it autographed, but one of the guards said he took off in a limo with a few of the other players. Anyways, your page is awsome man, and I am REALLY looking forward to see Jose in a Jays uniform - I will get to see him play at least 120 times on TV.

Jeff Goodfellow writes:
One of my favorite stories of Jose is when he came with Oakland to Toronto a couple of years ago (Probably in '90 or '91). It was near the end of the game so most of the Toronto fans had already left. Me and my dad moved up right beside the A's dugout. Jose was due up next. Jose was taking his practice swings in the on deck circle. Some of the fans were in a bad mood because the A's were winning. So they started yelling at Jose just for the fun of it. These fans were waving money and telling Jose to buy everybody in the Skydome a round of beer. Jose turned around and just smiled. Just before he went upto bat he turned around again to the crowd and said 4-1. The score at that point was 3-1. Well with the count at 2 and 2, he took a monster swing at a pitch which ended up going over the right field wall into the stands. When he rounded the bases and came back some of the fans who were yelling at him before were suddenly quiet. But some BOO'd even more. He didn't care he just smiled and clapped Rickey's hand first. Rickey was getting some heat too from the fans for stealing a couple of bases. I tipped my Oakland hat while he was looking into the stands, and Rickey smiled and said Hi. That would my most fondest memory of Jose and Oakland. I can't wait until he plays in the Skydome!!

John Burkert says:
I thought I was the only die-hard Canseco fan. I was at a White Sox/A's game at the old Commiskey Park a few years back. Being a huge Canseco fan I went early trying to get an autograph. He never signed but McGwire did. Oh well. Anyway, late in the game Jose came up to the plate. I don't know who was pitching, but he threw one right past his ear. Jose stood there and stared at the pitcher for about 30 seconds. I thought he was going to charge, but he didn't. The next pitch was inside and Jose ripped it. It was foul, but it was the hardest hit ball I have ever seen. It never rose more than 50 ft. in the air but went well over 400 ft. It destroyed one of the wooden chairs in the outfield, shattering the back rest. I don't even remember what he did that at-bat. I wish I had it on videotape, it was beautiful.

Scott Ogle remembers:
I got to see him play AA baseball with the Huntsville Stars in the early 80's. I have a program from the game and he looks like a kid. They used to call him Jose "Parkway" Canseco because he used to blast the ball in the highway . I only go to card shows to buy Canseco items. I have also met his twin brother Ozzie (raunchy attitude). I would love one day for me to have an opportunity to meet Jose. I use to tape all his games when they were on tv. I do have one autographed picture of him. The rest of my pics and posters are not signed. JOSE IS THE KING.

Josh Sciame sent me his story in this email:
My connection with Canseco goes back a long way. I'm a really big fan of his (and McGwire). First of all, I live in Atlanta, Georgia and just graduated with a degree in journalism. I saw McGwire once last season at Turner field, but have yet to see the other bash brother. I grew up in Medford, Oregon, one of the minor league stops for Jose, on his way to greatness. I never saw Jose play in Medford, but I feel I have a claim to fame to brag about. I think Jose played there in '83 (the team, a single A team, is now called the Southern Oregon TimberJacks, I believe, but don't quote me on that). As Canseco began to excell in Oakland, I grew to be a big fan of the team. And I made a lot of A's friends throughout high school. Collected the hats, posters, and other stuff. Actually I won't be happy as a Jose memorabilia collecter until I have wall posters of him from every team he's played for. I have three Oakland's, two Texas and need the Boston, Toronto and possibly '97 Oakland if there is one. Anyway, I hope I didn't bore you with my little fan club introduction. Just wanted to thank you for all the email's. Now, since I wrote this, I'd better catch a Toronto spring training game on t.v. some time.

Juan Torres writes:
I love Jose as a baseball player because he is the reason I started to get into baseball. I was in 5th grade when I got into him playing with the A's. Its even better since I live here in California. I was always able to watch the games on the TV and root on the A's. I always collected his baseball cards and would clip out paper clipings of him. When I played little league baseball I would bat exactly like him and would hit some massive home runs myself. I was real good (I am not trying to sound conceded). I was so good that when my team did not make the playoffs, another team called me to go play with them to try and beat other teams from around the area... My favorite highlights from Jose was winning the'"8" World Series from the Giants (except the earthquake part because I was involved in that massive destruction here in Watsonville). I loved the massive homerun he had against the Blue Jays (now he joins them) but the highlight that was not good was when the Athletics traded him to Texas. Man that pissed me off! How can they trade away such a massive homerun hitter as Jose? STUPID! That's why I hate the A's now and thats why they suck now. Ha ha ha...But that sucked, I have lost track of Jose ever since because before it was all local news, now I have to look for him across the country. Have no fear! Now that I have a computer and with the Internet, I will be able to find Jose with no problem. I just hope that he can finally stay healthy for an entire season so that he can really do some damage, especially when the stupid A's come up on the schedule! Good Luck Jose!

Alex says:
Canseco has always been my favorite player. No matter what. I have so many of his cards and alot of autographs. One card that I am missing is that rookie card. I hope I win your contest!!!! My grandparents are good friends with Canseco's parents. They travel together. His parents hook me up with memorbilla. It's very cool! His dad wears his Rookie of the year Ring and I think his World Series Ring. I've actually held them in my hand!

Paula Walker has this long story to share:
I was 15 years old and I was watching the All Star game on TV when it flashed a picture of Jose talking to Mark McGwire as they walked off the field. They were smiling and laughing and I remember thinking how funny they were acting and they were goofing off alot...A few days later I was flipping channels on my tv and I decided to watch a baseball game...I wasn't a big baseball fan but I played softball avidly and loved it...I live in Oklahoma and only a few hours away from Arlington Stadium at the time and we got Ranger games almost everynight...Well I noticed Jose batting (I really wasn't paying attention until then) and thought it was wierd how I had just seen him on the all star game a few days prior... Needless to say that same season I stayed home to watch the World Series (1989) - and it was exciting... the only earthquake I cared about was watching Jose smash the ball... He was just awesome and so graceful... I was amazed... Sometime afterwards, I started collecting Canseco cards and posters and newspaper clippings (even clippings from the enquirerer).. And my friends really started teasing me about being a girl and being infatuated with baseball stats and especially with Canseco.. since most people considered him a "punk" where I come from... I only got to watch baseball games on TV and after a while I had no wall space left for posters because it was covered with Jose posters, I even painted pictures of him and finally after a couple of years my mom decided it was time for me to see my first MLB game and by coincidence she scheduled us to go to Arlington to see the Rangers vs. A's on July 2... and suprised me too! At the game I stood 3 feet away from the Tee (seperated by the backstop of course) in which he took some swings on... I had never seen anyone so Powerful, graceful, and so majestic looking. I couldn't even say hi and I saw him looking at me like I was some crazy fan... I couldn't talk, I just stood and watched. I felt like crying... I watched the game and kept score and never took my eyes off the field for one second.... The security guard who was posted at the end of our row was tickled at how excited I got and when the crowd boo'd Jose, I yelled as loud as I could for Jose and was getting so mad at the crowd!!! He told me that the visiting teams stayed at the hotel next to the stadium and usually walk to the hotel from the stadium and if we left early they walk over and we could be at the door and get to talk to them when they went in the hotel... ENOUGH SAID... iIstationed myself at the door of the hotel and missed the whole 9th inning... I stood there and my mom was more excited than me... Rickey Henderson, Mark Mcgwire, Eric Fox, Terry Stienbach, Dave Stewart, Walt Wiess, Mike Gallego, geez I cant remember all the people who stopped and were really nice they signed autographs and talked, and I remember Dennis Eckersly saying hi to me and I was so unintrested... And of course I was getting disappointed and Jose had to be the very last one!!! He walked up to the door (no he strutted his stuff , let me tell you) and stopped to sign an autograph..... He stopped infront of me to open the door (I was less than a foot away from him with nothing in between) and gave me that little sideways grin he does and winked.... I reached out and clamped on to his arm and I swear it seemed like 5 minutes but in all reality was about 3 sec... I couldn't say hi, I couldn't ask for and autograph, I just stood there and looked at him and I know he thought I was a freak... He turned to me and said "Uh, exuse me miss, can I have my arm back?" I just let go and stood there as he laughed and walked into the hotel... I couldnt talk for hours. I was in awe and was stunned... My mom still laughand tease me how I froze up when I saw him..... Needless to say I haven't missed a chance to see him in Texas since...When he was in texas i couldnt see him as much as i wanted too but i made most of the home games and I knew it was a sign that he got traded to Texas because he was so close to my home then. I finally got the chance to redeem myself and have spoken to him a couple times...Though these are signifigant highlights of my life, I am sure he gets the same reaction from fans all over the world. I still haven't worked up the nerve to ask for and autograph... I have always been backwards about asking because I know he gets that alot....But you better believe I have pictures!!! (I also have a numbness in my hand from touching his arm that will never go away for as long as I live!! just kidding). Well thanks for listening, I reallly enjoy your page, I just wish I had noticed it sooner....It seem you have put alot of work into it and it looks Great!!! You are a Proud Fan and I am glad to see that you do Mr. Canseco the justice that he deserves.

Rita White sent me this email:
Hi! This is late in coming, but I just wanted to say thanks for doing such an awesome job of keeping up with Jose and in turn keeping us informed. I get tired of Jose being bashed all the time, so your enthusiasm is a breath of fresh air. I moved here here (Arkansas) from California 4 years ago and ejoyed watching Jose play in Oakland. I was bummed when he was transferred to the Rangers, but soon after I move to Little Rock and my husband and I made the 5 hour trip regularly to watch the games in Arlington. Unfortunately, he is a little out of range these days for me to see in person. Oh well! I'll just have to read your home page daily to see what's going on.

John Vasas writes:
I went to a game in Chicago and took my Jose rookie card with me. He was warming up throwing balls in the outfield and when someone threw the ball over his head he came over by the stands to get the ball. When I asked him for his autograph he said sure and signed it right on his rookie card! I started jumping around in the stands everyone around me looked at me like I was an idoit.

Bruce says:
I am from Toronto, and being the Canseco fan that I am I just had to go to the season opener to see him play his first game as a Jay (my first baseball game that I ever went to was the Jays vs the A's and Canseco had a grand slam and another RBI, of course the A's won, 5-4, and the next day the newspaper had the huge headline : CANSECO 5, BLUE JAYS 4 !!!!). I hope Jose can stay healthy and destroy the 61 HR and 190 RBI mark, I think he should do very well at the Skydome.

Jose Antonio Coa had this to share with us:
My name is Jose Antonio Coa, I'm 21, and I'm from Caracas Venezuela, and this is my Canseco experience: In 1992, I went to New York, and since long before going I already had tickets reserved for a game of a series between the Yankees and the A's. The tickets were bought here in Venezuela, becuase the woman in the travel agency was sister in law of the Yankees broadcaster for Latin America, and she got us the tickets. I've been a Canseco fan since 1989. He is in fact my favorite player since as long as I can remember. Well, we got to Yankee Stadium (me and my family), and this guy Armando Talavera received us (the broadcaster). He took us to our seats, and I asked him if I could meet Jose Canseco, that he was my favorite player and I had a couple of cards I wanted him to autograph. He said: "I'll see what I can do". Ten minutes later he comes up (I was behind the plate, about ten rows up) and tells me to come down. I met Jose Canseco, and Talavera got my cards for him to sign later. I actually talked to Jose in spanish, and all the people around me were stunned by what I was doing. I shaked his hand, told him he was great and all. He then left to go to batting practice, and then I met Rickey Henderson, Carney Lansford, Dave Henderson and Mark McGwire. But none of them like Jose. So in the fourth inning Talavera comes up again and gives me the cards: one autographed with a dedication and the other one just with his name on it. Well, the A's were losing and stuff, and Carney Lansford hits a homer. AND! Canseco, that was hitless at the time he stepped at the plate, hit a GRAND SLAM! And I taped the whole thing! It was the best, as you said in your page, I'd rather watch him go 1 for five with a grand slam than Don Mattingly 3-5 with a homer too (he did). That game had something of everything: a grand slam by Jose, a stolen base by Rickey Henderson and a save by Dennis Eckersley. It was the best ballgame I've ever seen. Not enough with that luck I had, I saw perhpas one of his three last games with Oakland. Three days later I pick up the USA Today and I see Jose going to Texas. And that sucked. But hey! I got 46 Canseco cards and two of them autographed, I have him on video actually talking to the camera and I had about 30 americans behind me puzzled about the fact that this 16 year old kid that spoke spanish was talking to Jose Canseco in spanish and shaking his hand. Well, that's it. Kind of a long story, but worth living it.

Darryl Litster :
I would like to contribute my story about how Jose Canseco became my favourite player. this story is pathetic, but is funny too! When I was 8 years old my dad brought me to the corner store cause I REALLY wanted some gum. I was at the shelf with all the gum and I got some bazooka joe. I was about to get some money from my dad to pay for it and he handed me some baseball cards with gum in the pack. I was so glad notbecause of the cards because I got some gum! When you are 8, who cares about cards you want the gum! The gum was stale which sucked so, not much importance for the cards but i still looked at them trying to understand what the hell those numbers meant on the back. I tossed the pack of cards on my small bookshelf and tossed a book over them. When I did this, I noticed that the shelf was wobbling. I didn't like this so i tried to fix it. First I took a domino to hold the shelf up level but it didn't work, so i took the book off the cards and took out 2 cards at random and shoved them in between the shelf and the floor to keep it level. I was a pretty smart 8 year old huh? Anyway, time went on and I started to like baseball and finally learned what those numbers meant on the cards. I was about 11 at this time. it was time for me to get rid of the bookshelf because I was too old. When I moved the book shelf 2 cards fell from the bottom of it since they were stuck on it from being crushed for 3 years. I picked up the cards and the 2 cards were Nolan Ryan and Jose Canseco. I had no idea who these two people were so I asked my dad. He said Nolan Ryan was a pitcher and Jose Canseco he had no idea who he was. I looked in the paper to find out more and what do you know, he was on the front page! Now this may seem like a normal story but think about it. I wanted gum. I got gum cards. I used the 2 cards to hold up the shelf. and the only reason why those 2 players became my favourite players were because I used them to hold up my shelf. Lovely story isn't it?

J had this lucky experience:
In 1988 I started to collect baseball cards. It was a great hobby, but I really didn't know much about it. One day while looking through my small set of baseball cards, I ran across a guy from the Oakland A's with quite a funny name. OK, it wasn't the name, it was the way I pronounced it. Anyway, it must have been that night that I was watching a ball game on t.v. when who else but Jose Canseco came up to bat. I don't remember who won the game or who the other team was, but I do remember his home run. From then on he was my favorite, I idolized him. He was the best there ever was to me. Anyways... progressing along with my story, I took and filled out one of the entry forms that came with the old topps bubble gum packs. I was in the fifth grade and completely ignorant to the actual chances of winning. Good Thing, because one day at school my mom showed up. I thought I was in big trouble to have mom come to school. She explained to me that she had just recieved a call from Topps Baseball Cards--- I had won, out of about a million entries in a national contest, me a 10 year-old kid from Utah had beat the odds. I new immediatly where I wanted to go, despite pressure from my family to go to spring training in Florida. I didn't care that I would only be traveling one state down to Arizona where I had been several times to visit my grandparents. I had to meet him. He was the greatest. So in the spring of 1989 my family and I flew down to Phoenix, AZ to meet the Oakland A's. It was so exciting to be there knowing that I was going to get to meet Jose Canseco and The A's. I was going to be able to play catch with Mark McGwire and sit with the other ball players in the dugout during the game. Tragedy struck (well, it did in my mind). I in one of the dryest states in the country on Easter Sunday, and it starts to rain. RAIN? here, now... I couldn't belive it. This wasn't just a sprinkle, for Arizona it was like Niagra Falls! The game was cancelled. I thought this was the worst it could ever get. No way this next delima just about killed me. When the rain started, I was still excited because I figured I could still meet the team. Then the man who was hosting the contest came out and told me That Jose Canseco had broken his wrist and had flown back to california to his doctor. I couldn't belive it I had passed up Disney World the beach and everthing else in the Florida sun to meet Jose Canseco, and he wasn't even there. We'll even though the trip didn't turn out the way I had planned I still made the best of it. I went into their locker room and still met McGwire, Dave Stewart and others. I now have an autographed baseball of the 1989 A's, yes the same year they won the world series. The Topps company gave me tons of baseball cards. And later that week I saw a few games. To this day I have not meet Jose. I do not have Jose's autograph. Last year, I had a roomate in college whose uncle played pro-ball. My roomate met Jose and rode in his car. I was excited for him but it made me remember that I haven't met him. That is my Jose Canseco story. Thanks for letting me share it.

Rich writes:
I have been a huge Canseco fan for ever since I can remember. I was little and I was watching him. I am writing to tell everyone about one time when I saw Jose playing at Fenway. They were playing the Detriot Tigers. Jose was up in the bottom of the 5th (I think it was the 5th) Some rookie pitcher gave Jose some chin music. Jose started yelling at the pitcher! He almost got ejected for yelling at the umpire saying "He is throwing at me!!!!" The next pitch was another high and tight pitch that Jose had to look out for. Then after staring at the pitcher, he sent a hanging curve into next year!!! He crushed it!! It was the longest homer I have ever seen. It went over the net, over the street, and over the parking lot across the road. He crushed it!! That is my memory that I have to share.

Howard Weingarten remembers:
First off let me tell you that I am an avid Canseco fan. I have a lot of his autographed memorabilia, cards, bat, ball, hat, and some posters. Usually Canseco doesn't sign much but I have been lucky. I am from Detroit and usually get most of my visiting player autographs by the team bus. Anyway, last year in June when the A's came to town, I was watching Canseco take batting practice. I usually have a hard time getting autographs at tiger stadium during BP, but this was an unusual occasion. As I am standing and watching Jose hit monstrous homer, after monstrous homer to the deepest regions of the upper deck in left, I noticed an attractive, blond haired lady standing next to me. After Jose had finished up with batting practice, this lady started calling out for Jose to come over and sign his autograph on some index cards. Jose said "Sure", and walked swaggard like walk over to this lady. Soon there was a large crowd of people around me and the lady. I myself wanted him to sign my Oakland Jersey. He signed the cards for the lady then started to sign other people's things. He wasn't too eager to sign my jersey, and I could tell. He looked at my jersey several times and frowned. Finally he grabbed my jersey, signed it backwards, upside-down, and on the right shoulder, then dashed off to the dugout. I was very happy he signed my jersey, but I was a little disappointed in where he signed it. I couldn't figure out how the heck I would be able to display the jersey. I'm still thinking. That is my most interesting memory of Jose Canseco.

Michael Key writes:
I have been an avid Canseco fan since 1985 when I saw him play with the Modesto A's and was amazed at the power of the HRs he hit. My favorite memory is from his first stint with the A's. It was July 2, 1991, at Arlington Stadium in Texas. My mother had planned this trip for me as a birthday present, and I was there with her and about 5 other family members. We had seats just inside the left field foul pole about 5 rows from the fence. As I'm sure you know, that day was Canseco's birthday, and I had a banner (which we hung on the left field wall) which simply said "Happy Birthday Jose!" I was dressed in full Oakland attire complete with Canseco jersey, hat, and jacket. As game time drew nearer, I was delighted to learn that Nolan Ryan was pitching for Texas, and I would get to see two of baseball's greats instead of one. In the first inning, Nolan struck out Canseco to end the inning, prompting a great cheer from the 25,000 Texas faithful. In between the top of the first and the bottom, the PA announcer announced to the crowd that the strikeout of Canseco was Nolan Ryan's 200th of the season. He had struck out 200 in umpteen consecutive seasons... "A new major league record!" My cousin, an avid Texas fan, was snickering and telling me what a loser Canseco was by this time. However, later on in the game, the 6th inning to be exact, Canseco had his revenge. As he made his way to the plate, with Rickey Henderson on third, and Carney Lansford on first, the crowd was booing so loud that I couldn't even hear myself think. On the 2-1 pitch, Canseco lined a shot directly at me, and I knew it was long gone, but was worried it would hook foul. It stayed fair and flew about 10 rows over my head, silencing the Texas crowd. I was ecstatic of course! To make matters worse for the Texas fans, it was the blow that forced Texas to remove Nolan from the game. Even though Texas went on to win the game, I was extremely happy to have witnessed that ho mer. Canseco went on to lead the league in homers that year (44) despite the A's poor record. I have since seen Canseco as a Ranger in Texas and at the Texas AAA club in Oklahoma City where he won the Home Run Contest against Juan Gonzalez, Dean Plamer, and others. He is one of the few players who can swing and miss at a pitch, and the crowd still will look in awe and gasp at his power.

Raj Ray says:
I'm a die hard Blue Jay fan and even though Jose was always a huge blue Jay killer during his Oakland and Texas days, I've always had a great deal of respect for him. And now that he's a Blue Jay and doing so well, I couldn't be a happier Jays fan. Ever since he's donned the Blue Jay jersey, I have officially become a Jose fanatic. What amazes me about Jose the most is not just the number of homeruns he's hit, but the quality of the pitchers that he's hit them against. When they show the career stats of Jose against the pitcher he's facing, it almost always shows a .300 + average with at least 3 HRs. This guy has roughed up every pitcher in the league at some point and time, which is amazing. Alot of guys (i.e Joe Carter) have padded they're home run stats against crappy relievers. But not Jose. He always rocks the best in the business, whether it be ace starters like Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens, or tough closers like John Wettland and Mariano Rivera. I don't think I've ever seen him hit a cheap one.

Adrian Kovacs writes:
Hello my name is Adrian Kovacs an I am a huge Jose Canseco. At age 16 I still collect his cards. I think he is the best power hitter in all of baseball. I play highschool baseball and try to model my game from him. I am in St.louis and would do anything to go to Toronto to see him play just once. GET READY FOR HIS SECOND 40/40 YEAR.

Mike remembers:
I have been a Jose fan since 1985 when he first played for a couple of games. I have other stories in here, but this one is my favorite. I heard that the bluejays were going to play seatle at home in the skydome and since I am from ohio, it only takes me about 5 hours to get there. So my dad, mom and me jumped in the car and headed out to see jose play. It was the 16th of May and we got up at 5:30 in the mourning...I had just gotten home from college the night before and had anthoer long day in front of me. I moved my car so my dad could take his to the game, but the funny thing was is that all my CDs were gone! Somebody broke into my car and stole them! Well, I called the police, which delayed our departure to skydome and yadda yadda yadda...I wanted to see jose at BP, but because of my unfortunate incident, we missed him. we got to skydome about 12:00 and the game started at 1:05pm. I was wearing my Jose Canseco jersey, which I recently bought and paid about $100 for. I was already having a bad day when I saw Jose for the first time since 1989, when I saw him in cleveland. I also saw Jr. but I didn't care, I was ecstatic about seeing Jose...He is a lot bigger in person! I tryed to get his attention, but he was busy practicing. I also sat in LF because he had been playing there in the last few games...guess what, he played right that day! bummer! Anyway, about the 8th inning, I ran over to take pictures of him in right field...I took about TEN! they were taken on a disposable camera though, so they sucked when I got them developed, but they were good enough for me! Jose was 0-3 until the 9th inning and the bluejays were losing 8-0, and jose was up first, so I ran all the way to the bluejays side and cautously went down to right behind the dugout. I saw jose up close and was very excited. He got ready to bat and I took my camera out and caught a swing on camera. I think that jose had enough of getting beat so bad so he had a suprise for the pitcher, a HOMERUN! it was a great HR and I jumped up and down and took TEN more pictures. The old guy behind me asked "got enough picture's" I said yeah and continued to celebrate...the bluejays lost 8-1, but I got to see jose hit a HR which really made my day. it was number twelve this year, and I forgot about my CDs, but now I have 2 8X11 pictures of jose batting in the ninth, and running around third base with fireworks in the backround after his HR.

Dave Ostang tells us about his most prized possession:
My prize possession is a Worth tennessee thumper model bat autographed by Jose and "1988" under his name (need not tell you that was the 40/40 year ). What do you think I could get for that? Just curious. I have met jose several times, got my pic taken with him. It was pretty east as . work in the airline industry and we chartered the team alot. As much as . like jose, he is not all that friendly, anyhow I have many autographed items from him, even a golf ball! Just wanted to talk to ya about that, you spend alot of time doing that jose stuff - I hope he appreciates that, you are truly his biggest fan, he should have you over for dinner!!!!!!!!

Dan remembers:
I've been a die hard Canseco fan since I started collecting in 1988. Jose was just so cool. One day, I got a package from my grandfather. The letter on the outside said that he had met the Oakland A's Marketing director or something on a cruise. My grandpa told this man that I thought Canseco was awesome. Well, this guy got an Oakland A's promo cap, then had Jose sign it. My grandpa then sent it to me!! Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I had also written to Jose through the A's and gotten back an autographed picture of him, altough I'm not sure if it is real or not. I encourage anyone to go to Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. There, there are card shops galore!! At least 25 I counted. Inside, you will find great deals on Canseco Merchandise. And hey, since so many of them are in it for the money, you'll find great, rare cards of Jose's. I found a set of '86 Stars cards (yellow) at the register for 2 bucks. I spent maybe 20 bucks and went home with a ton of Canseco cards/merchandise, etc. I have since stopped collecting Baseball cards, due to the impossibility of collecting all of the regular issues, inserts, sub sets, etc. It costs too much!! But, I will still pick up an occasional Canseco Item if I see it around....and hey, Canseco SLU's are easy to find cuz so many people think he's washed up. Go Jays in '98!!!

An anonymous person sent me this story. I wonder if it's true:
Last month at a game in Toronto, I was really heckling Canseco. I was sitting 20 feet away from him in left and he looked over at me at least once a minute. Every time he saw me I would shake my head and mouth out "you suck". His first two at bats were strikeouts and he made an error, so I was really on him and it could be seen that he was getting annoyed. In the sixth inning Manny Ramirez hit a line drive 3-4 rows behind me. I dove, but I missed the ball by about a foot. Jose then jogged over, pointed at me...shook his head and mouthed out that I sucked. In the ninth inning he came over and we talked for a while, and after the game he bought me and my friend a beer.

Brett saw me on tv!
I am one of your newest Canseco fans ont he E-mail list who has been following him since 87. I was at the Orioles/Blue Jays game today (Sunday), and was only seven rows back from the Blue Jays dugout. These were not our real seats , but we had lucked out and grabbed two seats where the owners did not show. It was awsome. We arrived 2 hours early because I wanted to get my first autograph from him. We (my girlfriend and I) were over the blue jays dugout, and he was only ten feet in front of me. I called out "Mr. Canseco" to try and get his attention for an autograph, but he didn't want to be bothered today. He didn't do well at the plate (0 for 4 with two K's) but he made some fine plays in the outfield including a sliding catch that doubled up Harold Baines. Any way, the real reason I am E-mailing you is because I live in Western Maryland and Thursdays game was televised for us on CBS. I saw your bullseye in the upper deck and the funny thing was I told my girlfriend that it was probably you. The announcers simply stated "There are some fans up in the upperdeck holding a bullseye." Hopefully I will get the chance to meet Jose in person to get an autograph. Lets hope he continues to do well this year (mainly I hope he stays healthy).

Kevin Mayer says:
It's nice to know that there are other people out there who appreciatte Jose Canseco. When he is healthy he is the best player in baseball. He is tremendously underrated and it is an injustice. There's no doubt he should be starting the all-star game but I'm sure he'll get the shaft as usual.

Mike Bergman sent me this email after an Expos game he attended:
Saw Jose live tonight! Caught all his batting practice. He hit one home run after another. The fans lined up in the outfield like I have never seen before. As usual, he chatted with the other players alot. When asked for an autograph by the fans, he was the only one that even acknowledged them. While he didn't sign, he at least talked to them by saying "Maybe later, I have work to do here." He was very pleasant (always glancing around) I took many pictures and hope some of them come out. Expos don't often get much of a crowd, but tonight, out of the 16,500ish people there, the people in the outfield chanting "Jose sucks" were just there to get a hold of one of those Jose homerun balls.

Randy writes:
My favorite memories of Jose were seeing him and McGwire hitting back-to-back Home-Runs. Watching the "Bash Brothers" was great. I still watch Canseco. I love the way he swings the bat. Do you think he will make this years Home-Run Derby? I hope so!

Carlo says:
I think your site is awesome... I've been a Canseco fan for over 10 years now... I remember first becoming a Jose fan. I bought a pack of 1988 Topps baseball cards, and iIgot a canseco in it, and from there on I started to collect his cards... Your site is great for a Canseco fanatic fan like me, and I'm so happy that there are so many other fans out there! Again keep up the good work...

Josh Sciame writes:
This is my second submission into the great Jose Canseco memory archives. As I said I grew up in Medford, Oregon, where Jose played minor league ball. But I never saw him. I was about 14 at the time when I actually became a Canseco fan. But it wasn't until Friday, June 26th, that I finally got to see my baseball hero in person, and it ranks up there with the best days of my life (or best baseball moments). My bro and I actaully ran to the stadium (Turner Field in Atlanta) so we wouldn't miss batting practice... as we approached the left field bleachers, the Braves were just finishing BP. So I was thrilled to say the least. I spotted Jose outside the cage and my heart started pumping. The moment had finally arrived. I had finally been blessed with the thing I had waited for for 9 plus years. He stepped into the cage and the first pitch he swung at was headed towards us. It seemed like every pitch he swung at found its way towards us. I didn't catch a ball, but I was the best display of pure power I have ever witnessed!!!!! I don't remember more that two balls of his falling short of a mile!!!! And one hit the upper deck facade right above us. When Jose struck out twice to start his game, I was really nervous. John Smoltz was really throwing some good heat that day. But some how Canseco got Smoltzes number, and bamm, in the sixth inning Jose muscled the baseball through the muggy air and to its death into the right center field stands!!! Only a man with the strength of Jose could have hit that ball out of the park. And only he did it!!!! Blue Jays won 6-4!!!!

Melissa Stephens made a sign for Jose on his birthday:
I just wanted to tell you that on Thursday I went to the game and made a "Happy Birthday Jose" poster. I got there really early so I could catch some of the batting practice. As soon as they opened the doors I ran down to the field. Jose was not on the field and I looked on the scoreboard and saw the starting lineup and was incredibly disappointed that his name was not on the list. I held up my sign anyways hoping that maybe one of the other players would see it and atleast tell him. I was the only one there who seemed to know it was his birthday. So I held up the sign all through batting practice and was positive that Shawn Green looked right at it. I had really good seats so throughout the game I held it up between each inning. I saw the Blue Jays' third base coach looking at it once. I hope that even though Jose didn't get to see it in person that maybe one of the other players told him that a fan was there with a sign for him. I just wanted to share that with you.

Steele Pearce remembers:
My name is Steele Pearce and I live in Abilene Texas. When I was 9 years old I went to an A's vs. Rangers game. Canseco was my favorite player. My family and I stayed at the same hotel as the A's. The day before the game a bunch of the players went swimming. Jose Canseco was there in the water with his agent. I couldn't believe it. He had been my idol for 5 years before that. There where like 5 or 6 kids sitting around talking to him. I was just sitting there in awe of him. So after about 30 minutes he asked us if we wanted to play water football with him and his agent. So we played for about an hour or so. Then we stopped playing and him and his girlfriend and his agent went inside for about ten minutes. I thought he was staying in the hotel for the rest of the day. So my dad and I went to go eat. When I got back to the hotel my mom and sister told me that he came back out and asked all the kids who were playing football to go eat at the restraunt in the hotel with him. I was so mad. Jose is to this day my favorite athlete of any kind.

Jason "A.J." Arriola says:
I've been a Canseco fan... more fanantic since his rookie season. I'm 16 now and pay very little attention to baseball because basketball and choir have taken it over. He has always been somebody I look up to and even though my intrest in baseball is almost nonexistent since the strike, I still try and keep up with Canseco as much as I can. I truly hope that he will have at least one more year that made him the star and potent weapon he was. I wish nothing but the best for him and his career.

Nicholas Cycyk writes:
My name is Nicholas Cycyk and I'm 14. I first started to like Canseco when I opened my first pack of baseball cards in 1992 and I got a Stadium Club card of him. I started to collect baseball cards of him and by '95, I had almost 600 cards and items of him. I went to 2 baseball games to see Canseco play a couple of years ago. I pay close attention to Canseco and I go to shows to find some new Canseco items. My collection now has over 850 cards and items that I mostly bought at stores and shows. Recently, I've started to buy tough Canseco cards over the Internet with other people because I live in Delaware and there aren't many places to buy new, rare Canseco cards. I hope to someday have more than 1000 Canseco cards in my collection. I think that he's an awesome player and deserved to go on the All-Star game this year, but didn't. He's my favorite ball player and paying attention to him is sort of a hobby. You also have the best Canseco site on the net.

Jason Christopherson sent me this email:
First of all, I just wanted to thank you for all of your work on the Canseco page. The updates are fantastic, and I'm sure they take up a lot of your time. Also, thank you for your compilation of cards. I have roughly 900 different myself, and the checklist helps me identify some of the tougher ones. I'll go through them in detail to see if I can offer any help to the list.
One last thing--I got to meet Canseco on Sunday. Talked to him for a few minutes, too. He was great. Oh, not THAT Canseco. Ozzie plays for the Duluth-Superior Dukes of the Northern League, and I made a three hour trip to Madison to see Ozzie play. He hit the highest popup I have ever seen--it landed in the catcher's mitt about three feet in front of home plate. He played first base and made his second error in as many games there. I called about a week ahead for reserved tickets, and my seats were just INSIDE first base, row one. Madison doesn't draw well. Anyway, I spoke with Ozzie both before and after the game. He was kind of a jerk, but still nice to talk to. The highlight, though, was meeting and talking to Ila Borders, the first female to pitch (and start) in a men's professional league game. She was SO nice! She's starting again tonight--I wish I could be there! Anyway, I've bored you long enough. Have a great day!

[email protected] says:
I was at the Sox game yesterday to watch Jose...I've gone when he's in town every year for as long as I can remember. It was the first time I'd seen him play the field live in a long time and I wasn't sure he could do it well...but some Sox player hit a screamer out and he ran it down and looked good doing it. Then Belle hit one that everybody thought was out but it came down right at the fence into Jose's glove. I just wish I'd have seen him get a hit yesterday... At least he drew a walk and turned in a good defensive performance.

Tyra has this sad story to share with us:
I have a good/sob story for you. The last games the Blue Jays played here, at game 2 I had taken my 35mm camera. It takes AWESOME pics. I had only one roll of film, so I bought another at the park. Jose was in a great mood that day, and really "played up" for my camera. (I was sitting right over the dug out.) He was smiling, taking "batting practice" with a little boy, making faces, laughing, acting like he was chipping golf balls with his bat, just having a great time. I waved to him, and he smiled and waved back. I got it all on film...including him signing the only baseball he signed the entire series... mine. The next day I could hardly hold back the smiles as I dropped off the film at the local "One hour photo." I stood at the counter the entire time... not willing to let my precious film leave my sight. Then the guy developing them came over with a grim look on his face, my heart stopped beating.... he held up a roll of film, asked if I were sure that it had been used.... it was blank. I couldn't breathe as I shook my head yes. He told me not to worry, I still had another roll. I knew that the second had to be fine, and thought to myself I would learn to live with it. Then it happened.... the second was blank also. Long story short, I bawled my eyeballs out, went to the game that night, sans camera, had it checked out with the camera folks and found out it was not my camera, but two bad rolls of film. TWO!!! Can you believe it? I still can't. I am taking three cameras to the next game, and a dozen rolls of film. (That's not a joke.) I only used the digital for a few shots, because my 35 took such great pics.... learned my lesson there. I still found a way to be happy, though. I still have my baseball, and I KNOW it's not blank!

Robert Nuno remembers:
The man is huge and regardless what the press may say he is nice. Back in 1990 I went on vacation to Miami and my son David (I have written to you about him several times, he's 22) asked me to take him to Canseco's dad home. At that time Canseco Sr. lived in Miami Beach. My son got out of the car , went to the door, and Canseco SR received him, he also invited me to go in, showed us Jose's room and let us take pictures inside his house. I think it runs in the family, they are nice.

Grier Beam writes:
I live in charleston sc, and i'm. i've been a huge Canseco fan since i was about 11 when i met him when my dad took me to a baltimore and we ended up seein a game against the Jose and company. at my very first major league game my dad caught a foul ball off the bat of The Almighty One Himself, Jose. i didnt really know who he was i was just happy to get the ball. then we went to go get some food and my dad ran into a security officer that he knew in college. they talked and my dad told him about the foul ball and the officer asked if i would like to meet him and get it signed. i was pretty freaked out and at the end of the game i went to see him in the parking lot. this man was huge!! the officer told him about the ball and he said he would sign it. before he did he picked me up under my arms and sat me down on a wall in the parking lot then he signed it "to grier practice hard and have fun..Jose Canseco" then he got on the bus and i got kevin brown's too and we left. i dont really think that he is such a jerk like everybody says he is he was really nice to us. the only other time i've seen him play was in atlanta (whom i hate) when he hit the homer off smoltz. well thats my gift from God story even thought i think yours is better so thanks for readin this... and of course i've gotta compliment you on your kick-a*s work on the page - its awsome.

Richard Mushtare says:
Hello, my name is Richard Mushtare. I live in Lowville, New York. Like some other people, I am not fortunate to have a major league baseball team close by, or able to go to a mlb game. The only way I can see Jose is on TV. My favorite Jose memory, is when he got hit on the head with a fly ball from Cleveland Indian Carlos Martinez. The best thing about this is, is that he at least joked about it afterwards! Some things he said were:'Anybody got a band-aid?' and 'I lost it in the sun.', and it was a night game! This happend back on May 30, 1993, as a Ranger. That's not all...three days later, Jose pitches against Boston, allowing three runs, throwing 12 strikes, 21 balls, two hits and almost hit Andre Dawson in the butt!!! The manager at the time, Kevin Kennedy, said: 'This was no joke...I'd do nothing to hurt any of my players.' Thanks for the memory, Jose.

Rena Laverty remembers:
I had a brief experience with Jose Canseco on July 11, 1998 at Tiger Stadium. I never imagined that I would ever get to see Jose like I did that night. I arrived at Tiger Stadium about an hour before game time with a bouquet of flowers to give to Jose. I was hoping that maybe this would be the year I could actually see him and give the flowers to him personally, since for six years now as close as I have gotten to Jose was a picture about a hundred feet away. I stood around the Blue Jays dugout looking around the field to see if Jose was taking BP but he was no where to be seen. So I waited awhile hoping maybe he'd appear. No such luck. It was getting closer to game time so I figured I'll ask a guard by the dugout to give Jose the flowers. I asked the guard if he could give it to Jose but he said he wasn't allowed to. He told me to go to the clubhouse and a guard there would give it to Jose. So I proceded to find the clubhouse. After a few minutes of searching I couldn't find the clubhouse. So I asked another guard if he could point me in the right direction. I walked for less than a minute, since I wasn't that far away and turned the corner to where the clubhouse was. To my surprise there standing in the clubhouse door was Jose. He was talking to someone so I approached him with ease trying not to get too excited. I stood there for a moment then he turned to me. I gave him the flowers and he told me thank you. Right before he went back into the dugout I asked him if he could sign my ball. He said yes but the had to get back to prepare for the game. I never expected him to sign since he doesn't do much of that. So he quickly signed my ball and went back into the clubhouse. It was just five or so minutes that this occurred in. What luck I had this night. Never in my dreams did I ever think that this night would be the night I would get to see Jose. I guess dreams do come true. And the nice thing about it is he wasn't like some of the other players who just blow you off, he actually took the time to fill a request. He's definately a changed guy.

Murray Miskin writes:
We were back in our seats at Section 205 right field Skydome on Wednesday night against the White Sox and shut them out 4 to 0. Jose hit a solo homer to the 4th deck in left field for another huge home run. I spoke with a Skydome official who told me they do not have a way of accurately measuring them there like they can in other stadiums. This one followed a loud crack of the bat and could hardly be seen at all even on replays. Jose has the Power. We had our banner THIS WAY JOSE with the half target and Jose was real close to us playing right field. The same Skydome official suggested that we should be in left field for Jose and where we were for Delgado. Probably true. We were asked to shorten our banner as it hung down too far so we pulled up THIS WAY leaving Jose and the target clearly visible. In left field was a JOSE POWER sign which in fact was close to the home run spot. Now we are at 27 but the walks are not increasing. With Tony Phillips first and Shannon Stewart batting second it looks like there will be less chances for stolen bases. They took Jose out and put in Sean Green in the 8th for defensive reasons and I guess to give Jose some rest. We are a little worried in Toronto that Jose may be traded before the July 31 deadline and the Toronto fans are showing him growing support . We are all looking for an exciting showdown series in Boston Sunday where Jose, T.J. and the Rocket get their revenge. We expect Clemens to pitch Sunday and Jose to hit a few over the green monster.

Matt Fitzgerald made me laugh when he sent me the following email:
I was at the Boston game that he hit a home run (7/24/98) & I cheered & got beer thrown on me. All for Jose...

Nick Malofy remembers:
It was either 1990 or 1991, I'm not sure, but Canseco was still with the Oakland A's at the time, and was one of the premier sluggers in the American league. During a game, the Athletics were just destroying another team, I don't remember which, I think it was Milwaukee or something like that, and Jose had already homered before in the game, and he hit a 3-run homer. The fans were booing like crazy and mocking him, chanting about drugs and razzing him, and Canseco got out of the dugout, turned to the crowd, and waved his cap to them. The fans went nuts, the cheers of the A's fans and the boos of the home fans was remarkable. Even the other team's players were laughing. Now he plays with my Jays, and in the same game, he homered twice, once of the facing of the 5th deck, the same game Carlos Delgado become the 4th person to hit it into the fifth deck. My memories of Canseco are awsome.

Shawn Harbaugh braggs:
During batting in practice of the 1996 season, when Jose was with the Red Sox, I caught a batting practice home run with my hat in centerfield, at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

Jenny Smith has this story to share with us:
I got to go to Camera Day on August 8th with my father to get pictures of Jose and the rest of the Toronto Blue Jays. I had the worst time trying to get them though. You see, I am in a wheelchair and the crowd was so excited about getting their pictures of the team that they did not see me and decided to squish me between them and the barriers that the players and coaching staff were sitting behind. My father and I were about to give up when we heard someone say, "get back here." We did not know who said that. I turned around and my father had disappeared. About two minutes later he came back and he had a security guard named Jim with him. He actually had to take me and me dad to every group of players on the field so that the crowd would not trample on us anymore. When we got to where Jose Canseco was, I nearly jumped out of my chair. He is so big and good looking. I also found him to be very personable. He has a great smile and as I mentioned before, he is so good with the fans. When he saw me he waved to me and smiled at me when I took his picture. I just hope all of my pictures turn out, especially the one of Jose, or I will be very upset. The fences that the players were behind were so high that the tops of them were in my line of vision, so instead of seeing faces I saw fences. Besides having the problem with the crowd my father and I had a good day. We both got a team picture and I bought myself an autographed ball. There is one thing I wish though. If I had to do it again, I wish that the players were closer so that I could get to shake their hands or give them each a big hug.

Jenny later added:
Two weeks after I saw Jose at the SkyDome on Camera Day I wrote to him saying that I saw him and the other Jays. He is so personable. I told him that I was having problems trying to get good pictures. Obviously he got my message because one week later he sent a nice surprise. I received a mail slip in the mail and it said that I had a package at our local post office. I could not figure out what it could be. My dad took me to the post office and the entire way I kept thinking about what this package could be. He went in and when he came back to the car he had a long cardboard tube in his hands. He handed it to me and the label said that it was from the Blue Jays. When I got home and I opened the tube up and inside was one of Jose's used baseball bats. He signed it for me and he also wrote me a nice handwritten letter saying that he appreciates me for what he and the other Jays go through everyday. He also told me that he would be my friend wherever he goes. I was so happy that I called my grandmother, my sister and brother-in-law and my friends. When I actually showed the bat to my brother-in-law he said that he wanted to buy it from me. IN HIS DREAMS!! Well that is the end of my story. I took your poll on which team Jose should sign with next season. Obviously I hope though that he stays in Toronto. If he does not stay in Toronto I don't know what I will do. I LOVE JOSE CANSECO!!!!

Saul Tallarico describes a Canseco homer for us:
Went to Monday night Blue Jays game at the coliseum in Oakland. Jose went 1 for 5 with a HR. It was a laser shot over the left field fence near the foul pole. Took about half a second to leave the ballpark. He got a spattering of cheers and boos. I still don't know why people boo him in Oakland. Not like he chose the free agent route to big money and left them behind. Oakland chose not to pick up his option. Anyway, I was cheering. Today he went 1 for 5 with another HR. That is 3 or 4 this season vs. the A's.

Carol Hale was at the same game:
I went to the game in Oakland and sat behind the Jays dugout. I was in my Oakland A's Canseco Jersey and so was the guy sitting next to me (no, we didn't know each other before the game - it was not planned). Several people were trying to catch a glimse of Jose during the game (they kept coming down to where we were and trying to talk with him after he would strike out). His third time at bat, I kept yelling very loudly "40-40" and the guys behind me kept yelling "Jose, beat your wife lately?" I got louder and so did they. Jose hit it out of the park and I turned around and yelled "40-40!!" They were quiet the rest of the game about Jose. Of course the next time Jose got up to bat I yelled "41-41!" After the game he waved at me and at the fans who had been cheering him during the game.

Soop Grover writes:
I remeber this year when my brother went down to a Toronto game. My brother doesn't like Canseco that much, but my best friend and I LOVE him! I have about 124 Baseball cards of him, and he has about 130. Anyways, when the game started, all my brother did was taunt him. He was right beside Canseco in Right Field. On tv, I was watching the game, and I saw my brother doing that. I got really pissed off! Buck Martinez said "There seems to be a person down in right heckling Canseco!" Then I wished for Canseco to hit a Home Run so my Brother would Shut Up! Then the next atbat, first pitch, Canseco hit a big Homer into the 3rd deck in Skydome. I laughed and laughed. I didn't hear any more sarcasm!

Matt says:
I find it quite relieving that so many other people have such a deep attatchment to Jose. For years I felt like an outcast among my friends for having Jose as my favourite (they like to call him Cansenko for no other reason except to piss me off). My Jose-fettish started in around grade four with the purchase of an Oakland A's official hat. Jose blossomed into my favourite player soon after, most likely due to his achieving the 40-40 club (I still have that big yellow Panini sticher book with him on the cover). My most vivid memory of him was when my Dad took me to a Jays game at the Skydome versus the A's for my birthday. The A's were losing for most of the game until the later innings. I had just gotten back to my seat from the concourse, where I had seen Jose-autographed balls for >$80. The A's soon after loaded the bases and guess who was next at bat......JOSE!! I said to my dad, or more like prayed, that if Jose hit it out I would go buy that autographed ball. Of course Jose pounded it, but it didn't look like it was going to make it all the way (we were in the club seats right above the Jays 'pen and was coming right towards us). I couldn't see if the ball had made it over the left field wall, as I myself was behind it, but was assured of Jose's grand slam from the crowds response. At this point I was about three feet in the air, happier than I had ever been in my life. I couldn't of forseen what would happen next. One of the Jay's pitchers tossed the ball up into the seats behind him...mad scrammble ensues... and the guy sitting in front of my comes out victorious. No amount of pleading (or bribary) would have him hand over the grand slam ball. After we left I didn't mind that I didn't get the ball and wasn't going to settle for the expensive autographed ball. It didn't matter because to me it felt like Jose hit that tater just for me. Of course when I got home I told the whole neighbourhood I HAD caught the ball.

[email protected] writes:
Jose Canseco has been my favorite player ever since I was a kid. I have grown up watching him mature both as a player and as a human being. I live and die with his career, even now at the ripe old age of 22. I am an avid collector of anything that is involved with him. Especially my prized possesions, two game used bats and many many jerseys(store bought). I have been fortunate enough to meet him a couple of times. He was very nice to me and he signed my baseball right on the sweet spot. I am very angered by the way that Jose is treated by both fans and media alike. I do not understand them. They have no valid arguments as to why they do not like him. It's always oh, he sucks or he is a bad person. Never anything intelligent. Why? I say that they created Jose Canseco!!!! They are the ones who built him into the baseball god that he was in the late 80's early 90's. They saw his potential and then put him on a pedastal above all others. When he did not say or do what they wanted, then came the backlash. The jealousy. It is all b.s. a huge contract, a little swagger and a few unlucky injuries and they just decided that they were tired of him and that he was finished. Now I stay up late to watch Sportscenter and all I see is a few highlights of him making an error or striking out, and that smug S.O.B. Peter Gammons making smart ass comments about him. That is wrong. These so called analysts should never let their personal opinion of someone get in the way of the show. It is an insult to my intelligence. And secondly, the average baseball fan forms his opinions from headlines and sound bites. All of them slanted in a negative way, more B.S. Jose is the king and that's all there is to say on the subject, do you agree? I am sure that I'm not the only one who feels this way. I know that the only opinions that matter are the opinions of Jose's "true fans" like us, but it hurts, you know?

[email protected] remembers:
I was recently at an Angels/Bluejays game (Friday Aug 21, '98). A friend and I were in the left field seats during batting practice. Well, to make this short, Jose came up, and blasted a homer into left field ... and it landed on some woman's head! "Pop" and it bounced like a mile into the air. A bunch of medics came and she had to leave the game. Too bad she didn't get the ball. Thats it. BTW, Jose hit a homer that game.

[email protected] writes:
I have been a Canseco fan since I first saw him play on T.V. in 1988. I have been able to watch him play in person in Oakland. He wasn'nt playing for Oakland but with Boston the first time I saw him. The second time came when he was playing for Toronto, and that was great. He has hit a homerun in every game that I have watched. It was difficult for me to see him by any means because I live in Idaho. Well that's about it. I do plan on making a trip to what ever city he plays for next year so I can watch him play again. No one can make the crowd pay attention to them like Jose! He is the most exciting player ever, and that includes McGwire.

Melissa Stephens says:
I just had the best time at the Jays' last game of the season. I had pretty good seats, only 12 rows from the field and I had made a sign that said "Thanks for the Great Season Canseco". Well Jose came out to do a little warming up, just sprints and stuff across the field. Well I had my sign up and he was looking at it. The first time he just smiled and looked away. The second time he looked up I waved and he smiled a full toothed smile and waved. Oh my gosh I was so happy. I was asking everyone around me "Did you see that wave?" and everyone was like "Yah we saw it". No one could figure out why I was so excited about a little wave. I knew that the people on this site would understand why because he is the one and only so I thought I'd share it with. I know it was as great as meeting him or anything but it will sure put a smile on my face for a long time.

Kenny Johnston claims:
I went to a baseball game in Toronto against the Tigers. Before the game started I was down by the dugout talking to Tony Fernandez. All of a sudden Jose Canseco came out to Tony and we carried on a conversation about who's going to the playoffs. Both of them said that the Blue Jays were going. Anyway that was a memory that I'll never forget!

David West writes:
I have been a Jose Canseco fan for many years but never able to get his autograph he just would never sign. I live in Dearborn Heights Michigan about twenty minutes away from tiger stadium. I usually go to almost every game he plays at Tiger Stadium. He always get heckeled a lot at Tiger Stadium usually these guys us the same material Madonna this you overpaid bum, you steroid freak.I have even been to Arizona when he played for the A's, my grandmother was always visiting Phoenix in the winter time.Every time I didn't get his autograph when I was young I used to get real upset and be really bummed out but by the time I got older I just took it as the usual thing.About a month ago I went to the Tigers -Blue Jays game. After the game I took my friend home and I went home. The Jays still had one more game left with the Jays and that they would be in town another day. I called the Hyatt Regency And asked if the Blue Jays were staying there and she said I can niether confirm nor deny that, so right there I knew that indid they were staying there. I know that the Hyatt Regency is a high class place so I put on a tie and my good cloths and took off because I didn't want to miss the team bus pulling up because I knew that would be my only chance to meet Jose. I got there with time to spare. I had a pen and baseball in my pocket and a camera with a fresh roll of film in the other. I was the only person in the lobby besides the bell boys. I was getting uptight and ready to leave because I thought they had already had arrived. Since it was so quiet I heard the bus pull up.Now I was just hopping Jose was on it and didn't take a cab or limo from the stadium. Sure enough I seen Jose in the crowd of players because he was the biggest one.He was looking cool as ever wearing a skin tight v-neck dress shirt showing off his muscles. I walked over to him with my camera shaking and getting light-headed from being so excited and asked him for a picture he said"of course"so Shawn Greene took the picture.By this time the rest of the team was in the elevator waiting for Jose. I shook his hand and had him sign my ball. He signed it right over the sweet spot and turned out perfect and he even put his #33 on it. I told him I was a big fan and he smiled and walked in the elevator where his team was waiting for a minute or two. It was short but sweet I got what I wanted a picture and a autograph. I have been waiting for that day for over ten years and I never thouht it would come. I have the picture enlarged to a 8 by 10 and is right next to my bed. All of those days waiting for Jose by the Bus or by the dugout finally paid off and was all worth it and would do it all again if I had to. He is so much bigger in person when you at the same level.

Kevin Larsen remembers:
Well, it was sometime around 1986 and I was five years old. At the time I had liked Gary Carter, who was catching for the Mets. I was interested in baseball, and collecting baseball cards. Frequently on the news I would hear about this rookie who was tearing it up in the big leagues. I remember I bought my first Canseco card at the State Fair for $16. It was the Topps '86 card. I stuck with him and enjoyed watching him smash homeruns with his bash brother Mark McGwire. The two were unbelievable, and I loved him. At one point, the guy was the best player in the Major Leagues and that made me proud. I am collecting him and have accumulated over 300 cards of him so far. Hopefully more will come. I remember also watching him hit his 300th home run and it made me very proud of him. Many people think he's washed up, but how can you say that when he hits a career high 46 home runs? Someday, I hope to meet my hero, who is undoubtedly Jose Canseco. I really appreciate what he has done! for baseball and I wish he knew how proud I really am of him. And if I meet him, I will let him know that. I hope he continues to play for many more years so I can enjoy watching do what he does best.

Josie Lipman writes:
I have never met Jose, but for a whole season in Toronto, I got to watch him on the field and in the dugout. I have met some of the players, and they would spot me occasionally, even though I only wanted to blend in. I will remember on the last day of the season, I was sitting just past first base, and prior to the game, a baseball event was held, where someone had won the chance to win money by hitting boxes with the ball, or getting it in one box to win a million. She was having trouble and Jose was going out on the field to do sprints and he grabbed one of the balls and put it in the box. It was cute to see the fun side of him. We here in Toronto will miss him, if we do not get him back for next season. I wish I had had the chance to get to know him when he was here, but if you wait to long for something it doesn't happen.

Jerry McHugh remembers:
In september I went to Toronto Cananda with my friend Mike Coates... It was a game against the Cleveland Indians, who happen to be another of my favorite teams... when my eyes came acroos the most beautiful site to be seen...a homerun, hit by Jose, into the fifth deck of the skydome.... It was absolutley awesome!!!!

Diane Stanley, creator of A Tribute To Shawn Green, writes:
When Jose first came to Toronto I like many people judged him from what I had read in the media about him. Big mouth, cocky, rude ect. Well I met him in Florida at spring training this year. Only briefly, but he was nothing like that. I had asked him to sign a photo that I took of him and Shawn Green when the Jays were playing a couple of exhibition games here in March against St Louis. He said he would later. Well from experience with other players I have learnt that later may on the odd occasion may be later that day or that week , but more like never. Oh well Shawn had signed the pic so if it came down to it I could cut Jose off and have a 5X7 rather than the 8X10 I had made. Anyway when the players were going in Jose came over to where I was standing and held out his hand. I was kinda shocked that he came over (by now I was being crushed,) Jose said not to push or he would not sign at all as he did not want anyone to get hurt. He signed my picture and I thanked him. He just gave that kinda half smile of his and a little sniff. It really made my day. I hope he's back in Toronto because he brought something to the team that had been missing for a long time. A leader type figure. Okay Roger I feel can be a leader for the pitchers, (although I feel he's gone too!) but they needed someone like Jose who could encourage the young guys with their hitting and on field role model. Shawn credit's Jose with helping him to his 30/30 season and I credit him with teaching me not to judge people you don't know.

Mike Coates remembers:
I planned a trip to Toronto with my best friend Jerry for the 5th-7th of September. We left Dayton about 5 in the morning and arrived at Skydome around 11:30am. It was the second time I had been there. We were at the ballpark 2 hours before the game, but still didn't get to see batting practice for TO. This sucked. But anyway, I saw Jose up close and man, I think he gets bigger every time I see him. He was doing some sprints and I tried to get his attention, but It didn't work. Roger Clamens was pitching that day which made the game even better(seeing a hall-of-famer is cool!) The Jays were on a 9 game winning streak and had beaten boston the two previous games. It was a four game series, so we saw the red sox twice and the Indians on Labor Day, the 7th. Keep in mind that I have seen Jose play 4 times before and he hit a home run in 3 of those games. Pretty good odds, but nobody on earth could have told me about the next three games I was about to see. I guess you can say Jose had a good day. Jose had 38 HRs by this time and his next HR was a bomb. It was the 3rd inning when Jose came to the plate. The blue jays were winning already and the next thing that would happen would change the history of skydome and I saw it and was mesmerized. Jose took a huge swing and boy did he connect: up into the fifth deck! I couldn't stop looking up into that deck. I jumped up and down like a little kid. There is just something that Jose does that makes me so happy. But anyway, that home run was so long that I thought I would hit the JOSE POWER sign. That was his 39th HR of the year. That was also the first time in the history of the skydome that the same person hit 2 HRs into that deck. Mcgwire only hit it once... To make that even more interesting, that monday was called million dollar monday and if anyone hit a HR into sections 539-541 in the 5th deck, A lucky fan got 1 million dollars. Too bad Jose hit it on Saturday. Sunday was even better. We had made a sign that said JOSE, had a bulls eye, said Mike & Jerry on the bottom, and ESPN on left side. Of course we were trying to get on TV, because the sign was 8 foot by 8 foot. The best thing was our location for this game. We were behind the bullpen in left field in the first row, so we hung up our banner. The problem was is that it was windy, but we found a way to make it stay down. We took two of them little 2 foot bats and put them in the holes at the bottom of the sheet. This thing was so big that you could see it from everywhere in the stadium. The best thing was that so could Jose! He kept looking over at us and finally we yelled for him and waved at me twice and pointed to me. It was quite possibly one of the greatest days of my life. Then he hit a home run 20 feet to the left of my bull eye on his first pitch. #40. I never thought I would ever see Jose hit his 40th HR. Let me tell you, I went nuts! Not only did Jose wave to me, He hit a HR practically right to me, and I got on International TV! That makes 6 games of Jose, and he hit 5 HRs...pretty darn good! The Jays won, extending their streak to 11 games, and even more amazing was that the Jays were only 3 games behind boston, after the sweep! Now Monday was million dollar Monday and jose was tryin' hard for us. This time, we were in the 5th deck in the first row, right where Jose hit his homer on Saturday. We tried to hang the banner, but the security were being jerks and said that people couldn't see below us because it hung too low! So we held it up each time he came to bat. His first at bat was great because he did something cool again...he hit a HR, Number 41! Again I leaned over the railing screaming "you da' Man" over and over! My friend Jerry was leaning over the railing to screaming, then his oakley's popped off his head and fell about 40 feet. Oops! This HR was only in the 2nd deck, but it was a HR. Jose got up 6 times that day. On his fifth at-bat, the TV newscaster from some channel in TO was in the 5th deck broadcasting live. She announced on the loudspeaker that "Today is our million dollar monday and that means if somebody hits a HR in the fifth deck between the sections of 539 and 541, some lucky fan will win one million dollars. Now Jose Canseco hit a HR up here only 2 days ago and I bet he can do it again. Come on Jose!" Jose then went to the plate. He struck out, but he took the biggest swing I have ever seen. It was one one his gasping swings when everybody holds there breath, but he failed to hit one. He tried real hard and I guess that's all that counts. Anyway, Jose has now hit a HR in 6 out of the 7 games I saw. And even more amazing was that he hit a HR in the 3 consecutive games I saw. Not bad Jose...Now I hope he doesn't move too far away, like Florida.

Jeremy Weber writes:
I was a an 8th grade baseball card collector in 1986 when I heard about this guy Jose Canseco from the Oakland A's who hit mighty homeruns. At that time, it seemed a Vince Coleman rookie card commanded more respect than the Jose card. I started collecting him when I first got his card in a pack of '86 Donruss. The rest is history. All during high school everything I had was Canseco something. I even wore 33 on our baseball team, as well as used Jose's approach to weight training to optimize home run POWER. All of my teammates tried to cut down the mighty Canseco, but I would not hear of it. I would actually come close to throwing blows if someone dared to disrepect my hero. After high school I began to really adding to my collection of Canseco cards. I have several thousand cards of him, I'm still working on getting every card (as practical) ever made. It's tough because people in Minnesota just don't sell Canseco's at the table. I'm 26 now and still proudly relay the fact that I am a Canseco fan. Bash and Dash baby!!!!