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Juiced
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Juiced (2005) (edit title/settings)

Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big

by Jose Canseco (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

When Jose Canseco burst into the Major Leagues in the 1980s, he changed the sport -- in more ways than one. No player before him possessed his mixture of speed and power, which allowed him to become the first man in history to belt more than forty home runs and swipe more than forty bases in... read more

Summary edit see section history

Touted as a Ball Four for the new millennium, JoseCanseco'sJuicedpromises to expose not only the rampantuseofperformance-enhancing substances in baseball(withsteroidsreplacing the amphetamines of Bouton's day), butthepainfullyhuman flaws of its heroes as well. A steroid devoteesincethe ageof... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Touted as a Ball Four for the new millennium, JoseCanseco'sJuicedpromises to expose not only the rampantuseofperformance-enhancing substances in baseball(withsteroidsreplacing the amphetamines of Bouton's day), butthepainfullyhuman flaws of its heroes as well. A steroid devoteesincethe ageof 20, Canseco goes beyond admitting his own usage toclaimthatwith the tacit approval of the league's powers-that-be heactedasbaseball's ambassador of steroids and isthereforeindirectlyresponsible for "saving" the game.

Chief among his claims is that he introduced MarkMcGwiretosteroids in 1988 and that he often injected McGwire whiletheywereteammates. According to Canseco, steroids and humangrowthhormonesgave McGwire and Sammy Sosa (whose own usage was"soobvious, itwas a joke") the strength, stamina,regenerativeability, andconfidence they needed for a record-settinghome runduel oftencredited with restoring baseball's popularityafter the1994strike. Although he devotes a lot of ink toMcGwire,Cansecoenvisions himself as a kind of Johnny Steroidseed,spreadingthegospel of performance enhancement, naming a number ofplayersthathe either personally introduced to steroids orisrelativelycertain he can identify as fellow users. BecauseCansecoplays fastand loose with some of the facts of his own careerheprovidesfodder for those looking to damage his credibility, butinmanyways questions of public and personal perception are whatraisethebook beyond mere vitriolic tell-all. Those willing toheedhisrequest and truly listen to what he has to say will findJuicedtobe an occasionally insightful meditation on the workingsofpublicperception and a consistently interesting characterstudy.--ShaneFarmer

When Jose Canseco burst into the Major Leagues in the1980s,hechanged the sport -- in more ways than one. No playerbeforehimpossessed his mixture of speed and power, which allowedhimtobecome the first man in history to belt more than fortyhomerunsand swipe more than forty bases in the same season. HewonRookieof the Year, Most Valuable Player, and a WorldSeriesring.

Canseco shattered the mold of the out-of-shape baseballplayerandushered in a new era of superathletes who lookedlikebodybuilders,made outrageous salaries, and enjoyedrock-starlifestyles. And theticket for this ride? Steroids. Behindthegaudy stats and theglamour of his public life, Cansecocultivateda secret just abouteveryone in MLB knew about, one thatwouldalter the game of baseballand the way we view our heroesforever.Canseco made himself a guineapig of theperformance-enhancingdrugs that were only just beginningtoinfiltrate the Americanunderground. Anabolic steroids, humangrowthhormones -- Cansecomixed, matched, and experimented to suchadegree that he becameknown throughout the league as "TheChemist."He passed hisknowledge on to trainers and fellow players,andbefore long,performance-enhancing drugs were runningrampantthroughout MajorLeague Baseball. Sluggers scooping uppitches attheir ankles andblasting them out of the park, pitcherscrankingfastballs inningafter inning -- Canseco showed the playershow tocustomize theirdoses to sculpt the bodies they wanted, andbaseballas we know itwas the result.

Today, this issue has crept out of the closet and burstintotheheadlines as players balloon to herculeanproportionsandhundred-year-old records are not only broken, butalsodemolished.In this shocking memoir, Canseco sheds light on alifeof dizzyinghighs and debilitating lows, provides the answerstoquestionsabout steroids that millions of fans are onlynowbeginning to ask-- and suggests that, far from being apassingtrend, the steroidrevolution is only a taste of things tocome.

Who's juiced? According to Canseco's authoritativeaccount,morethan you think. And baseball will never be thesame.

People edit see section history

  • Jose Canseco: José Canseco Capas, Jr. (born July 2, 1964), is a Cuban-American former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder, and designated hitter who is currently playing for the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings. Canseco has admitted using performance enhancing drugs during his playing career, and wrote a tell-all book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big, in which he claimed that the vast majority of MLB players use steroids. After retiring from Major League Baseball, he also competed in boxing and mixed martial arts.
  • Mark McGwire: Mark David McGwire (born October 1, 1963), nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American professional baseball player and coach. A first baseman, McGwire played in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals between 1986 and 2001.For his career, McGwire averaged a home run once every 10.61 at bats, the best at bats per home run ratio in baseball history (Babe Ruth is second at 11.76).<1> In 1987, he broke the single-season home run record for rookies, with 49. In 1998, McGwire and Sammy Sosa achieved national fame for their home run-hitting prowess in pursuit of Roger Maris' single season home run record; McGwire broke the record and hit 70 home runs that year.<2> Barry Bonds<3> now holds the record, after hitting 73 home runs during the 2001 season. In 2010, McGwire publicly admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “It was so open, the trainers would jokingly call the steroid injections “B12 shots,” and soon the players had picked up on that little code name, too. You’d hear them saying it out loud in front of each other: “I need to go in and get a B12 shot,” a player would say, and everyone would laugh. (Of course, that was the kind of joke you really only made around other steroid users, because obviously they were in the same boat as you. What were they going to do, tell on you? Not hardly.)”
  • “It was the pitchers that kept the “B12” joke going. For example, I’ve never seen Roger Clemens do steroids, and he never told me that he did. But we’ve talked about what steroids could do for you, in which combinations, and I’ve heard him use the phrase “B12 shot” with respect to others.”

Organizations edit see section history

  • National Basketball Association (NBA): The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. With thirty franchised member clubs (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada), the NBA is widely considered to be the premier men's professional basketball league in the world. It is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB),<1> which is recognized by FIBA (also known as the International Basketball Federation) as the national governing body for basketball in the United States. The NBA is one of the four major North American professional sports leagues. NBA players are the world's best paid sportsmen, by average annual salary per player.<2>The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946, as the Basketball Association of America (BAA).<3> The league adopted the name National Basketball Association in 1949 after merging with the rival National Basketball League (NBL). The league's several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey.

First Sentence edit see section history

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.

Table of Contents edit see section history

INTRODUCTION: A Look to the Future
PROLOGUE: The First Time Hurts Most
1. "You'll Never Add Up to Anything"
2. A J.V. Player at Coral Park High
3. A Vow to My Dying Mother
4. "The Natural"
5. Rookie of the Year
6. The Bash Brothers
7. My First Lamborghini
8. Imports, Road Beef, and Extra Cell Phones
9. Madonna's "Bat Boy"
10. Thank You, Tom Boswell
11. Texas-Sized Sluggers
12. Fatherhood Changes Everything
13. The Strike
14. The Men in Black
15. Giambi, The Most Obvious Juicer in the Game
16. Baseball Economics 101
17. The Night My Daughter Saved My Life
18. Steroid Summer, The McGwire-Sosa Show, and the Fake Controversy over Andro?
19. The Godfather of Steroids
20. Clean Living
21. "Not Really Here to Play"
22. Nice Guys Finish Last
23. An Education Money Can't Buy
24. Did He or Didn't He?
25. The Future of the Game
EPILOGUE: Forever Young
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX OF NAMES

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Jose Canseco (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Michael Zagaris (Photographer)
  2. Richard Ljoenes (Designer)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Regan Books
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2005
ISBN: 0060746408
Page Count: 304

Classification edit see section history

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