Jose Canseco has fallen on difficult times. The former Major League Baseball player has become one of the most despised individuals in baseball’s “steroid era”. Canseco emerged as an unsympathetic character after he mentioned specific players as steroid users in his 2005 autobiographical book, “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big”. But if there was one person in the world left who might still be on Canseco’s side, it would have been Steven Kettman. Kettman is the man who was Canseco’s ghostwriter and co-author for “Juiced”.
Ketmann has not only failed to defend or support Canseco but has done quite the opposite. In an guest post for the Huffington Post, the Berlin-based American writer has taken to ridiculing Canseco for his latest newsworthy incident involving anabolic steroids.
In an attempted comeback to baseball, Canseco was invited to try out for the “Tigres de Quintana Roo” of Cancun. The Tigres are part of the Mexican Baseball League. The Mexican Baseball League is a triple-A league sanctioned by Minor League Baseball (MiLB). This would have placed Canseco one step closer to his dream of returning to MLB.
However, his baseball comeback was derailed due to his use of testosterone cypionate and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) for testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). While most media reports suggested that Canseco failed a steroid test and was banned for steroid use, Canseco claimed that he only needed to provide sufficient documentation to verify a medical need for TRT before he could continue his quest in the Mexican league.
Kettmann didn’t buy Canseco’s TRT story. He implored Canseco to stop “humiliating” himself and refrain from “acting like a cartoon character”.
“It’s often been remarked that few spectacles are sadder and more squalid than that of the once-robust professional athlete not knowing when to hang it up and stop competing,” wrote Kettmann.
Kettmann made no distinction between Canseco’s stated goal of using testosterone for doctor-prescribed testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and the blatant use of steroids as a cheater in the sport of baseball.
“Jose Canseco… is still apparently juicing like mad to try to keep himself jacked up enough to swing and miss with regularity down in the Mexican League,” claimed Kettmann. “Or was until he got busted.”
In “Juiced”, Kettman attempted to discredit several myths regarding anabolic steroids and counter society’s demonization of steroids. The book advocated the medical supervision of steroid users and promoted testosterone replacement therapy for middle-aged and older men.
The most controversial part of “Juiced” was the author(s) decision to name Mark McGwire, Juan González, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez, and Jason Giambi as MLB players who had benefitted from the use of anabolic steroids.
Kettmann is not the only one to distance himself from the best-selling book about steroids. Canseco has reported having nightmares about the book and, on several occasions, has publicly regretted mentioning specific players. He recently reached out to Tony LaRussa on Twitter and asked him to apologize to Mark McGwire for the trouble the book may have caused him.
ESPN sportswriter T.J. Quinn was critical of Canseco’s desire to distance himself from the book.
“Canseco undermines the one thing people were willing to give him credit for,” tweeted Quinn. “In less than 140 characters. Impressive.”
Source:
Kettmann, S. (March 8, 2012). Dear Jose, Please Hang It Up. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-kettmann/jose-canseco_b_1330000.html
