Jose Canseco’s second novel, Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball, is set to be released April 1, 2008.
In Juiced, Canseco claimed to have injected Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez with anabolic steroids among his stories about performance enhancing drugs in baseball. The details of Vindicated have slowly been coming out as the release date gets nearer.
Firstly, on July 17, Canseco implied that he had information about Alex Rodriguez that would be in his next book during a radio interview on WEEI.
“He will definitely be in the book. You’ll know who A-Rod really is.”
The New York Times reported in January that Canseco had attempted to get Magglio Ordonez to invest money in exchange for leaving Ordonez out of Vindicated. Canseco’s former ghost writer, Don Yeager, confirmed that Canseco had intended to include Ordonez in the book.
Then Joe Lavin found a copy of Vindicated on the shelf of a Massachusetts bookstore on March 24.
There I was, wandering through a quaint Cambridge bookstore on Monday, when I noticed a copy of Jose Canseco’s new book “Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball” in their tiny sports section. That’s odd, I thought. I didn’t know the book had come out yet. It turns out that it hasn’t. The book’s not due to be released until April 1st, but, for some reason, there was a copy for sale. And so I bought it.
According to Lavin, Canseco wrote in Vindicated that he injected Ordonez with steroids though he denied trying to secure an investment for a documentary.
Canseco also claims to have “introduced Alex (Rodriguez) to a known supplier of steroids” and says he didn’t include Rodriguez in Juiced because people would have “questioned [his] motives” because he “hated the bastard.” Apparently Rodriguez was interested in Canseco’s wife at the time, Jessica Canseco.
Lavin then quoted this blunt passage about Rodriguez:
So A-Rod, if you’re reading this book, and if I’m not getting through to you, let’s get clear on one thing: I hate your f***ing guts.
Jose Canseco on ABC’s Nightline
On March 27, Canseco appeared on ABC’s Nightline. Interviewed by Martin Bashir, Canseco answered questions about Rodriguez, Ordonez, Roger Clemens and other topics from Vindicated.
Canseco said he introduced Rodriguez to a trainer/steroid dealer pseudo named “Max.”
Bashir pressed for more information.
Bashir: “The implication you are making in your book is that Alex Rodriguez… was interested and intent on using steroids and you introduced him to a known steroid dealer. And yet, somehow, you won’t produce any evidence to support that allegation. Now why not?
Canseco: “The timing is not right.”
Bashir: “You see, that’s just not a good enough answer, because if it was true…”
(removed repetitive comments)
Canseco: “The timing is not right. Let’s see how Alex reacts to this. Let’s see if they call me a liar again. How’s that for you? Let’s see if all of a sudden they’re going to call me a liar again.”
Nightline showed footage of Canseco undergoing a polygraph test while answering questions about Magglio Ordonez. Canseco claims to have supplied steroids, educated and personally injected Ordonez similarly to the stories of Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez from Juiced.
Bashir quoted a passage from Vindicated about Ordonez.
“When Maggs had all the information he needed he said he was in, a few days later we went into the backroom of the clubhouse and jabbed a needle into his butt.”
Canseco continued to support Roger Clemens, though he admits he had suspected Clemens was using in the past. Canseco now says he believes Clemens.
If I were an investigator and if had to go on pure evidence, that I have on Roger Clemens, or have dealt with Roger Clemens over time, I would say no.
Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball will be released on April 1, 2008.