Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big [Hardcover]

Jose Canseco (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 21, 2005

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 the same season. He won Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and a World Series ring. Canseco shattered the mold of the out-of-shape baseball player and ushered in a new era of superathletes who looked like bodybuilders, made outrageous salaries, and enjoyed rock-star lifestyles. And the ticket for this ride? Steroids. Behind the gaudy stats and the glamour of his public life, Canseco cultivated a secret just about everyone in MLB knew about, one that would alter the game of baseball and the way we view our heroes forever. Canseco made himself a guinea pig of the performance-enhancing drugs that were only just beginning to infiltrate the American underground. Anabolic steroids, human growth hormones -- Canseco mixed, matched, and experimented to such a degree that he became known throughout the league as "The Chemist." He passed his knowledge on to trainers and fellow players, and before long, performance-enhancing drugs were running rampant throughout Major League Baseball. Sluggers scooping up pitches at their ankles and blasting them out of the park, pitchers cranking fastballs inning after inning -- Canseco showed the players how to customize their doses to sculpt the bodies they wanted, and baseball as we know it was the result.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition edition (February 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060746408
• ISBN-13: 978-0060746407
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (183 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #369,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Touted as a Ball Four for the new millennium, Jose Canseco's Juiced promises to expose not only the rampant use of performance-enhancing substances in baseball (with steroids replacing the amphetamines of Bouton's day), but the painfully human flaws of its heroes as well. A steroid devotee since the age of 20, Canseco goes beyond admitting his own usage to claim that with the tacit approval of the league's powers-that-be he acted as baseball's ambassador of steroids and is therefore indirectly responsible for "saving" the game.

Chief among his claims is that he introduced Mark McGwire to steroids in 1988 and that he often injected McGwire while they were teammates. According to Canseco, steroids and human growth hormones gave McGwire and Sammy Sosa (whose own usage was "so obvious, it was a joke") the strength, stamina, regenerative ability, and confidence they needed for a record-setting home run duel often credited with restoring baseball's popularity after the 1994 strike. Although he devotes a lot of ink to McGwire, Canseco envisions himself as a kind of Johnny Steroidseed, spreading the gospel of performance enhancement, naming a number of players that he either personally introduced to steroids or is relatively certain he can identify as fellow users. Because Canseco plays fast and loose with some of the facts of his own career he provides fodder for those looking to damage his credibility, but in many ways questions of public and personal perception are what raise the book beyond mere vitriolic tell-all. Those willing to heed his request and truly listen to what he has to say will find Juiced to be an occasionally insightful meditation on the workings of public perception and a consistently interesting character study. --Shane Farmer

From Publishers Weekly

In this poorly written, controversial memoir, Canseco, a one-time American League MVP, reveals himself to be an unapologetic user of performance-enhancing drugs. Canseco readily admits that he was never the most talented of athletes, and that he never really had the drive to be a star until he made a promise of greatness to his dying mother. After a year of playing some uninspired minor league ball, Canseco packed on a superhuman 25 pounds of muscle in one off-season with the help of steroids and a human growth hormone. A string of tainted baseball achievements followed-including an all-star invitation as a rookie, an MVP award and a World Series title with the Oakland A's-before his life and career unraveled. Judging from the recent BALCO case, baseball certainly does have a steroid problem. But despite the headline-grabbing claims in this book, whether Canseco really knows anything about the problem beyond his own use is questionable. Rather, what emerges is a portrait of a bitter, disgraced ex-player who so desperately wants respect that he casts his own extraordinary recklessness as perfectly commonplace, a scorched-earth attempt to raise his own legend by bringing the game-and some of its great players-down to his level. Most shocking is that Canseco remains an unabashed booster of steroids, claiming they'll one day be used safely under medical supervision to propel humans to better health and great feats. Doctors disagree, and it should be noted that doctors did not administer Canseco's steroid use. "Is it cheating," Canseco asks in a revealing moment of moral relativism, "to do what everyone wants you to do?" If that very question were asked by a little leaguer, its answer could not be more obvious.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition edition (February 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060746408
• ISBN-13: 978-0060746407
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (183 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #369,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars unbelieveable at first March 31, 2008

By Michael R. Chernick

Format:Hardcover

I read this book when it first came out and I am glad I did not review it then. Like many others I was skeptical about what Canseco was saying. I just couldn't believe that all the famous athletes that he named took steriods or HGH. The idea that he personal injected many of them seemed ludicrous. The media put it down as a bunch of lies to sell books. Canseco also had his ups and downs and did not have a great reputation in baseball. After the hearings things looked even worse. But what came out in the long run was that everything he said became highly plausible or confirmed by drug testing or further investigation. This book is now a landmark book in the history of major league baseball. The only thing I disagree with Canseco on in this book is the idea that taking steroids was good for the game of baseball even though it led to more home runs and excitement for the fans. At least in his new book based on the accumulated medical evidence he has changed his tune. No one can deny that this was one of the major books to blow the lid on the use of steriods in baseball.

I believe that Canseco wrote this book for the noteriety and the money and that his selective choice of names to name was deliberate to sensationalize the book and sell copies. He now freely admits to naming people to make the book marketable in his new book vindicated. Also I think the book was intended to provide a rationalization for his own use of steroid and for turning so many others onto it. But the Mitchell report and other investigations has confirmed that those named were really users!

162 of 182 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Deluded? Truthful? Sad? Fascinating? Yes... February 14, 2005

By Robert Wellen

Format:Hardcover

This, unlike, say, Pete Rose's book last year, is one book I had to read as soon as it came out. Simply written (no co-author is noted, but he must not have been very good), the book flies by. Of course, the media has leaked much of the good stuff already. As with any memoir (again, a stretch to use that word), truth is often muddled. Here it is worse. Did baseball really blackball Jose? Did Roger Clemens use steroids? Dave Martinez (that was funny--he was so mediocore)? Jose is clearly bitter for the way he was treated over the years. I can't possibly understand what it was like for a Latino ballplayer in the mid-80s. When he describes the racism involved in the game, much of it rings true. His bittnerness toward Cal Ripken (I'm assuming details were left out to avoid libel suits--common throughout the book) seems more mysterious. He is right that media (and the umps) play favorites sometimes. There is no question he is right about certain players and their steriod use. His digs at Mark McGwire are not cheap shots (pun intended). Mac was never the nice guy that we often heard about. He was surly, angry, and quite possibly a fraud. Same with Sammy "The Diva" Sosa. Each of these guys did a ton of stuff for charity. So did Canseco (which, immodestly, he points out)...but who knew that about Canseco? Not me.

Where he runs into trouble, at least for this reader, is his insistence on how good steroids are. The only steroids I ever took were for an infection and hope I never have to take them again. They can be great (look at how they saved Jerry Lewis--and how puffy he got) as medicine perhaps. But, his insistence on their goodness is a bit scary. Still, the man is a true believer. I just hope kids don't read this as the gospel.... And the fact is, Canseco, Mac, etc, all cheated. He doesn't seem to care. Then again, I think the service he is doing to baseball is far more important. His book won't let the Barry Bonds' of the world keep fooling us.

Canseco also brushes over his marriages and the vast majority of his playing career (this is not a book that talks about the game between the lines). He claims to be unfairly persecuted by the Florida DA...the truth? Who knows? He claims to have had a nervous breakdown, but doesn't back it up. Who knows?

Finally, I think what might stay with me (besides the steroid stories) are the geniune moments. His hilariously overblown "affair" with Madonna. His near-suicide is poignant. I have no doubt he loves his daughter deeply. His pain over his break up with his second wife (everyone feels this kind of pain, even stars). The saddest part is the that deep inside his massive body, he is still a little hurting boy. He is very cautious about how he describes his father, but reading between the lines, we see a sad little boy and sad man. His father was incredibly tough on him. His mother died when he was barely out of his teens and she was his protector. Much of his career and incidents can be seen as a man looking for his fathers protection (his constant mentions of his insecurity) and the love of his mother (which he so sadly lost when she passed away). He has made some bad choices, but, in the end, he needs so much attention, because he never got it from the most important man in his life. All very sad. I think this book will serve an important purpose for our nation's past time and maybe help Canseco grow...maybe. Read more ›

47 of 53 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Steroids in Baseball February 14, 2005

By Former Baseball Fan

Format:Hardcover

Halfway through reading Jose Canseco's new book "Juiced", it occurred to me that my opinion of this man was changing with every page I turned. I went into this book thinking that this was a man simply out to make a buck at the expense of others. What I've learned is that this book isn't about Jose Canseco or any of the many run-in's with the law that tarnished the amazing persona he gave of in his hey-day. This book is about a story that no one in Major League Baseball wants told......This book is about the TRUTH. We've all heard the rumors from reporters about how steroids have been killing baseball for years......now hear the story from a man who knows what he's talking about from being there in the trenches. This is no different than what Jim Bouton went through in the 1970's with his book "Ball Four". It took until 1988 to invite Bouton back to Yankee Stadium. Canseco is being treated like a social leper, just like Bouton was. I hope it won't take 18 years for the world's eyes to be opened and focused on what Canseco is saying here. He may very well be the key to returning baseball as America's Pastime.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Let The Discussions Begin February 15, 2005

By Norfeest VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Jose Canseco released this book with intentions of doing two things: turning a huge profit and shedding some light on the role steriods play in major league baseball. Will he accomplish both? As much as some would hate to admit it, yes he will.

The book starts with Canseco's childhood and leads to the current landscape of baseball. There are all kinds of allegations made against some notable players:

Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, Brady Anderson, Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada, Dave Martinez, Tony Saunders, Bret Boone, and Wilson Alvarez

Honestly, I believe him to a certain extent. You have to take it all with a grain of salt because we're talking about Jose Canseco. To put it in mild terms, his credibility is completely shot. But we all know that steroid use is running wild in Major League Baseball. I think some of the facts have been overblown in order to make for a more captivating read, but those with any kind of common sense will quickly pick up on it when it happens. I also didn't agree with his endorsement of steroid use; that is most definitely a bad signal to send to the kids that will read this book. Canseco even goes as far as to suggest that it would be harder to find an elite player who hasn't used steroids than it would be to find one who has. My point: All it takes is a long hard look at the facts.

One of the facts is that numbers don't lie. I'm a huge Orioles fan and even I have to admit that Brady Anderson (who was implicated by Canseco) was RIPPED when he hit 50 home runs for the Orioles in 1996 (his previous best, 21...his best since '96, 24). He had never been that size before in his ENTIRE career and he hasn't been that big ever since.... I don't know if he decided to quit using or what, I just know the guy had put on an alarming amount of bulk since the previous season.

Will all the questions get answered? Probably not. Will speculation ever cease? Not any time soon. Did the players accused actually juice up? Probably. Is Canseco exaggerating the facts? To an extent, I believe he is, but there's a strain of truth to his accusations that is VERY hard to disregard. Is the new policy tough enough (4 violations = 1 year ban)? Not even close. Will we ever know the entire truth? Definitely not. MLB stands to lose a significant amount of revenue if we do learn the whole truth. I know one thing though, reading this book will either confirm or completely change your perception of Jose Canseco AND Major League Baseball. No matter what your opinion of him is, you'll have a new and broader perspective of the entire steroid soap opera after reading this book. Some of this stuff you just can't make up, but you don't need a book to tell you what your eyes have already seen. The fact is some of your favorite baseball players have put on alarming amounts of muscle in very short amounts of time and that cannot be blamed on Jose Canseco's monetary lust. I reccomend drawing your own conclusion based on facts and nothing more. I highly reccomend this book though. Read more ›