Fansided

Jose Canseco goes after election of Jeff Bagwell to Hall of Fame

By Brad Berreman

May 23, 2013; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Fort Worth Cats designated hitter Jose Canseco (33) smiles while on deck during the game against the Edinburg Roadrunners at LaGrave Field in Fort Worth. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
May 23, 2013; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Fort Worth Cats designated hitter Jose Canseco (33) smiles while on deck during the game against the Edinburg Roadrunners at LaGrave Field in Fort Worth. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports /
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If one rant on Twitter wasn’t enough, Jose Canseco continued his critique of the Hall of Fame process after the 2017 class was announced.

Ahead of Wednesday’s announcement of the 2017 baseball Hall of Fame class, former major league outfielder (and self-anointed performance-enhancing drug pioneer) Jose Canseco went on an epic Twitter rant criticizing the process. More specifically, Canseco has an issue with how players from the “Steroid Era” are handled by voters.

Canseco went after Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated for a suggestion former Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell did not use steroids. So when Bagwell was announced with Tim Raines and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez as the three inductees voted into Cooperstown this year, Canseco’s reaction to wasn’t too surprising.

It’s also not surprising Canseco would heartily defend Mark McGwire, his long-time teammate with the Oakland Athletics and fellow “Bash Brother” when both were at their peak. McGwire has acknowledged he used performance-enhancing drugs during his playing career, and he was one of the names named in Canseco’s first book, Juiced.

Canseco was of course a steroid user during his career, and he quickly fell off the Hall of Fame ballot after just one year due to an insufficient percentage of the vote. So his thoughts on the supposed hypocrisy to vote one PED user in now (Bagwell, I suppose, if you believe Canseco’s suspicion), and not others attached to PED use like Barry Bonds, McGwire, Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro can be expected.

Next: MLB 2017: Top 10 catchers

As older voters are weeded out of the Baseball Writer’s Association of America in the coming years, the view of proven or suspected performance-enhancing drug users looks sure to change. It’s too late for Canseco’s candidacy though, barring some sort or Veteran’s Committee consideration, which seems unlikely. But if his social media dealings on Tuesday night and Wednesday are any indication, we’ll get a Twitter gift from Canseco every January until further notice.

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