15 Nov
The life of
former MLB slugger Jose Canseco continues to be one that is not short on news-making incidents, although he is now short on body parts.
Canseco, who has been known to enter a poker tournament or two, did so in
Nevada on Thursday a couple of weeks after he accidentally shot his finger while cleaning his gun. The finger was surgically reattached. It seems that the doctors who performed the emergency procedure, who tried in vain to keep Canseco whole, may have been better off amputating the finger instead.
While participating in the poker tournament at an unnamed venue, Canseco at one point apparently lost more than just a pot. Here’s how the former
Oakland A’s star described what happened via Twitter:
Canseco was able to keep a sense of humor about the incident, as evidenced here:
During a prolific MLB career in which he belted 462 home runs,
Canseco and A’s teammate Mark McGwire were known as the ‘Bash Brothers.’ While fans were enjoying the barrage of homers hit by the pair of sluggers, it was later revealed that both used illegal performance-enhancing drugs (anabolic steroids) to achieve their success.
Canseco admitted as much in a tell-all book entitled
“Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big” released in 2005. The Cuban-born slugger named names, disclosing such players as Rafael Palmeiro, Iván Rodríguez, Jason Giambi, and McGwire as fellow users.
The 50-year-old estimated that 85% of MLB ballplayers were steroid users, a percentage scoffed at by others. However, steroid use was believed to be rampant during Canseco’s heyday in the late 1980’s and throughout the 1990’s.
Since retiring from baseball in 2001, Canseco has competed in mixed martial arts and
celebrity boxing matches, including a three-round battle with former child star Danny Bonaduce (“The Partridge Family”) in 2009 that ended in a draw. A stint on “Celebrity Apprentice” and a failed baseball comeback also kept Canseco’s name in the headlines over the years.
For those who would like to see what Canseco’s hand looks like now minus the blown-off finger, take a look at the following tweet.
Warning: Those with weak stomachs may want to stop reading and move on to the next article. Editor’s update on Nov. 16: Shortly after the publishing of this article, the photo of Canseco’s damaged hand that accompanied the below tweet was removed, either by Jose or Twitter.
