Mature Canseco Mastering Game

A memory from the 1986 All-Star game helps measure how much Oakland A’s outfielder Jose Canseco has matured.

Canseco failed to win that year’s Home Run-Hitting Contest in Houston, even though he led the majors in homers at the time, and fans came early just to see him take batting practice.

Canseco shrugged it off, saying he would do better next year. This seemed only natural for someone who was 22 years old and so talented. Doesn’t the All-Star game come every year?

Well, the game comes every year, but not every player does. When the 1987 All-Star festivities arrived in Oakland, the only A’s slugger in the lineup was Mark McGwire. Canseco stayed home, though his eventual 31 homers and 113 RBIs wouldn’t embarrass many players.

“Unless you’re a five- or six-year player and you’re known around the league, you’ve got to prove yourself every year,” Canseco said by phone from Cleveland, where the A’s were playing the Indians.

So now Canseco is proving himself. His ballclub looks like the team to beat in the AL West, he could become the majors’ first 40-40 man in home runs and stolen bases, and his name pops up in a discussion of the game’s best players.

“It’s very exciting because I’ve come a long way,” Canseco said. “I had some problems playing defense. With the two years behind me I’ve gotten to be a more mature player and it’s showing.”

Canseco, of Havana, just turned 24. He has played two full years in the majors, and this one is shaping up as the best. Through the season’s halfway point, he led the big leagues with 23 homers and 64 RBI.

Even better, he is stealing bases (22 through July 4) and playing an All-Star-calibre right field. That’s quite a change from 1986, when he led AL outfielders with 14 errors.

“Heck,” says one scout, “when he used to miss a ball, he wouldn’t even run after it. The center fielder had to go get it.”

No more. Players tend to appreciate defense as they mature, and Canseco has learned to help his team with his glove and arm. He is also playing right field instead of left, and that’s how he likes it.

“In the minor leagues I was an excellent right fielder,” he said. “I got an excellent jump on balls. One year I was voted the best defensive outfielder in the league. I looked back on that and the 15 (actually 14) errors and said, ‘What am I doing? I’m a much better player than this.’ I’m playing my natural position this year and my ability as an outfielder is coming through.”

Canseco also represents one of several Latin players excelling in the big leagues this year. The group includes Montreal first baseman Andres Galarraga, Pittsburgh infielders Bobby Bonilla and Jose Lind, and Cubs infielder Rafael Palmeiro.

“There’s a half a dozen Latin players who are coming up,” Canseco said. “It’s very exciting to be part of that because in the past year there was one or two that were prominent. You may be looking at future stars. It seems it comes in cycles. Now it seems like a large group has come in.”

Tony Perez, now a Cincinnati Reds coach, said he recalls an exceptional group of Latin players in his era.

“There were maybe six or seven or eight,” Perez said. “In the 1967 All-Star Game, the National League team had (Orlando) Cepeda, (Roberto) Clemente, (Juan) Marichal, myself. In the American League you had (Tony) Oliva and (Rod) Carew.”

No one knows yet whether Canseco will ever rank with players like that. But this year, his improvement suggests he has a chance.