He’s Only Bashing the Ball These Days : Working Through Arm Injury in ’93 Helps Canseco Turn His Life Around

It used to be so easy to bash Jose Canseco.

Host of late-night talk shows could always count on the slugger’s occasional acts of stupidity--such as the time he blew out his elbow pitching, or had a fly ball bounce off his head and over the fence for a home run, or rammed his wife’s Porsche with his Ferrari--for fodder.

Ripping Canseco was easy for fans who grew tired of his often surly demeanor, the way he snarled at autograph seekers and snapped at reporters, and his seemingly annual run-ins with the law.

Sure, the muscular Canseco could pound the baseball and was one of the game’s most exciting players once he stepped into the batter’s box.

But to many, Canseco was just another on the growing list of overpaid, overexposed players who didn’t seem to care about the game or the fans, a sentiment that might have been best portrayed by the photo of him wearing a T-shirt that blared: “Leave Me Alone!”

So what does Canseco do for an encore in 1994? He comes through with a season that has so confounded Jose-haters that they might even be starting to like the guy. Or, at least, respect him.

Canseco is off to one of his best starts ever. Through Friday’s game, he’s batting .297 with a team-leading 21 home runs and 67 runs batted in for the Texas Rangers.

The designated hitter has bounced back from elbow surgery that ended his 1993 season in May and is among the American League leaders in homers, RBIs, multi-hit games (31), runs (64), walks (50) and total bases (153).

What’s truly amazing is that it’s almost July and Canseco hasn’t punched anyone in a bar, gotten any speeding tickets or been caught with a gun in his car.

There have been no photos of Canseco with Madonna, and even though World Cup fever is catching on, Canseco has not felt the urge to head another baseball into the bleachers.

“This year has been very quiet off the field and very loud on it,” said Tom Grieve, Texas general manager. “That’s the way it should be.”

With Canseco’s success has come a transformation of sorts in major league stadiums. Where once there were only boos and expletives hurled at Canseco, now there is a smattering of applause and praise when his name is mentioned.

Anaheim Stadium this weekend is a perfect example. The reception for Canseco during the Rangers’ series against the Angels has been virtually split, with about as many cheers as jeers when he steps to the plate.

“I think people like me, more so this year because of what I’ve been through,” said Canseco, who in 1988 became the first player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in one season. “The way I brought myself up from the bottom to be successful, people appreciate that. Fans have been better everywhere because they realize what I’ve been through.”

Canseco’s career bottomed out during one week in May, 1993. There was the May 26 game in Cleveland when Canseco, doing his best Alexi Lalas impersonation, lost track of a fly ball that bounced off his head and over the right-field fence for a homer.

Three days later, in Boston, Canseco talked his way onto the mound during the eighth inning of a 15-1 loss to the Red Sox. He threw 33 pitches and tore a ligament in his right elbow, an injury that required surgery last July.

Those two incidents, in which Canseco said he “embarrassed myself, the team and the manager,” punctuated a three-year period that included the separation, reconciliation and divorce from his wife, Esther, with whom he had a stormy four-year marriage.

Canseco, who turns 30 this week, admitted having suicidal thoughts and acknowledged that he underwent counseling for depression last winter at the University of Miami.

That was in addition to his rigorous off-season physical rehabilitation program, which has helped Canseco recapture the form that made him one of baseball’s most feared hitters during his days with the Oakland Athletics and Mark McGwire.

The results have been remarkable. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Canseco, who was slowed by several nagging injuries in 1992 and ‘93, has regained full strength in his legs and back and expects his arm to be healthy enough to return to the outfield later this season.

His bat speed has returned, and any questions of his power were put to rest June 3, when his towering homer appeared to clear the light standard above the Green Monster in Fenway Park, and June 13, when he hit three homers against the Seattle Mariners, including a 480-foot bomb that was announced as the longest home run hit not only in the new Ballpark in Arlington, but also in Arlington Stadium.

And, get this: Canseco is happy.

“He’s gotten rid of a lot of baggage and he’s healthy,” said Willie Upshaw, the Rangers’ batting coach. “When he comes to the park he’s totally focused on baseball. You can tell when guys are having problems off the field, but he’s shown every day that nothing is bothering him.”

From the time the Rangers acquired Canseco from Oakland for pitchers Jeff Russell and Bobby Witt and outfielder Ruben Sierra in August, 1992, until this season, Canseco seemed to go through life with a pained look on his face.

He’d usually show up at the park only minutes before the Rangers took batting practice, and he was usually one of the first to leave the clubhouse after games. You didn’t have to talk to him to know he wasn’t having fun.

“You could tell by his facial expressions that something was bothering him,” Grieve said. “He’d come out of the hotel and get on the team bus with this dour look on his face. It was subtle, but it was obvious he was not relaxed.

“But this year he has a bounce in his step and a smile on his face. You see him interact with his teammates, talk with the press, how he reacts after hitting a home run, and it’s obvious he’s having fun.”

The lack of off-the-field problems, his 1992 divorce and a clean bill of health have given Canseco a new outlook on his career. And his approach to the game has changed considerably--he comes to the park earlier, coaches say his work habits are excellent, and he’s been more open to suggestions and criticism.

“There were so many distractions before, but now I can give 100% to the game,” said Canseco, who ranked among the major league’s top five in homers (240) and RBIs (767) from 1986-93. “My approach has been a lot more positive and I’m enjoying the game again. I don’t let things bother me like they used to.”

Canseco has called last season’s arm injury “a blessing in disguise.” His elbow and shoulder had been hurting for two years, but he continued to play through the pain. Doctors have told him that in compensating for the shoulder injury, he actually might have hurt his elbow before pitching.

But the pitching injury forced Canseco to have surgery, in which a tendon was removed from his left wrist and used to replace the torn ligament in his right elbow.

“Looking back it was the wrong thing to do, letting a star player pitch,” Grieve said. “But out of any misfortune, some positive can come out of it. Without that incident, maybe Jose never has surgery, his strength doesn’t come back, and maybe he doesn’t return to the status he has.”

And if Canseco continues to excel on the field and avoid problems off the field, maybe he won’t return to his status as one of baseball’s most despised players.

“He’s like Reggie Jackson--there’s a movie-star aura about him,” Grieve said. “He’s a celebrity, a star. He loves that and accepts everything that goes with it. There are people who love to hate him . . . but I’ve seen a lot less of that this year.”

So has Canseco.

“The media even likes me now--I don’t understand that,” Canseco said. “I’ve given up a lot of my time for them, but it has made things more enjoyable. You like it when people say positive things about you.”

For a change.