Canseco Hasn’t Suffered a Cut in Confidence

Jose Canseco made a remarkably quick recovery from back surgery to return to the Tampa Bay lineup, and the Devil Ray slugger says he is just as confident he will hit 500 major league home runs.

Canseco, 35, is at 428.

“Before I die, I will hit 500 home runs,” he told Ken Daley of the Dallas Morning News. “I don’t care what’s in my future--broken leg, broken ankle, broken wrist, more back surgeries--I guarantee I’ll hit 500. I’ll play until I’m 45 if I have to. I will not let these injuries defeat me.”

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Trivia time: Which was the last team from California to win the Little League World Series?

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Wishful thinking: Max Mosley, president of international auto racing’s governing body, says Formula One teams would give up their ties to tobacco voluntarily if they could be shown “that young people take up smoking who would not have otherwise smoked.

“If F1 doesn’t [eliminate tobacco advertising], it will find itself up a side alley being left behind by the mainstream sponsorship.”

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Homesick: Chris Jefferies, a 6-foot-8 Arkansas forward from Washington High in Fresno, says he is homesick and wants his release from the Razorbacks so he can enroll at Fresno State and play for Jerry Tarkanian.

“The environment [in Fayetteville] didn’t make me miss home, but it made me miss being around people I could relate to,” Jefferies said. “I didn’t feel comfortable off the court.”

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Growing up: Tony Phillips of the Oakland A’s may be out for the season with a broken leg but he is still a team cheerleader.

“When I came here, they were eating baby food,” he said from his hospital bed. “Now, they’ve moved on to meat and potatoes.”

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Is he that good?: Rookie running back Ricky Williams of the New Orleans Saints is a “potent combination of Mack truck power and Ferrari speed,” says Knight Ridder columnist Paul Domowitch, but Williams says not to count too much on him.

“No one man is going to win a game,” said the Heisman Trophy winner from Texas. “But if everyone does his job, one man can help. It all comes down to having the right kind of mentality. Then you can make things happen.”

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Hot and cold: Cleveland’s record against the Angels, Orioles, White Sox, Tigers and Twins is 33-9. Against the Yankees, Rangers and Red Sox, the Indians are 7-14.

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Touchy subject: Baltimore Oriole Manager Ray Miller claimed that Minnesota pitcher LaTroy Hawkins was doctoring the ball when he threw a shutout against the Orioles, but Miller never filed a protest.

Why not?

Miller said it was because Hawkins had the substance in “an embarrassing” place.

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Quick fix: New South Carolina football Coach Lou Holtz has never been accused of lacking confidence.

“Somebody said Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he said after accepting the job of reviving Gamecock football. “I’d like to think that’s because I wasn’t born yet.”

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Time out: An International League game between Pawtucket and Scranton was temporarily halted when two skunks wandered onto the diamond and headed for right field. When the skunks wouldn’t leave, play was resumed, to the dismay of Scranton outfielders.

Before anyone hit toward them, however, the skunks were finally coaxed onto a golf cart and driven away. No word on the fate of the cart driver.

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Trivia answer: Long Beach, in 1993, a 3-2 winner over Panama.

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And finally: Minnesota infielder Denny Hocking, after playing in Yankee Stadium, offered this comment:

“You’ll see a dozen 7-year-olds flipping you the bird. It makes you wonder about the youth of America.”