Posted on 02/15/2005 4:01:21 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
Orioles great one of 'the total phonies,' got preferential treatment
Jose Canseco's new book focuses largely on steroids, but the retired slugger couldn't resist hurling a few non-steroid-related insults at former Oriole Cal Ripken.
"I can just throw up watching the total phonies go to work, guys like Cal Ripken or Alex Rodriguez; everything out of their mouths sounds like it was tested by some kind of focus group beforehand," Canseco writes of the two shortstops.
The Cuban-born Canseco suggests in the book that he often was singled out for media criticism because he was a minority. Ripken, he says, was "untouchable."
"Throughout his career, Cal Ripken Jr. was completely protected by the media. With his family history in baseball, he was one of those untouchable players, the guy who could do no wrong," Canseco writes.......
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
How dare you call Jose an a**hole. Why he gave my friend a beer once. Well, not exactly gave it to him, but we were at the As game, when my friend called him "Jose Can Strikeout". A guy behind him bet him a beer Jose would NOT strike out. At the time the count was 2 balls, no strikes. My friend took the bet, secure in the knowlege that Jose would come through. Despite the count going to 3 and 0, Jose came through in the end, fouling several away before the big swing and a miss.
Jose will need $7.50 to get into the Hall, like the rest of us.
And, to put out a feeler, if I were to say the name "Kevin Costner" on a Cal Ripken thread, would anyone know what I'm talking about?
The Streak became bigger than him.
Cal Ripken almost single-handedly saved major league baseball.
Remember the strike? Remember how people were turned off on MLB? What brought the fans back?
And, besides that, Cal Ripken is a great human being. Some people just hate that.
And he looked great sitting at court-side the other night when the Terps kicked the crap out of the Dukies.
I didn't think it was possible for me to think any less of Jose Canseco, and then he goes and insults Cal Ripken Jr.
You're absolutely right. That's why 60 Minutes made it part of their book club.
Well, for one, I don't think that Cal ever went sniffing after Ethel Kennedy.
whiskers, Your Full Disclosure comment is dead center Bullseye.
Brooks Robinson; The Greatest Third Baseman ever Lived.
Bar-None.
I wonder if the publisher is connected to Viacom (like some of the Bush-bashing books were).
He is a minority, an anus that walks on top of the neck. He isn't fit to talk about Ripken--and I'm a YANKEE FAN!!!
I would be absolutely shocked if he ever, ever, EVER made it to Cooperstown.
He blew that chance years ago. His career wasn't long enough, he was a horrible fielder, and the end of his career was nearly off the radar screen if it wasn't for his big mouth and his lead foot. Not to mention the domestic violence.
He can, however, buy a ticket to the Hall of Fame, just like the rest of us.
ConFakeco is a washed-up, has been.
Oh woe is me, cry me a river- I Made" Millions", yes Millions of dollars, blew some of it on drugs & steroids, HAD a ferrari and Multi-million dollar house in the BlackHawk estates (CA), screwed off a bunch more cash, couldn't get along with team mates or fit in at the clubhouse's (how Many Teams ?) & WAS a hero in Cuba ..........
BUT I NEVER HAD A GOOD CHANCE TO MAKE SOMETHING OF MYSELF ....
(Sniff, sniff).......
Now I'm just a "rejected minority", thrown out like an Old shoe.
America has reduced me too, a Drug addict, with an Axe to Grind and trying to sell a "tell all" book.
WWWAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.............
Yep.
Perhaps not taking drugs, slapping around women or not succumbing to other vices is wrong in Canseco's mind?
I agree wholeheartedly!!! Cal Ripken, Jr. is one of the few professional athletes that my baseball loving, 12 year old son can look up to. His work in Little League baseball alone will always overshadow Jose's lack of morals, intelligence and common decency!!!
Jose, your fifteen minutes are up Loser, move along!!
He can make it to Cooperstown - all he has to do is buy a ticket. He surely never did anything on the field to warrant being in the baseball HOF. If they come up with a hall of fame for wasted ability and opportunity, he's a shoe in.
And at the top of this list is...
"Cal Ripken indirectly was responsible for the Orioles being bridesmaids and not champions. The Streak became bigger than him."
The last 3 1/2 years leading up to Ripken breaking Gehrig's consecutive games streak, these were his numbers:
1996 - .278, 40 doubles, 26 homeruns, 102 RBI's
1997 - .270, 30 doubles, 17 homeruns, 84 RBI's
1998 - .271, 27 doubles, 14 homeruns, 61 RBI's
1999 - .340, 27 doubles, 18 homeruns in just 86 games that year.
I can't really see how this guy was a liability to his club with numbers like these. Hell, Toronto paid 3B Corey Koskie $17 million this past off-season for comparable numbers over the past several years.
I am assuming that his reference to being a minority is the fact that he took steroids and there is a minority of players who are known to have taken them.
Are you suggesting that there may have been games during the streak in which the Orioles would have been better served by Mr. Ripkin sitting out?
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