Canseco's ghost

Surely you didn't think that baseball outcast Jose Canseco wrote Juiced, his tell-all book on steroids, by himself (if at all.) His uncredited ghostwriter was Steve Kettmann, a Brooklyn-based journalist who covered Canseco's old team, the Oakland A's, for the San Francisco Chronicle. In a q-and-a with David Davis in the newest Sports Letter from the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, Kettman says he doesn't think Canseco ratted out his ex-teammates for money — well, not purely for money.

I have not seen any detailed information on Canseco's finances. But I never got a sense of him being in financial need. He lives in this mansion in Encino, where he just did all this work on the house, with a big waterfall and pool. He's living a very comfortable life and driving very nice cars. I also know, from other sources, that he's made some good investments over the years. Now, did he have an axe to grind? Canseco feels that he was made an example of by baseball to send a message to other players about steroids. He felt that he had been treated unfairly by people in baseball and that they had some things to answer for. A lot of people dispute his allegations as paranoid and delusional. But based on how defensive baseball has been on the steroid issue in the last few months, I don't think Canseco's position should be dismissed out of hand.

Kettman adds, "I have no doubt that some of the highest-paid players in baseball right now are using designer steroids." In the same issue, David also interviews Jean Hastings Ardell, author of Breaking Into Baseball: Women and the National Pastime.