Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The newsletter that loves baseball as much as you do.

Let’s dive in.

This is part two of a three-part series about the steroid era.

If you missed part one - you can read it here.

Today’s story is about a former MVP that wrote a tell-all book about his steroid use, and ruined a bunch of careers in the process.

José Canseco had a decorated baseball career - winning the Rookie of the Year, the MVP, and the World Series (twice) - over a 16-year period.

He also made six all-star teams.

Most of all, he is A-Rod's biggest hater.

In '87, Mark McGwire joined Canseco on the Oakland A’s and they formed one of the most iconic duos in sports history, “The Bash Brothers.”

People were comparing them to pairs like Mantle and Maris.

In '88, Canseco became the first player in MLB history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in one season.

When he retired in '01, Canseco was a household name and probably would've been a Hall of Famer.

After the BALCO scandal blew up in '03, MLB was publicly embarrassed, dozens of players were subpoenaed, and the league was desperately trying to salvage the situation.

In '05, José dropped a bombshell on the baseball world.

He published a book called Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big.

In the book, José admitted to using anabolic steroids and human growth hormones while he was playing.

Matter of fact, he claims to be the Godfather of the steroid movement in professional baseball.

Apparently, it was well known around the league that Canseco was doing these drugs.

He mixed, matched, and experimented to such a degree that he became known amongst his peers as "The Chemist."

According to José, he passed along his knowledge to trainers and fellow players, and soon enough, PED’s had become an epidemic across the MLB.

Here are some of the players José mentions in his book:

• Mark McGwire

• Juan González

• Rafael Palmeiro

• Iván Rodríguez

• Jason Giambi

• Roger Clemens

As you can imagine, this didn't go over very well with his peers.

José was completely blackballed from the MLB, and hasn't been able to land a coaching job or participate in the league in any way; they want nothing to do with him.

In the end, he says he regrets ever writing the book.

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Certified serial killer vibes right here.

Schmit only played 56 games in the bigs, but baseball was in his veins.

He was one of the first players to keep notes on the opposing team and use them throughout the course of the game.

Crazy played around the country for many years and one sportswriter in 1908 exaggerated that he had played on "nearly every professional field in the country."

In the 1940 census, at age 74, he still listed his profession as “baseball player.”

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The Kissing Bandit: Making millions kissing athletes

• The Collision: Run fast, crash hard

• The World Series Riot: Detroit goes apeshit

That's it for today. Tomorrow we're back at it like a bad habit. See ya!

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