Canseco book a personal vendetta?

What happened

In his new book Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball, former Major League Baseball player Jose Canseco claims that he introduced American League M.V.P. Alex Rodriquez to a steroid supplier. But some critics are questioning the book’s credibility, because in the past Canseco made it publicly known that he dislikes Rodriguez, and because Vindicated claims that A-Rod pursued Canseco’s wife. (AP)

What the commentators said

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Well, Canseco’s attack on A-Rod isn’t too surprising, said Ken Davidoff in Newsday.com. “Since last summer,” Canseco had “hinted that he would go after Alex Rodriguez in his next book,” and sure enough, “baseball’s unwelcome whistle-blower has followed through on his threat.” He even seems to take “pleasure in taking on A-Rod.”

Which is just one of the reasons why Canseco’s new book shouldn’t be taken too seriously, said RotoWorld.com. The other reason being that all Canseco revealed was that he introduced A-Rod to a steroid supplier—“if that’s all Canseco has on Rodriguez, he probably should have kept his mouth shut this time. But he didn’t.”

But let’s not forget that Canseco does have some credibility, said Jack Curry in The New York Times. In his first book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ’Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big, he “accused his former teammates Mark McGwire, Juan Gonz