Canseco makes news with mouth instead of bat

CHICO, Calif. -- Jose Canseco's most entertaining stuff came hours before he stepped back onto the field, when he criticized Major League Baseball and promised more significant steroids information.

His on-field performance left a lot to be desired.

Canseco returned to professional baseball with a three-strikeout showing as the designated hitter for the San Diego Surf Dawgs in their 4-3 Golden Baseball League win over the Chico Outlaws on Monday night.

On the steroids front, he got everybody's attention again -- calling for a "cleanup" in Major League Baseball and suggesting baseball officials might play favorites when it comes to penalties.

"The policy sounds great, but that's not the problem," he said in a news conference five hours before the first pitch. "There are major problems not with the policies but the individuals who are instituting this policy. For example, and this is theoretical, if Roger Clemens gets tested and he gets tested positive and it comes back, what do these individuals do with this policy? I think it's going to depend on a case-to-case, player-to-player basis."

Canseco, who wrote a book that helped persuade baseball to toughen its steroids policy, received a smattering of boos and cheers before the game when he was announced, then again when he stepped into the batter's box leading off the second inning.

Canseco -- swinging a wooden bat for the first time in at least four years -- also was hit by a pitch in a game that drew 4,501 fans for the largest crowd ever to watch a game in Nettleton Stadium.

He struck out swinging on four pitches leading off the second and again in the third on five pitches, getting razzed in the process.

The crowd clapped when he finally made contact in the seventh, fouling off a pitch moments before he struck out for the third time.

Earlier, Canseco called Major League Baseball "the mafia" for the way it has handled the game's steroids scandal and said the sport might even hide the truth when it comes to big-name stars and positive tests.

"They're mafia, point blank, they're mafia," Canseco said. "I don't think Major League Baseball is enthused about finding out the truth. There needs to be a major cleanup in Major League Baseball. I think they are treading on very thin ice, and (commissioner) Bud Selig has to be very careful what he's doing because his job is on the line."

When contacted about Canseco's comments, baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said, "We wouldn't comment on anything he said."

One day after his 42nd birthday, Canseco noted that years of steroids use helped slow the aging process for him. He weighs 230 pounds -- down significantly from his playing weight of between 255 and 260.

The former slugger -- he has 462 career home runs -- was back in professional baseball for the first time since finishing his 17-year major league career with the Chicago White Sox in 2001. Canseco signed with the Surf Dawgs last week for the remaining two months of the season, set to earn the league's maximum salary of $2,500 a month.

Canseco is working on a movie and two more books, saying he intends to "rectify" his tarnished image.

"The movie is going to be devastating, no ifs and buts about it," he said.

Canseco said he will meet in the coming weeks with former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, appointed in March by Selig to head the sport's investigation into steroids.

Baseball has toughened its drug policy several times in recent years, but Canseco isn't satisfied.

"They now realize it started with me and ends with me," he said. "The policy sounds great, but that's not the problem. There are major problems not with the policies but the individuals who are instituting this policy."