Jose Canseco still attracting loyal fans at card shows years after ‘divorce’ from MLB
CHARLOTTE, NC—Former MLB star Jose Canseco stays busy these days making appearances at baseball card shows across the country.
What's interesting is he's never got an autograph on his own and didn't keep any of the memorabilia he compiled over his 17-year all-star career.
Related Content:
Canseco, now 61, lives in Las Vegas. He is a native of Havana, Cuba. Canseco’s family emigrated to south Florida when he was an infant. As a child, he collected cards and traded them with boyhood friends. He was a big fan of the Cincinnati Reds, as well as Reggie Jackson.
“Being who I am now, [meeting] celebrities in every sport and in the acting business and political realm ... for some reason, I never got an autograph and I don't know why,” Canseco told Sports Collectors Digest during the Charlotte Card Show Oct. 11-12 at Park Expo and Conference Center.
Canseco, considering his lengthy baseball career and all the time he spends signing items at card shows, says he never collected sports memorabilia. Instead, he prefers to collect Asian art, stones and tapestries.
“It's kind of weird and unusual,” he said. “I had a fallout with MLB (over the 1980s-90s steroid scandal) and I wrote two books about it. I see it this way—if you were married and got divorced, you want to put that past behind you, so you don't keep your ex-wife's pictures and clothing. You start anew with everything. That's the attitude I had with MLB. I'm not a baseball player anymore.”
When he was a baseball player, Canseco stood out as the first player in MLB history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a single season. In 1988, the year the A's reached the World Series on the strength of sluggers Canseco and Mark McGwire, coined the “Bash Brothers,” Canseco clubbed 42 homers and swiped 40 bases.
Since that time, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Shohei Ohtani have accomplished the feat. Ronald Acuna Jr. took it a step further in 2023, creating the 40-70 club with 41 home runs and 73 stolen bases. Shohei Ohtani took it to a whole other level in 2024, becoming the game’s first 50-50 player, smashing 54 homers and stealing 59 bases.
Canseco's career totals: 462 home runs, 1,407 RBIs, 1,877 hits, and 200 stolen bases.
For collectors keen on Canseco, the steroid scandal didn't mean as much to them compared with his prodigious clouts, mostly with the A's. At the Charlotte Card Show, those standing in line for Canseco's autograph were fans of the Braves, Yankees and Phillies, among other teams. They all had one thing in common—an affection for Canseco and the show he put on at the ballpark.
“Growing up, he hit the bombs; he was the big guy,” said collector Chris Rhinehart of Charlotte, who runs a WhatNot channel called My Cardboard Collection, where he rips 1980s and ’90s wax packs four to five times a week. “Jose was a lot of fun to watch and his 1986 Donruss [rookie] card was always worth a lot of money. At that time, it was about $150. For anyone in the industry, you had to have that card.”
In some circles, Canseco mint condition rookie cards have escalated in value over the past 40 years. A check of eBay on Oct. 13 showed a half-dozen Donruss Canseco rookies, all graded PSA 10, selling for $620 to $780.
Rhinehart has the Donruss card, but he didn't know Canseco would be at the card show, and left it at home. His son, Bryce, got the next best thing, Canseco's autograph on a 1987 Topps card acquired at the show.
Danny Abney, a collector in Charlotte, recalls the excitement during the Bash Brothers era. Abney was in college at the time and attracted to the long ball and the power Canseco brought to the game.
Abney collects Sports Illustrated magazines and he got Canseco to sign one with his photo on the cover. It was the second time he got Canseco's signature on an SI. The first time was a few years ago when Abney met Canseco at a Myrtle Beach card show in South Carolina.
“I came to this show because of Jose,” Abney said. “The steroid thing taints him a little bit, but a lot of MLB players were doing it at the time. I was always drawn more to Jose than McGwire. He was a little more flamboyant.”
For Mike Kowalowski of Charlotte, Canseco was his favorite player as a youngster, and that's why he attended the card show, bringing along his daughter. Kowalowski, a long-time collector, grew up a Yankees fan but held an affinity for the A's due to Canseco.
“I always took a liking to Jose,” he said. “Now, it's more nostalgic for me to come back and meet a person that I admired as a kid.”
Collector Kevin Knowles was first in line to secure Canseco's autograph on multiple items, including a Bash Brothers poster. Knowles, who lives in Wilmington, N.C., recalled when Canseco grabbed the bag after stealing his 40th base in 1988.
Knowles holds a vast collection of Canseco memorabilia, running from premium cards and rookie cards to photos, balls and bats.
“I never got rid of my stuff,” he said. “I don't sell, just buy and keep. I've had opportunities to sell my collection but I never wanted to. I'm a Braves fan, but Jose always stuck out to me; that's what is unique about him.”
The same is true for Mike Price, a collector from Gaffney, S.C. Price is a Phillies fan, but always liked Canseco. His girlfriend does too, prompting Price to get a card signed for her. Price previously met Canseco at a card show in New Jersey where he got items signed.
“There's a lot of controversy over him, but I always felt like, after watching the documentary, [‘The Truth Hurts’], that he was just being honest,” Price said. “Baseball came to him, asked him about it, and he told them the truth. Other guys didn't. I don't harbor any ill will toward him. Back in the day, that was fun baseball.”
Don Muret