OAKLAND — José Canseco was, in his own words, an emotional wreck. He played his part. His voice cracked and his tears flowed.
He never thought this day would come.
“What I’ve accomplished here, what we’ve accomplished as a team and, of course, with everything I’ve been through — the steroid book, the steroid era, that whole combination,” Canseco said, “for the Oakland A’s to even consider putting me in the Hall of Fame, to me, it was a shock. When they called me, I thought it was a joke.”
It was no joke. Before the final Bay Bridge series, Canseco, Miguel Tejada, Terry Steinbach, Bill King, Dick Williams and Eddie Joost were officially inducted into the Oakland A’s Hall of Fame. And if Canseco still had any doubts about the reality of this induction, those doubts were officially swept away when Tony La Russa, his former manager and “second dad,” dressed him in a green jacket.
“I wish I could give everyone a… forearm punch,” Canseco said.
La Russa’s introduction of Canseco was no small feat. The two men, for a multitude of reasons, haven’t always had the most harmonious relationship. But on Saturday, La Russa showered Canseco with praise.
“He had one of the highest baseball IQs of any player I managed over the years,” La Russa said.
If La Russa knew Canseco for his brains, the baseball world knew Canseco in his prime for his brown complexion. In nine seasons with the A’s, Canseco hit 254 home runs, became the first member of the 40-40 club and won the MVP award in 1988. With Steinbach, who hit 132 home runs in 11 seasons in Oakland, Canseco and the A’s won three American League titles and the 1989 World Series.
Canseco has made no shortage of fuss over the past four decades, both during and after his playing days. But this afternoon, he had the privilege of basking in a sea of admiration.
“I thought it was an April Fool’s joke,” Canseco said. “I thought, ‘How the hell am I going to get inducted into the Hall of Fame?’ I thought, ‘I don’t really deserve it, but I’m really happy to be here.’”
When Steinbach was asked if there was a particular memory of Canseco that stood out to him, the catcher joked, “You have to have more determination to go through those stories.” In addition to remembering Canseco’s talent, Steinbach recalled a time during spring training when the batting staff was discussing RBI situations.
“Jose says, ‘Every time I come to the plate, it’s an RBI situation,’” Steinbach laughed. “At first, we laughed. But then we were like, ‘You know, he’s right!’”
Tejada and the A’s never reached the top during his time in Oakland, but the A’s “Moneyball” teams of the early 2000s continue to leave a lasting impact on the Bay Area and beyond.
In seven seasons with the A’s, Tejada became the franchise leader in home runs (156), RBIs (604) and slugging percentage (.460) among shortstops, earning the American League Most Valuable Player award in 2002. Before Scott Hatteberg’s famous home run that gave the A’s 20-game winning streak, Tejada orchestrated back-to-back game-winning runs to give Oakland its 18th and 19th straight victories.
“When I signed with Oakland out of the Dominican Republic, I never thought this day would come,” Tejada said. “I played hard every day and enjoyed (the game), but I never thought I was going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.”
In about two months, as the A’s head to Sacramento at the end of the season, the memories created by Canseco, Steinbach and Tejada will be all that remains of Major League Baseball in Oakland.
“At some point, I think the fans realized that the organization was run strictly like a business. It really was,” Canseco said. “It wasn’t about the fans. It wasn’t about creating a winning product. It was about making money. I think organizations get caught up in that, for sure. It’s just the way they run things. It seems like it’s time to take a step forward, go somewhere else and start fresh.”
“For me, this is where I grew up: in this stadium, in this city,” Tejada said. “There are a lot of fans here, a lot of people who love coming to the stadium and I really feel sorry for them.”
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