June 18, 2009

AP (here via Canadian Press) reports that Jose Canseco plans to sue Major League Baseball and the MLB players' union.

In what looks to me like a report straight out of The Onion, Canseco announces that he will enlist Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro and others (it will be a "class action", so presumably unnamed players will be plaintiffs) in the suit. The grounds? "lost wages - in some cases, defamation of character." To wit (numerous sics spared):

"Because I used steroids and I came out with a book, I was kicked out of the game, but I have not been inducted into the Hall of Fame. A lot of these players have not been inducted into the Hall of Fame: Mark McGwire and so forth. They're losing salaries, because obviously when you're inducted into the Hall of Fame, you get asked to do certain, you know, appearances and shows and so forth, which incorporates income. So there is a major income loss... Not even that, baseball blackballs you from their family, meaning you can't have a future proper reference from them, a job, no managerial jobs, no coaching jobs, nothing. They completely sever you."

Let's wait and see which lawyer has "consulted" with Canseco, which other players will team up with him, and which jurist is prepared to make a straight-faced claim to a court that a player has the right to get into the Hall of Fame, and that truth is no longer a defense to a defamation suit.