Notebook: Canseco interview airs

Jose Canseco says he and fellow slugger Mark McGwire were never "buddy buddies" as teammates on the Oakland Athletics, but had at least...

By Seattle Times news services

Jose Canseco says he and fellow slugger Mark McGwire were never "buddy buddies" as teammates on the Oakland Athletics, but had at least one thing in common that they talked about regularly: using steroids.

Canseco also admitted in an interview with "60 Minutes" that he would never have been a major league-caliber player without using the drugs.

"I don't recommend steroids for everyone and I don't recommend growth hormones for everyone," Canseco told Mike Wallace. "But for certain individuals, I truly believe, because I've experimented with it for so many years, that it can make an average athlete a super athlete."

The interview was broadcast on CBS, one day before the release of Canseco's book, "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big."

"Mark and I weren't really in a sense of buddy buddies," Canseco said. "But there are certain subjects that we could talk about, like obviously steroids and so forth."

McGwire, who has repeatedly denied steroid use, said in a statement to the television news magazine: "Once and for all I did not use steroids nor any illegal substance."

Canseco also says he introduced steroids to former Texas Rangers teammates Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez. All have publicly denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

"I injected them. Absolutely," said Canseco, who hit 462 home runs in a major league career from 1985-2001.

Major League Baseball likely will not investigate Canseco's charges.

"The commissioner isn't looking backward; he's looking forward," Sandy Alderson, MLB's executive vice president for baseball affairs, said.

Larkin retires, joins Nationals

Barry Larkin, 40, a 12-time all-star who spent his entire 19-year career with the Cincinnati Reds, has retired and joined the Washington Nationals in their front office as a special assistant. The Reds had rejected his overtures to return for a 20th season.

Over 2,180 games, Larkin hit .295 with 441 doubles, 76 triples, 198 home runs, 960 runs batted in and 379 stolen bases. He helped the team win the World Series in 1990 and was National League MVP in 1995.

Note

• RHP Ben Sheets, 26, and the Milwaukee Brewers agreed to a $6 million, one-year contract that avoided a salary arbitration hearing.

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