Jose Canseco's forthcoming book, "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big," implicates Baltimore Orioles Miguel Tejada, Sammy Sosa and Tony Saunders as steroid users, although Canseco admits he has no evidence of use by any of them.
The allegations appeared Friday in a story on the New York Daily News Web site. Earlier this week, the Daily News reported Canseco claimed that the Orioles' Rafael Palmeiro also used steroids, a charge the first baseman emphatically denied in a statement.
According to the Daily News, Canseco, in his book, says he noticed a change in Sosa's physique prior to the 1998 season. Canseco implies the change was because of steroids.
"It seemed so obvious," Canseco reportedly wrote, "it was a joke."
However, he admits: "I don't know Sammy Sosa personally, so I can't say for a fact that he ever took steroids."
Reportedly, Canseco said he introduced Tejada to steroids when the two were in the Oakland Athletics' organization in 1997. Tejada played mostly in Class AA that season, but was called up to the major league club that September.
"I started giving him advice about steroids, and he seemed interested in what I was saying," the Daily News quotes the book.
But again, Canseco said he never witnessed Tejada use steroids.
Neither Adam Katz, agent for Sosa, nor Fernando Cuza, agent for Tejada, was available to comment. The Orioles declined to comment.
Perhaps the most puzzling accusation was of Saunders, whom the Orioles signed to a minor league deal this offseason. Saunders, a teammate of Canseco with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays during the 1999 season, has been out of baseball since breaking his arm while pitching in a minor league game in 2000. He did not return a phone call.
Baltimore owner Peter Angelos reacted angrily earlier this week to Canseco's claim about Palmeiro. In a statement Angelos questioned Canseco's reputation and said he'd support Palmeiro if he pursued the matter legally.
Friday, Bill Stetka, the Orioles' director of publication relations, issued a second statement: "Mr. Angelos's statement earlier this week speaks volumes about Canseco's credibility, or lack of it. We'll reserve further comment until we see if Canseco names Babe Ruth, Abner Doubleday or anyone else."
Canseco did not limit his accusations to Orioles. The Daily News reports Canseco named future Hall of Fame pitcher Roger Clemens, though he couches any comments about the pitcher by saying, "I've never seen Roger Clemens do steroids, and he never told me that he did."
Canseco said he heard rumors of steroid use by Clemens and that the pitcher's improvement late in his career is a "classic sign" of steroid use.
"Neither Roger nor I have seen the book, but any such suggestion is absurd on its face," Randy Hendricks, agent for Clemens, told the Daily News. "It's a wonder Canseco didn't name the Pope, given he named President Bush."