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Jose Canseco hit 462 homers in his career but now might be better known for his steroid use.
Jose Canseco says in his upcoming book that he injected Mark McGwire with steroids and introduced several other sluggers to the drugs, the Daily News reported Sunday.
The long-awaited "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big," is scheduled for release by Regan Books on Feb. 21. Regan publicist Paul Olsewski told The Associated Press in an e-mail that the release date could be moved up.
Parent company HarperCollins posted a book description on its Web site that said Canseco "made himself a guinea pig of the performance-enhancing drugs" and added the 1988 AL MVP "mixed, matched and experimented to such a degree that he became known throughout the league as 'The Chemist."'
The Daily News did not quote from the book and said it was still being edited. The newspaper would not say how it got the information.
Canseco did not respond to an e-mail from the AP.
Canseco said he, McGwire and Jason Giambi shot steroids together in the bathroom stall at the Oakland Coliseum, the Daily News reported. McGwire has always denied using steroids.
"I have always told the truth and I am saddened I continue to face this line of questioning," McGwire told the newspaper.
Canseco said he introduced Texas teammates Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez to steroids after being traded to the Rangers in 1992.
"Neither our current owner, general manager and manager were with the Rangers then," Texas spokesman Gregg Elkin said. "The Rangers continue to support baseball's initiative to get steroids out of the game."
Canseco also said President Bush, the Rangers' general managing partner at the time, must have known about the steroid use.
White House spokesman Trent Duffy did not specifically address Canseco's assertion, but said Sunday that Bush's position on steroids "has been known for some time," noting that he condemned the drugs in his 2004 State of the Union address.
A few years ago, Canseco claimed that 80 percent of major leaguers had taken steroids. Last spring, he said: "I think the numbers may have changed. Who knows? Maybe the numbers have diminished."
Canseco hit 462 home runs in a major league career from 1985-2001.
Baseball recently adopted a tougher steroid-testing program after the sport came under increased scrutiny about the drugs. Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield and Giambi testified before a federal grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative known as BALCO.
Source: AP