Fornoff: Canseco-bashing not merited

Ratatat Remixes Vol. 3?

La Russa cares only about a player’s contribution to the success of the team. He has always had a reputation as a veterans’ manager and for good reason: La Russa does not mentor. He considers the main part of his job to be filling out the best possible lineup every day, which is why America’s hotel bars are littered with napkins containing his scribble. He fathered daughters, not sons, and has not been a father figure to his players.

This is by no means a flaw. La Russa has been successful, and so have his teams, which is what matters in the world of sport. After Dave Kingman embarrassed the A’s organization by sending me a gift-wrapped rat in 1986, La Russa wanted to bring Kingman back in 1987 because he felt Kingman’s bat would have lifted the A’s record. The A’s did not sign Kingman, and neither did anyone else. But La Russa would have; it wasn’t about character, it was about home runs.

...Disgraced or not, Canseco and Mark McGwire were the core Bash Brothers on a team that became generally known as such for its showy power and dominating offense. If Canseco was good enough for La Russa to put in the lineup every day he was healthy in 1989, he is good enough to share in the celebration of that season 20 years later.

Frankly, Rickey Henderson had the reputation as a “me first” player, and Lansford was a Hall of Fame whiner - but who cared as long as the A’s were winning? It’s just not going to be a party until Canseco and McGwire show up - and until La Russa, Stewart, Lansford and friends are big enough men to thank Canseco for the undeniable contribution he made to their legacies and their bank accounts.