Whaddaya Say, Jose?

O.K., so if Canseco is such a schmuck, why does he spend so much time at the Miami Youth Club, playing basketball with the kids, staying for their spaghetti dinners, donating hundreds of pairs of sneakers at a time?

If Canseco is such a schmuck, why is he so deeply involved in the Make a Wish foundation, which fulfills the fantasies of dying children?

If Canseco is such a schmuck, how come he paid for a kid with leukemia to be flown from Sacramento to Scottsdale, Ariz., for the the A's spring training?

If Canseco is such a schmuck, how come he drove to Pleasanton, Calif., to raise money for a paralyzed kid called J.O. by signing autographs for 4½ hours?

And if Canseco is such a schmuck, why did he give his brother a house and a brand new Porsche 911 and his father a new Cadillac?

Jose Canseco is a baseball virtuoso, an athletic flower that blooms once a century. We know this because he mentioned it the other day.

"I go beyond your everyday slugger," he said. "Some sluggers just hit home runs. I murder the ball. I can do the five things you need in a great player: I hit, I hit for power, I run, I field, and I have a great arm." And the best, he says, is yet to come: "Every year you will see a better Jose Canseco. Every year I'll dwarf the stats from the previous year."

Will Rogers said, "No man is great if he thinks he is," but Will Rogers never looked at a Canseco box score. As of Sunday, Canseco was hitting .296, with 34 home runs and 82 RBIs. And this after missing most of June with back ailments. "Don't panic on me," he said in Oakland one day during his injury ride. "I could still hit 50 this year."

Judd Rose of ABC's Prime Time Live asked him why he is so popular. "I'm Jose Canseco. I do things out of the ordinary. I'm the first 40-40 player. I'm 235 pounds and run a 3.8 from home to first base. I'm going to steal bases and I'm going to hit you a lot of home runs. I'm going to play you great defense. I'm going to throw people out. This is what the fans want to hear about."

The thing is, he might be right.