Whaddaya Say, Jose?

When you are the sons of Jose Canseco Sr., you do things perfectly or you don't do them at all.

"My dad?" Canseco has said. "He has absolutely no sense of humor. He's a total perfectionist." Did he get his athleticism from his father? "Are you kidding? My dad is a total klutz. He has absolutely no coordination." What he got from his father is an expectation to be the absolute best. And he got rewards for being it. To this day, Jose Sr. gives his sons $5 for each home run they hit.

Esther: "Jose's dad is too much of a perfectionist, if you ask me. Like, let's say Jose has a game where he hits two home runs and strikes out the third time. His dad will call up and say, 'What happened the third time, Jose?' Whatever Jose does, it's never enough."

Canseco told GQ, "I love my father, but if anybody puts pressure on me, it's him. He thinks he knows the game, but he doesn't. He tells me how I should hit a certain pitcher. Has my father ever played baseball? No."

Ozzie looks at it differently. "My dad sees a lot of himself in us," he says. "He wants us to be really successful. He's proud. He came over here with nothing, and he went from making a salary of almost nothing to making $60,000 now. He expects a lot out of us, too."

Jose Canseco has a 90-mph fastball. Also a hellacious knuckleball.

"Hey, Tony, can I pitch tomorrow?" he says to La Russa.

"No," says La Russa.

Tomorrow is the All-Star Game.

Jose Canseco is a no-show at the All-Star press conference the day before the game. La Russa is there, but no Jose.