He tried on all the hats while my wife and Leila were talking, so she wasn't taking any pictures of these, but as it was time for the jerseys to be put on, Jose said we should go in the backyard for this, and I believe he said something about taking pictures of them. My wife got to take pics of him wearing each one. He was great and posed for each picture. I can't believe the man is 50 and in such great shape. He looks like he could still play on the major league level! Here are just a few pics ...
I had him put on the last one (the A's jersey) so I could pose with him as I was wearing an A's jersey as well. After we were done, I was a bit worried about taking too much of their time, but he was very leisurely and was talking to us about all the neat animals they have coming in their backyard. His backyard and home, by the way - absolutely gorgeous. The view from the backyard was phenomenal, but what else would you expect, right?
I then had him sign each and every letter on each and every jersey for teams he played for. I have ALWAYS loved "By the Letter" cards, but was disappointed that they were not worn by the player, but rather manufactured. I loved that Topps came out with "Own the Name" cards, but was disappointed they weren't signed. Well, now I have both! I have player worn AND signed letters for EACH letter ... for EACH team he played on. This was something that was a big, big, big driving force for me to get this whole thing done.
My allotment for autographs that I had purchased in this deal was coming to a close. I didn't want to overdo it at all, and Jose certainly was not keeping track. He was basically just doing everything I requested. I did tell him though that I did not pay for 2 of the jerseys to be signed on the letters and asked ifhe had time, if I could pay him more to sign them as well.
"Pshhh please ... don't worry about that! I'll sign them all for you,no problem. Heck, you made me a really awesome playing card deck."Contrary to what others may seem to think about him, to me, his response to this did not make him sound like a jerk or someone who was hard up for cash. He could have easily said sure I'll sell you more autographs for a few hundred extra, but he didn't - he just did it for free, and happily so.
Some of the cards caused him to ask questions. Like my request to have him inscribe H.R. #500 5/9/03 - I told him this was a "
what if" card and told him that date coincides with my birthday. He then understood and signed it while tell me if he had one more year in baseball, he would have gotten to 500. I agree with him!
Having him sign all of the cards from my custom collection became a bit of a nightmare at the time - he was great, but I had cards outside of their holders so they could dry - they were all over his counter, kitchen table, etc. Holders were mismatched, and at this point, virtually impossible to put back together within a reasonable amount of time.
During the signing, he mentioned something about showing us some home runs of his that he guarantees we have never seen before - monster shots. This was something I was very much so looking forward to, but was still concerned about time. When the signing was done, he went to get a disc his father had made him of some interviews and some of the home runs he had hit. It didn't work because he only had a blue ray player, so I suggested that I bring inside my laptop to play it, and he said okay.
We popped in the disc and watched the whole thing together while he was narrating. One part of the dvd that we watched, there was a piece of interview that Jose was wearing the game used batting practice jersey I had gotten a few months ago. You know - the one with the
pills in the pocket. My wife said to me"Hey, isn't that the jersey you have?" And Jose said "Yup, that is the same one!"
Prior to this, I had him sign 1994 Batting Practice Jersey or something similar, if I recall correctly. As I was putting it up, I said "yeah, here is that Rangers jersey" and he said "yup, that is the one!" The home runs he showed us were even more incredible than that 89 ALCS 5th deck home run at the skydome.
Before we started watching, Leila had just made cupcakes, and she & Jose offered us some. When Jose Canseco offers you cupcakes, you do NOT say no. BTW, they were DELICIOUS.
After the watching the home runs, he had talked to us about home run length, bat speed, size, etc.
Then, he had us come upstairs.
Yeah - this was totally not what I was thinking. Remember when I thought he was going to have us in his garage? Not only is he allowing us in his home, he is bringing us upstairs! While we are following him upstairs, he still has the glove on that I traded him, and shows us his poker room. Two AMAZING poker tables were in there - one of which had some incredible artwork done of him. He said he loved the cards I made him again, and put them on the table for my wife to take a pic. He fanned them out and said "Here isa better shot for you."
We had a seat at his card table, and he kept talking about the glove, then we ended up playing cards! That was a blast - I played several hands of blackjack with Jose Canseco.
My wife asked for another picture of us, and I was reminded about ... THE BASH. How can I leave without a picture of doing the bash?!?!
I put my arm in the wrong place and Jose re-positioned my arm a few times. It was a rookie mistake on my behalf, not having ever bashed with Canseco before.
When we were done, we went downstairsfor me to pack everything up an go. He insisted we take several of the cupcakes with us on our trip, and I had asked for him to autograph one for me. I was kidding, and thankfully he knew that because I wouldn't have been able to have brought myself to eat it! The cupcakes he sent with us lasted a total of30 minutes or so between my son and I.
As we walked out the door, I thanked him for having us over, and we walked out to our car to leave.
But my wife left our keys and her phone on the poker table upstairs. YIKES!!!!
I rang the doorbell again, and Jose answered with Leila this time.
"I'm so sorry - my wife left our keys and her phone upstairs."
"Oh, no problem, come on in!"
So, I scurried up the stairs to retrieve them while they were still in the kitchen. I shook both their hands and thanked them again while we left.
I STILL am in shock that this is how everything went. All jersey letters got signed, all jerseys, hats, gloves and cleats were worn. I traded with him, ate his cupcakes, played cards with him and watched his home runs with him narrating for us.
The entire signing and such probably would have taken 30 minutes, but he had us over for over 2 hours! For me, the verdict is in - both he and Leila are very hospitable, warm people who went above and beyond what my expectations were. Even though I hadn't really factored Leila into this whole signing thing much, I am very grateful to her with how friendly she was with my wife, son and I.
Initially, getting my customs signed and having him wear everything was something I had considered to be the pinnacle of my collecting "career". Something that could never be topped. But in the end, the intangible experience of hanging out with him for over two hours at his house far eclipsed that.
Still in shock.
I don't think I'll be riding off into the sunset anytime soon though, never to be heard from again- among the several items he signed were "blanks" and game used bat pieces. Many with inscriptions that you won't find anywhere else. These items will be used to create more customs. I am ecstatic that I have so much material to create lots of NASTY patch cards and nameplate sets.
While I was a big collector and fan of Jose (and still am), I am also now very happy to call him friend.
If you are reading this on a forum, I'll be sure and post pictures of the cards I had signed periodically, so stay tuned!