Jose Canseco injured in accidental shooting

Jose Canseco, a 17 year MLB veteran who last played during the 2001 season, has reportedly been injured in an accidental shooting at his home in Las Vegas. Multiple reports have confirmed that there was a shooting at the residence, but police have elected not to release any details.

Leila Knight, Canseco’s fiance, spoke with TMZ Sports shortly after the incident – confirming that Canseco was cleaning his gun at the time of the incident. The 50 year old reportedly did not realize that the gun was loaded at the time. She added that Canseco is currently in surgery as doctors attempt to save the middle finger on his left hand. The bullet struck near the base of the finger, suggesting that he likely will not regain full use of the digit again.

Canseco hit 462 home runs over the course of his career, twice leading the American League. The 1986 Rookie of the Year and 1988 MVP spent the first half of his career with the Oakland A’s before also spending time with the Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees, and Chicago White Sox. Canseco finished his career with a .266/.353/.515 batting line.

Since his MLB playing career ended, Canseco’s name has been in the news more than he’d like. In 2005 he admitted to using anabolic steroids in a tell-all book that put an end to most of the relationships he still maintained with former teammates. He was later included in the Mitchell Report for his use of performance enhancing drugs.

Canseco has made multiple attempts at some sort of comeback since, playing in a number of independent league teams with varying degrees of success. Despite his numerous admissions of steroid use, he’s also consistently pined for a coaching opportunity that simply will never come.