Flip open Jose Canseco's latest contribution to the downfall of the American literary world, and immediately four words stare you right in the face.

"The Godfather of Steroids."

The pronouncement is the title to Chapter One, and it sums up the spirit of "Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball" more effectively than the rest of the book's 254 pages. It also speaks to why the collective response to "Vindicated" ought to be "Who Cares?!" After all, such an image is about as contemptible as that of a talent-wasting, money-hungry tattletale, and when it comes to Canseco, the later book is as full of "juice" as his best-selling original. It's never that simple, of course, a fact proven when "Vindicated" debuted at No. 5 on the New York Times nonfiction hardcover list three weeks ago. Clearly, people are still interested in what Canseco has to say, and given his track record, they should be.

Then again, most people are also interested in staring at a train wreck, too. Canseco and the world about which he writes embody that very thing, so draw your own conclusions.

"Vindicated" offers very little of substance (no pun intended) that Canseco hasn't already covered in "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big," the book that threw open the curtain to baseball's steroid culture.

How little? Here's what we learned that we didn't know already:

  • Canseco injected Detroit
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    Tigers star Magglio Ordonez with steroids and human growth hormone when the two were teammates with the Chicago White Sox.

  • Canseco can't stand Alex Rodriguez.

  • Canseco has a flair for lie-detector tests. (A sampling: "Is your shirt black?" "Yes.").

  • Canseco once thought Roger Clemens was dirty, couldn't understand why his editors kept Clemens' name out of "Juiced" (or that famous "60 Minutes" interview), was appalled that nobody would listen to his own opinion, and yet now thinks Rocket is as clean as a freshly bathed baby.

    All of these truths should be taken with more than just a wink of an eye, too. Canseco, in many regards, has been the most credible character in the unveiling of the steroids scandal, and pending the outcome of Clemens' saga, none of the main points in his original has been proven untrue.

    But neither, too, will the truths in "Vindicated" change the world, and one can only hope the result does not bring upon us a Part III in this saga. After all, Canseco's original book did change the world, to a degree, and for this, he deserves not only credit but apologies. So much of what Canseco wrote in "Juiced," initially, was dismissed, because respect for the author was lacking, but it did prove to be as truthful an account of the steroids culture as we've seen.

    But it didn't bring Canseco the validation he thinks he should have received, and this is the basis for much of his rambling in "Vindicated." Jose uses more than 100 pages to tell us that he should've been treated more fairly by the media, been lauded more for his testimony at the infamous March 17, 1995, Congressional hearings, that his conspiracy theories shouldn't fall on deaf ears, and that he should have been a key source in the Mitchell Report.

    These are all excellent points, by the way. But unfortunately for Canseco, using this platform to preach about the dues he should be owed only causes the message to be lost in the shadows of the messenger, just as it did in the original.

    The sum of which should provide Canseco with his answer when he wonders why the only message he seems intent on selling — that he is, indeed, the Godfather of Steroids — is not met with minions falling to their knees.

    Contact sportswriter Rick Hurd at rhurd@bayareanewsgroup.com.

    NONFICTION
  • TITLE: "Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball"
  • AUTHOR: Jose Canseco
  • PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster
  • PRICE: $25.95; PAGES: 254