Jose Canseco

His identical twin brother Ozzie, with identical DNA

(Need proof?)

Jose hit 462 homeruns at the major league level. Ozzie did not hit any. One cannot say that Ozzie's career was a failure--he DID make it to the big show, which is more than most professional baseball players can say. But when compared to Jose, Ozzie's career was remarkably disappointing.

A picture of the two boys

Jose is listed as 6'4 240 pounds and Ozzie as 6'2, 220. This most certainly is imaginative measurement on Jose's part. I've also seen his height listed as 6'3 and maybe even 6'2. Jose is 6'4 the same way that Sylvestor Stallone is an even 6'.

So Jose lifted more weights early in their careers. How else can you explain the vast difference in their performances? Take a look at what a regimented weight training program has done to Barry Bond's career--he went from great to the best-hitter-ever after adding 20 pounds of muscle. But Barry did it towards the end of an incredible career at an age (mid-late 30s) when a man's body type changes (bulkier). Plus Barry comes from a baseball family, and has been a prodigy of sorts his entire life. Not exactly great comparison material. Ozzie Canseco is most certainly the same size (or thereabouts) as Jose was in 2001. How come Ozzie didn't get considered for a big league team so he could poke 16 homeruns or so?

Jose and Ozzie may not be so different after all. They ARE both baseball players. They both had very successful and long careers (when compared to the average pro ballplayer), playing into their late 30s. Both of them played in the Major Leagues--something to brag about at the next family reunion. But Jose will be considered for the Hall of Fame and Ozzie will only be known to a select few as Jose's twin brother. Does Jose prove that great success at the highest level relies on something more immaterial than DNA. The DNA was the foundation that gave them athletic figures, great hand-eye coordination, perfect vision, a strong work ethic, and maybe enough of an inflated ego to keep them in the weight room, but when DNA and reality convened, Jose had something that Ozzie did not--maybe it was just a smigden of swagger to believe he was 6'4, or maybe just a touch more competitiveness. Either way, conditioning HAS to have played a role in their different success rates. Notice that Jose is Jose Canseco Jr. and Ozzie is just Ozzie Canseco. Perhaps Jose came out first and for that, or some other unknown reason (a chance twinkle that caught his father's eye), he was dubbed Jose Jr--the first moment when the bat hit the ball in perfect alignment producing one of Jose's 462 moments when everything came together.

Some people look at Jose's success early in his career and then his injuries and off the field problems later and call him a case of wasted talent, certainly not worthy of the Hall. I look at his brother's lack of success as proof that the difference between decent and great is as intangible as the human soul.