Canseco regrets part in baseball’s steroid storm

FORMER slugger Jose Canseco has expressed regret over his involvement in baseball’s steroids controversy.

The former American League MVP admitted he regretted “mentioning players (as steroids users)” in his book “Juiced”, which was published in 2005 and ultimately resulted in a congressional hearing on doping in the sport.

“I never realised this was going to blow up and hurt so many people,” Canseco said. The 44-year-old revealed that he wrote the book because he wanted to get even with Major League Baseball, which he believed had him “forced out of the game”.

In his book, Canseco named Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro as steroids users. Those three players, along with Canseco, were present at a March 2005 congressional hearing in which Sosa and McGwire provided questionable testimony while Palmeiro denied using steroids.

Less than four years later, Sosa and McGwire are considered long-shots to reach the Hall of Fame despite ranking sixth and eighth, respectively, on the all-time list for career home runs.

Palmeiro tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during the 2005 season and was suspended.

“If I could meet with Mark McGwire and these players, I definitely would apologise,” said Canseco.

Canseco currently faces misdemeanour charges from last week, when he was apprehended in San Diego for attempting to transfer illegal drugs across the US-Mexican border. The drug, human chorionic gonadotropin, helps restore testosterone.