From 60K to 600K: How MLB Salaries EXPLODED (Hall of Famer Tells All) | Jose Canseco DSH #723

One time I was in a poker tournament with Danielle Stryker.

I was already having a lot of problems with pocket aces.

As soon as I sat down, I blanked out.

I woke up out of this weird thing that happened to me.

My pocket aces are going to get knocked out by pocket tens.

She knows when I say this, it happens.

Danielle Stryker raises

position one or two pushes all in.

I call the all-in.

Danielle Stryker folds.

I look over to the guy and I go, You got pocket tens, don't you?

He goes, Yeah, how do you know?

Because I got pocket aces.

He's going to get knocked out of the tournament with pocket aces against pocket 10s.

Guess what happens?

All right, guys, Jose Consego here.

We're going to talk some crazy poker stories today, aren't we?

I've got some serious, crazy, the craziest poker story, probably in the world with 12 witnesses.

As a matter of fact, a person that was there, Danielle Stryker, called Negrono and told him what happened to me, and he said it was impossible.

Let's dive into it, man.

Let's dive straight into it.

So, I don't know know if people know this.

I've been playing poker for about 42 years.

I would say I'm 60 years old.

I'm very old.

So while you were an athlete, you were playing?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, of course.

We play on flights.

We play at the clubhouse before the games, usually on rein outs, on flights, of course, to the major league level.

And a lot of money transpires in those poker games.

I remember

one time losing to Reggie Jackson in a 45-minute flight.

I think it was $55,000.

So yeah, I mean, absolutely.

We play a lot of poker.

Been doing it for a long time.

I played against, you know, Ivan Negrano, the whole combination,

the whole group of the professional players.

And,

you know, I've done okay.

Done okay.

But I'll tell you one story that happened to me, and I think this is probably going to be unbelievable.

But I do have 12 witnesses that will verify and validate this.

There was a point in time where I had a lot of problems with pocket ACEs.

So every time I would have pocketas

pre-flop all in heads up, I lose every single time to the point where it was 11 in a row, where pre-flop heads up.

I lost with pocket ACEs 11 in a row.

Friends of mine will validate and verify this.

One time I had pocket ACEs

and I mucked them.

I threw them away.

The person who pushed all in flopped a straight.

It would have been 12 times in a row.

Now I'm going to tell you about pocket ACEs, a story that you're not going to believe.

But if you doubt it, let's get the witnesses.

Let's bet some money on this.

You're going to see how wrong you are.

So I had an issue with Danielle Stryker, who writes books on poker.

She writes a lot of poker.

She knows me.

And

at times, people know me for being able to

see unusual things.

So one time I was in the poker tournament with Danielle Stryker.

And I was in position, I think, seat two or three.

She was in eight or nine.

And as soon as I sat down, remember, I was already having a lot of problems with pocket aces.

As soon as I sat down, I blanked out.

When I blanked out, I see right in front of my face my pocket aces.

I'm being knocked out of the tournament.

I have pocket aces.

The person that beats me had pocket tense.

I woke up out of this weird thing that happened to me.

I kind of stand up and tell Danielle Stryker, hey, Danielle, guess what?

the same craps happened to me again.

I can see some visions and this kind of stuff.

My pocket aces are going to get knocked out by pocket tense.

And I said it louder than that, so the whole table can hear me.

And of course, the whole table heard me.

They thought I was crazy and stuff like that.

But Danielle Stryker looks at me and goes, oh my God, here we go again.

She knows when I say this, it happens.

A hundred out of a hundred times, automatically happens.

Wow.

We start the tournament.

Now, the tournament, obviously, you get about an hour and a half of the rebuy.

So obviously, so I get knocked out one time.

And I think people understand tournament structure.

There's probably 100 players there.

So usually when you got knocked out, when you want to re-enter a rebuy, when they give you a ticket, usually most of the time they give you a different seat.

I get knocked out.

They give me the same seat again.

I'm like, okay, still a rebuy period.

I get knocked out.

They give me the same seat again.

Now I'm like, okay, this is obviously an omen.

I'm supposed to be in this position because I already told you guys my pocket aces are going to get knocked out.

by pocket tens and I keep telling the whole table this obviously think I'm crazy.

No more rebuys.

Now obviously it's time to play poker.

I get two cards.

They're pocket aces.

True legit.

I'm going to tell you exactly how it happened.

Goes around.

I think Danielle Stryker raises.

Position one or two pushes all in.

I call the all in.

Danielle Stryker folds.

I look over to the guy and I go, you got pocket tens, don't you?

He goes, yeah, how do you know?

Because I got pocket aces.

We told down the cards, pocket aces against pocket 10.

Remember, there's no more rebuys.

Now everybody's thinking, oh my God, he just said a while back ago, he's going to get knocked out of the tournament with pocket aces against pocket 10s.

Guess what happens?

Flop comes out in the window, a 10, I'm out of the tournament.

Wow.

Think about what I just said.

The odds of that.

Danielle Stryker calls in the grano, explains to him what happened, he goes, that's impossible.

The only way that could have happened is if you saw the future.

I said, that's exactly what happened.

12 witnesses were there, players and two other,

and literally

they were speechless.

And a couple of them turned stone cold white.

True story.

Wow.

You can't make that up.

That is nuts.

So have you always had these visions?

Yes.

So do you think you're kind of psychic in a way, though?

No.

You're only psychic.

You only psychic if you can control them.

Like, for example, one time, the first time I met Danielle Stryker,

we had a poker tournament.

We just sat next to each other.

We started talking.

I said, watch this.

I'm going to show you something.

Every time I get a pocket ace in my hand, I'm not going to hit it for like 35 times.

I'm never on the flop, nothing.

35 times, exactly.

You can call her and verify it.

Strangest thing I've ever seen.

You have some curse with pocket aces.

You know, yeah.

But here's another funny thing.

At times, I can tell what each person's holding and what they have.

Wow.

But it doesn't matter.

Because it's uncontrollable.

You can't control it.

So it kind of just happens in ranks.

It kind of just happens, but the problem is you can't control the flop turn of the river.

That's why I believe in poker.

Anybody can win.

Even if you know the opponent's cards, you may have a slight percentage, but controlling the flop-turner river is impossible.

Right.

Because you could be off 20% and still lose.

Doesn't matter.

Yeah.

It's your other win.

Did you get these visions with baseball too?

Like you would picture yourself in your home round or something?

It's only with numbers.

Numbers.

Only with cards.

Only with numbers.

Interesting.

Wow.

Yeah.

As a matter of fact, there's another one you can look up.

Caesar's Palace, I have a record.

Yeah.

I lost 21 hands in a row on blackjack.

Wow.

Taylor pulled 11 blackjacks on me.

What?

Never played blackjack again.

That was 2,000.

Never played blackjack again with one hand again.

Not even for fun.

Never.

That's how traumatized I am with blackjacks.

That's what the odds of that are.

The odds of losing 21 times in a row has to be less than 10.

And the dealer putting 11 blackjacks on you.

Yeah, it has to be

001%.

Impossible.

So, definitely, I don't play blackjack anymore.

I love poker, though.

I still live with you.

So, do you only stick with poker in terms of gambling?

No backer out or

only poker.

That's it.

And would you say you're up or down on poker

overall?

I would say I might be close to even around there.

Yeah.

I don't play the high six.

I never.

Part of the problem I had with Pocket Aces is that I was hired one time to be a ringer in the Bahamas, believe it or not, to play against multi-millionaires.

And I lost, I think, seven or eight times in a row pre-flop all-in Pocket Aces head.

Jeez.

This is different from the 11 times?

No, this is the continuance of the 11 times total, yeah.

Dude, that is traumatizing.

So here's what's going to happen.

If I were you guys, I'd note this because tomorrow, if I get pocket ACES, pre-flop all in the person gets knocked out, you're not going to laugh.

You're going to say, oh, my God, this is ridiculous.

That's crazy.

And ironically enough, it happens a lot.

Yeah.

So hopefully, we'll see what happens.

That's us, man.

Well, congrats on the Hall of Fame stuff.

I just saw you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nominated.

How does that process work?

It was a great process.

I don't know how it worked.

I don't know how I finally got in, but

it's been a while.

Oh, my God, 20-some-odd years.

It took some of the players 20-some-odd years.

So I figured they had to let this steroid scandal kind of die down and stuff like that.

But

yeah, through that time, I was with the Ace with 86 through 92.

I mean, we had a great team.

I did well for them.

We had a great team.

We went to the World Series three times.

We won one.

So,

you know, I guess better late than never, but I enjoyed it completely.

Yeah.

It was a lot of fun.

That's awesome.

Do you think there's more steroid use now or in your generation?

Oh, my generation, obviously.

Oh, my God.

My generation, 80, 90%.

Oh,

we were,

Listen, the players were on it.

The pitchers, infielders, outfield.

Umpires were on it.

Coaches were on it.

Everybody was on it.

Wait, the umpires were on it.

The fans were on it.

Everybody was on it.

No, I mean, it's an exaggeration, but oh, yeah, it was part of the game back then.

Today,

I don't think so.

I don't think it's worth it.

Yeah.

To be honest, they drive tests how often.

Yeah, I think there's a three-strikes you're out kind of combination.

The first time to give you a slap in the hand.

So they're going to test you at least in spring training and maybe two or three times during the season.

I don't know where that test result is going to go to.

I mean, it's kind of like an internal testing process that they have.

And it's random, though.

They don't tell you when the test is.

It's random.

And, you know, so many things go on.

For example, let's say, for argument's sake, old Tiny gets tested positive for a substance.

Nobody's going to say anything.

He's the face of baseball or judge.

He's the face of baseball.

Obviously, if they find something, they're going to have a little meeting with him or with his agents or his attorneys and so forth.

Listen, this is what we found.

Hopefully we don't find it again, give him a chance to clear it up or clean it up.

So okay.

I don't think it's going to be an issue again.

If someone does test positive for a substance that might be over-the-counter, a supplement that is legal today, but it's against baseball rules and regulations, that may happen.

But, yeah, I don't think that will be a problem anymore.

It's not as prevalent.

No, I don't think it's a problem.

And how much do you think it enhanced your abilities?

Say you had 10 home runs one season and then you took it the next season.

I don't know because I'll tell you a funny story.

This is weird.

The year I was off steroids, which is the year 1998, when I was with the Toronto Blue Jays, I actually hit 46 home runs, the most I'd ever hit.

Whoa.

Yeah.

So that's the year I was the leanest, 228 pounds.

Usually I was playing about 250.

Yeah.

And that's the year I hit the most home runs.

So

it doesn't make you an athlete.

It doesn't give you a hand that coordination.

What it really does is it maintains the same strength that you come into spring training because it's

such a long season.

Spring training is like 25 to 30 games the season's 162 playoffs on the world series talk about 220 games a year yeah that's a lot of games a lot of wear and tear a lot of traveling so it doesn't give you athletic ability but i will say what it really does is maintain your strength during the whole year right and back then trainers who use it

for athletes or baseball players because their main job is if you get injured is to get you off that injured list or disabled list back then, get you back playing.

So does it help you recuperate faster, develop

muscle tissue faster?

Absolutely yes.

So for us as athletes, it wasn't about our size.

It was about our recovery and maintaining what we came with in spring training.

Wow, that's interesting.

Because I just assumed it made you stronger and you would hit more home runs.

What it does is it helps you to maintain that strength that you come into spring training

through the whole entire year.

Got it.

So if that's the definition of making you you stronger or keeping you stronger, yes.

That makes sense.

So it helped prevent injuries in a way.

I don't know if it helps prevent injuries, but I know it helped you recover from injuries faster, especially with muscle tears and so forth.

Yeah.

Wow, that's interesting.

So I wonder if a lot of the old NBA guys were on it, too.

I would say back then,

in the 80s and 90s.

Yeah, because it was a mushroom.

In every sport.

I mean, you got track and field.

You got football.

Obviously, baseball.

You've got hockey.

um

i mean i think i think every sport in general nba i think every sport in general was using it absolutely why not it wasn't really legal against any regulations so why not yeah because basketball was way more physical back then well basketball is physical but again a lot of wear and tear in the body and and people associate steroids with size not all steroids give you size for example sprinters For example, cyclists, a lot of it is for lean muscle mass.

A lot of it, some type of steroids, some type of bronchiodilate and so forth give you more oxygen to the actual muscle, which enables you to grow muscle faster.

Yes, but

I think powerlifters and bodybuilders give steroids a bad name because they're such big, strong guys.

So

their main thing is putting on bulk and really abusing those type of chemicals.

Athletes in general, depending on your sport, it was more about maintaining what you already have.

It wasn't about building and bunking up.

Yeah, that makes sense.

So I saw you tweet about the Hall of Fame, and you knew of some players that were taking steroids.

Well, obviously, the Hall of Fame has inducted five or six players that I know personally, and they know, I know who they are.

And does the Hall of Fame know, you think, or they don't know?

Oh, everybody knows.

I think, obviously, the Hall of Fame knows.

Obviously, the players know.

I know.

They know.

Fans know.

The only thing I say is that...

Major League Baseball shouldn't be, or the voting system shouldn't be so hypocritical because either you let them all in, you literally let none of them.

Does that make sense?

That doesn't make any sense to cherry pick and handpick individuals that tested positive for steroids or that I injected personally myself and came out in my book, let them go into the Hall of Fame when other players just on suspicion alone are not in the Hall of Fame with incredible stats.

That's all I'm saying.

Be even with all, be equal to everybody.

Yeah, because I remember Barry Bonds didn't get in, right?

That was a big deal.

That's ridiculous.

I mean,

how can Barry Bonds not get in?

How can Mark McGuire not get in?

How can Alex Rodriguez

not get in?

Sammy Sosa.

I mean, there's so many players that are in the 600 home run club or upper echelon 500s.

Cy Young's, MVPs, way better stats than the players that were inducted in the Hall of Fame now that use PDs.

It doesn't make any sense.

None at all.

It makes no sense at all.

But, of course, the hypocritical system

that Major League Baseball uses is out of control.

Absolutely.

You know,

I don't think it's a big deal to be in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame because it's so corrupt and so hypocritical.

It's starting to make no sense.

Really?

It really is.

No, it's not to make no sense anymore.

I can see that because the NBA Hall of Fame holds a lot of weights, but I don't really hear about the Baseball Hall of Fame that often, to be honest.

Well,

because now

they're having individuals vote with personal issues towards players.

For example, if the Hall of Fame voting was constructed through a computer,

the criteria are being put into this computer, then the player's stats are being put in with no emotions, with no agendas,

the Hall of Fame structure will be completely different.

Some that are in would not be in, and some that are out would be in.

The problem is that you're getting a human influence behind the voting, which makes no sense because now comes in.

agendas if you like somebody.

If that person turned you down for an interview back then, 10, 15, 20 years ago, and you hold a grudge against them.

So

the Hall of Fame has become a shambles.

It's become a shame just because the human influence in it.

They should rename it to the Hall of Shame.

It should be the Hall of Shame.

Well, it should be the Hall of Shame because, again,

there's many instances where Major League Baseball has shown its hypocrisy.

The last one, of course, is inducting four or five players that everyone knows.

They tested positive for PEDs

and are still in the Hall of Fame.

Meanwhile, some of the greatest players of our era are not in the hall of fame.

It makes no sense.

It just really, it's so stupid that when you really look at it, if you know baseball and you really look at what I'm talking about, you're like, yeah, he's right.

It doesn't make any sense.

The Hall of Fame is the Hall of Shame.

It's stupid.

Because the hypocrisy behind it, it's not because who the players are in, that's fine.

It's because

the way the system is being run, the hypocrisy behind it.

That's what it really is.

Where do you stand on Derek Jeter in the Hall of Fame?

Because you tweeted out he's the most overrated shortstop.

He's still a Hall of Fame player, but he's still.

I mean, people say that he's the greatest shortstop ever.

No, he's not.

I mean, he's top five.

He's a great shortstop.

He definitely belongs in Hall of Fame, 100%.

But he's not the top shortstop ever.

I mean, Alex Rodriguez, even though I didn't even like Alex, you know that, Alex, because I don't like you.

His stats are 10 times better than

Alex Rodriguez to me is the best shortstop in history.

Wow.

In every category, he blows everybody away.

And you're sitting here saying that even though you hate him.

It's a fact.

You can't, you know.

You don't let your personal this is water it's a fact

no i like that uh fact guys i'm sorry but it's a fact cell phone it's a fact that'd be stupid to say this is a rhinoceros no stupid well i like that you stay objective because some people let their personal lives bleed into facts no no you asked me about his stats now you asked me about him personally he's an asshole he's an idiot and i can't stand him But now you talk about his stats, his performance are incredible.

Absolutely.

Is there ever a world where you and him make up?

No.

You think it's too far gone?

No, I don't even want to deal with it.

First of all, I don't deal with people of his level, of his consistent ignorance and stupidity, and his

constant narcissism.

The man can lie like you wouldn't believe.

The man is crazy.

Everybody that knows him will tell you the same thing.

So, no, I can't deal with it.

You're talking about the steroid thing?

I'm talking about everything in general.

I'm talking about his personality in general.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

He, he, and you, you know, I know he was 17 years old.

Wow.

Yeah.

Did you see the fame get to him and change him?

Absolutely, 100%.

He used to be the nicest guy when he signed this big contract.

As a matter of fact, I'm the one that told him to go to Texas.

Well, I was friends with his family, his mom and everybody.

Go to Texas, hear them out.

They have a brand new stadium.

They have a lot of money.

They want to invest in a face for the franchise.

Before they signed the deal, his mom calls me.

I said, Jose, you wouldn't believe.

In Spanish, of course, she speaks Spanish.

He goes, Jose, you wouldn't believe how much money they're going to offer Alex.

I said, how much?

She goes, $252 million for $10.

You have to take the deal right now.

Wow.

Do not walk out.

And they did the deal on the spot.

So, yeah.

I mean, I know a lot about Alex.

And he knows I know a lot about him.

Alex, remember me a heart?

I love messing with him.

He's such an idiot.

He's such a punk.

But if he came out and apologized to you, would that make up for the he would never do it.

You don't think that?

Narcissistic people

don't apologize, and they don't realize when they're wrong.

Yeah, they don't care.

So he's never reached out to you?

No.

Better not.

No.

Wow.

Damn, because you guys were really close.

Yeah, absolutely not.

Yeah, no.

That's crazy.

And I've never seen you talk negatively about anyone else.

Truth hurts.

yeah that one must have really yeah truth hurts because you guys were best friends at one point right wherever yeah like you were like a mentor almost absolutely damn that's wild so having just turned 60 is there anything you're looking to switch up in in this next phase of life now

stop getting older try to slow down the aging process

you look good for 60 million i don't feel it i feel pretty good but of course you're 60 you got to you know take care of yourself work out stop

Try to slow down the aging process and just continue looking at everything positive and having fun in life.

Nice.

That's basically, I get involved a lot with, you know, poker, charities, speaking engagements, homeroom derbies, bowling.

I try to stay active as much as possible.

And I think that's the only thing you have when you get older, 50, 60, 70 years old, 70s to stay active.

What's the most high score in bowling you've ever had?

289.

Damn, that's almost a perfect game.

That's a long time ago.

So you're nice.

You're nice, though.

I got about 210 average.

210 average, dude.

That's no joke.

Yeah, but it's still.

That's almost professional level.

No, it's not.

Don't think.

I think the pros are 230 average or something.

So you're close, though.

Too far away.

Oh, too far away.

Was baseball always the sport you were most dominant in growing up?

Actually, I love ping pong.

Ping pong.

I love to play ping pong.

We're going to have to play a lot together.

I used to play in China.

Yeah, really?

Yeah.

But baseball, I mean, I wasn't, when I was little, when I was a kid, I was, I was, people weren't going to believe I was a shrimp.

You were six foot four,

six foot four and a half, 260 pounds.

I was a shrimp when I was a kid.

I was the smallest, the weakest, the skinniest.

In high school, I think I graduated 5'10, 160 pounds.

Whoa.

So, yeah, and parents wouldn't let me play football.

That was gonna, they were gonna kill me.

And then I had the weirdest, latest growth spurt after high school.

That was crazy.

As a matter of fact, you're gonna find something ironic is that when I was in the major leagues, when I first came into the major leagues, I was 6'3 and I had a size 12 shoe I'm now six foot four and a half and a size 14 shoe whoa so I'm actually kind of still growing so you kept growing after your 20s weird yes that is unheard of dude usually you shrink at your age

you got some interesting genetics interesting genetics are your kids tall well my daughter Josie's supermodel yeah Josie cansego so She's gorgeous.

Looks like her mother.

She's got my height, my built, very muscular, but with her mom's looks.

Wow.

She's got the perfect combination.

Thank God you didn't get my looks.

Yeah, she's beautiful.

Nice.

So you got one kid?

You only have one kid?

One daughter, yes.

Nice.

That I know of?

One daughter.

Only childs are tough, I heard.

Yeah.

They get a little spoiled sometimes.

Yeah, I mean, she's a good girl.

She's actually very level-headed, very, very smart, very street-wise.

Nice.

Very good.

Yeah, I'm an only child, too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's tough, though.

Yeah.

Growing up around people with siblings and kind of a lonely world sometimes.

Oh,

I guess.

It's sometimes

it could be lonely no matter who you are, and sometimes it could be overbearing,

overbearing attention.

So you have to kind of balance both.

Right.

You taught her poker at 10 years old.

First time I taught her poker, she played a poker tournament at my house, and the buy-in was,

I think it was 500.

I put her in.

That's a lot for a 10-year-old.

Yeah, no, and it was two tables, and she actually won

the tournament.

She won like $8,000.

Damn.

She won the tournament.

But she's very lucky.

She knows the basics of the actual game, but she's very lucky, had a great time.

And all of a sudden, now she loves poker.

So she plays in this event, several events, but she loves to play poker now.

Nice.

So pass it down, man.

Yeah.

She'll teach her kids.

You know, this game.

You better have some luck to win this game.

I'll tell you that much.

So don't bet on me to win.

Even I'm going to win on myself tomorrow, but don't bet on me.

Yeah.

How much luck do you think is needed in poker?

I would say, I mean, I've been playing poker for a very long time.

I would say luck beats skill any day.

Wow.

Any day, obviously.

To be honest with you, I've played against the best in the world.

I kind of see poker being as probably

60% skill and 40% luck.

Okay.

But if you have luck, it's going to beat skill any day.

Because obviously you can't control a flop, turn a river.

So, and that's why people have to look at it this way.

30, 40 years ago, how many entries were in the the World Series of poker?

Not as many, right?

40, 50, 100.

Now, since people are starting to realize, learn the game learn learn the math learn the structure of the game every year now we're having 13 000 14 000 people at 10 000 a pop because anybody really realizes with ten thousand dollars

common skills and luck you become a millionaire absolutely and that's the way it is that's what everybody's taking a shot at now yeah do you use those solvers or the programs or do you just play old school style um

I've seen a bunch of, but the thing is you can't lock into one, you cannot get locked into one strategy because other players are smart.

They'll figure it out.

So for me, you have to be consistently inconsistent in this game.

But also, one of the biggest things is your hands have to hold up.

It's like I said, your hands have to hold up.

You can have the best hand possible.

You can trap opponents left and right.

These opponents can hit one outers, two outers on you, hit runner-runners, and you're gone.

That's the way the game is structured.

You got to have a little bit of luck.

Who do you consider as the GOAT of poker?

You're friends with these guys.

Probably the Grindy Ivy.

The Grinder Ivy.

Okay.

One of the two.

I think because they are consistent grinders.

I think because they're well-known in the game.

They're great for the game.

They promote the game incredibly well.

They have the most wins.

Helmuth.

Phil.

Phil Helmuth.

Phil Helmuth.

I would love to play against him.

I can arrange that.

I mean, he's 6'5 ⁇ .

I actually like him, but man, that guy talks a lot.

I would love to play against him.

He's just funny.

It'll be the Clash of the Titans.

I'm 6'4 and 5'1 ⁇ .

He's 6'5 That'll be funny to play against.

I'll set that up if you want.

Yeah.

But he plays pretty high on those heads up.

I think like $100,000 or something.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

I mean, those guys are good for the game.

They're entertainers.

I think the game obviously needs guys to promote them.

They need entertainers.

They need characters.

They need the heel.

They need the good guy.

They need the guys that talk a lot, the serious guys.

Yeah.

What's your style?

You talk a lot?

You talk shit?

No.

No, not really.

Unless

I've had playing poker turns before and somebody will be staring at me, looking at the phone.

Yeah.

Are you Jose Conseco?

And I'll be like, yes.

He'll go, no, you're not.

I'll go, no, I'm not then.

And if I say, I'm not Jose Conseco, yes, you are.

Yes, you are Jose Conseco.

I'm like, so you can't win.

I've had a lot of guys kind of, because they love playing against me.

The problem is when I play, people love to get in hands with me.

Why?

Because

the story is I either lost to Jose Conseco or I won again Jose Conseco.

They love the story to tell.

So that's another issue.

So sometimes I have to play, in in some senses, not looser, but tighter than other situations, because a lot of people love to get in hands with me and give me bad beats.

Just part of the process.

That must be part of it.

Yeah.

You can use it to your advantage or you can't.

Yeah.

Depends.

I was going through your Twitter.

I thought this tweet was super interesting.

You tweeted out the school system is creating slaves and idiots on purpose.

Did you send your daughter to school, public school?

Private.

But my daughter, see, here's the thing.

I learned nothing in school.

I mean, absolutely zero.

I learned everything in life.

And I'm talking about math, vocabulary, skill, everything I learned, business is in life.

I learned nothing, nothing.

When I got out of high school, I didn't even know how to make a check.

I had no idea what it was.

So is our society today, our school society, creating slaves for the system?

Absolutely.

Everybody knows that.

Common sense will tell you that.

They're creating what you call an infrastructure for the billionaires and trillionaires for our politicians to basically tax all the time.

Common sense, it's all over YouTube.

If you really analyze it, put your mind to it, that's exactly what it's doing.

I don't recommend,

there are only certain subject matters in school I do recommend maybe math, some vocabulary skills, some science.

That's about it.

Why don't schools teach business entrepreneurship at that level?

Because they don't want you to know that stuff.

They want that for the higher ups.

So just,

if I had a kid today, I mean, I'm dating, my fiancé has two kids, they're 10 and 11.

Yeah.

And I keep telling her about the school system.

And think about this.

It hasn't changed in 30 years.

No, longer.

Why?

Think about it.

It's ridiculous.

Yeah.

So it's kind of obvious what it's doing.

Yeah.

I hope you convince her to take them out, man, for real.

That's a lot of damage to the kid.

It's crazy.

It's just, it's creating what it's creating.

It holds them back for years.

Like when they get to college, even college.

It makes them all robots.

That's what it does.

It makes them all robots.

Yeah.

And for the system, that's what it needs, robots.

Absolutely.

Did you graduate college?

No, I was right out of high school.

I got drafted.

Oh, shit.

So you didn't even go to college.

No.

Wow.

That wasn't common back then, right?

Well, yes and no.

But like I said, I learned nothing in school.

Zero.

Like I said, I left school and couldn't write out a check, didn't know anything about business, mathematics, nothing.

I learned all that outside of school.

Wow.

Who taught you all that stuff?

Just living life, internet.

I mean, look, you can go to YouTube right now and get courses on anything you want, and we'll teach you way more than high school will teach you.

The internet will teach you in one year, way more than high school will teach you in three to four years.

That is a fact.

Why waste three or four years of your life from ninth grade to graduation when you can take courses on the internet and learn master whatever you want to master that quickly?

Absolutely.

It makes no sense to me.

Yeah.

Did you see a lot of your teammates and your peers go financially broke after they retired?

Back then, a lot were, because I don't think back then they were educating the players.

And today the money is out of control.

I mean the money is crazy.

To put in perspective, minimum salary back then was 60,000.

Today minimum salary is 600,000.

So 10x.

The best players back then were making like myself $5 million a year.

The best players today are making 50 to 60 million a year.

Put in perspective.

A utility player today who never

plays makes more than the best players of my era.

Wow.

How does that make you feel?

It's part of the progression of baseball.

It's the way it's evolved.

That just goes to show you how

powerful baseball really is.

It's beyond a trillion-dollar industry.

Wow.

I mean, it's crazy.

So if you can afford to pay players in general $50, $60 million a year, if you're running a business, you have a company.

Obviously, you have to be making two or 3x more than that for that specific player.

or from that specific player in other venues to be able to pay him that.

So baseball is a very powerful entity.

It's like politics, religion, and baseball.

Those are the three most powerful entities in the world.

Right.

Politics is a whole nother podcast.

That's a whole nother podcast.

You got to be very careful.

You can get shot in a second.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, it just happened, right?

It's just the way it is.

Would you ever want to own a baseball team?

No.

Be a part owner?

No.

No, there's too much involved, too much time.

I'm too old.

I'm 60 years old.

I've paid my dues.

I've played.

I traveled.

I'm still traveling a lot.

doing autograph sessions, signing, speaking engagements, homeron derbies.

So there's going to come a time probably in a couple of years where I'm just going to stop doing everything

and just relax and stay home.

I love that.

Are you done with fighting for good?

Absolutely.

I'm the worst fighter in the world.

Even though, hold on a minute.

It pays a lot of money.

You got a lot for that fight?

Which one?

The one where you, was it Barstool Sports?

Over a million dollars.

For that fight?

10-second fight.

It was a quick fight.

But here's the thing.

People don't know this.

I was injured completely.

Here's the funny part.

They actually.

It's so funny because I took a physical.

Yeah.

I didn't pass a physical.

You didn't even pass a physical?

No.

I had a bad knee.

I couldn't stand on my knee.

I couldn't raise my hands.

My shoulder was torn.

And they passed me.

Of course, for the whole money, the whole situation.

It was promoted quite well.

It broke.

So their pay-per-view, we broke their previous pay-per-view records by three times.

Yeah.

Right?

Yeah.

So people have this very strange, morbid curiosity with me.

Either they want to see me killed or they want to see me succeed.

It's kind of very strange with me.

Yeah.

Because I guess I kind of present this individual no one really understands as a baseball player, as a personality.

So it's kind of weird how

pay-per-view sold so well.

But I couldn't fight at all.

Literally, when he came at me, my knee buckled.

And then I threw a left jab, I tore my whole chest.

This shoulder was already gone.

But actually, when I went down and hit the ring, I popped this shoulder out.

So by the time I was in the locker room back then, this shoulder was bleeding out.

This was bleeding out.

And I tore my right knee again.

So I had to have surgery right away.

God damn.

Why do you think you have such a polarizing audience?

I think

people are consistently trying to figure out who I am.

So you're misunderstood.

I think there's a weird curiosity with me, a weird obsession.

People tell me this all the time.

It's kind of,

I don't understand it.

But I guess because then in the past, the way I did things, I did carry around 245 pounds.

I did run a 42940.

so i woke i was a football player basically hit baseball 600 feet did unusual things but i don't know also i did write number one best-selling book right that kind of uh exposed jolted exposed like kind of jolted the world of baseball and i think that has a lot a lot to do with it even to this day because that book was a while ago right Till today.

Wow.

They're still being talked about in certain circles.

And again, when I bring this up about

the Hall of Fame,

hypocrisy.

They're such hypocrites.

It makes me sick.

I guess it kind of stirs the strong in.

Yeah.

So who actually chooses the players?

Is it, you said it's the writers.

Oh, the writers.

Writers Lord Iron.

They have 100% of the vote?

Because the NBA, it's split up.

Yes, they have 100% of the vote.

That's really weird.

Because the NBA, it's like 25% writers.

I think fan is 25 and then players are 50.

Let's put it in perspective, see if people understand this.

Ken Griffey Jr.,

first battle of the Hall of Fame, 100%.

Was in the PED eras, never touched PDs, 600-plus home runs, best 5-2 player ever seen.

Him and Bonds, to me, were the two best players in history.

So obviously Ken Griffey Jr.

should have been first Ballot Hall of Fame all the way across the board.

Easily.

One person didn't vote for him.

Think about what I just said, the mentality of these writers.

These writers will see this chapstick.

If you ask a thousand people,

what is this chapstick?

Imagine out of 8 billion people, one says that ain't a chapstick

that's a horse

that's the problem we're having right because that rider could have been a fan of his opponent's team it doesn't make any sense

so that that just goes to show you the hypocrisy what we're dealing with here the kind of mix that we're dealing with there the maybe

the

psychological inequities that we're dealing with here

do you think the fans should have a say in the vote no no no i mean it's just too many too many fans i mean mean, you have to have, for me, it's simple.

You have, yeah, you have a computer.

You have a computer programming.

You put in the information, the data, and whatever qualifies, the computer spits out, Hall of Fame or not.

Okay, so just purely numbers.

Purely numbers.

That's what it really should be.

It's just not.

It's emotional.

It's agendas.

It's ridiculous.

Yeah.

Feel that, man.

Jose, good luck tomorrow, man.

Anything else you want to close off with here?

I'm going to get a whole bunch of luck.

I'm going to bet on myself and I'm going to lose.

Let's go.

But here's the key.

You guys keep track.

If I get pocket ace and I get knocked out, I'm coming back on.

I'll say, I told you so.

I'll be keeping an eye on that.

Thanks for coming on, man.

Thank you, guys.

Yep.

Thanks for watching, guys.

Peace.