So I'm sure you have all heard the news by now that Jose Canseco, yes that Jose Canseco signed a contract to play baseball with the Laredo Broncos in the United Baseball League. Canseco signed a short term two week contract with the Broncos to be a Designated Hitter and bench coach.
I work for the Laredo Broncos also. I'm the radio broadcaster and media relations director for the Broncos. I have been working for the Laredo Broncos all season and finally at long last the Broncos are above .500 and in a good spot to make the playoffs.
I'm a Giants fan, but as a kid growing up in the Bay Area you couldn't not watch the A's in the late 80's and early 90's. Canseco, Macgwire, Henderson, Lansford, Stewart, Eckersly, etc. I used to watch the A's and the bash brothers all the time growing up. Rickey Henderson speaking in first person and breaking the all time stolen base record. The '89 earthquake, where Candlestick park and my own young baseball heart was broken as a Giants fan for the first time.
When we first signed Canseco I had to write a bio for him on our website, which by the way is Laredobroncos.com, I was about half way through and had this weird surreal moment. I started reflecting on having grown up watching Canseco in Oakland as a kid with my dad and all that he has gone through as a baseball player and beyond and how it affected me as a baseball fan both positive and negative and now I'm writing a bio for him on our website....
It's ridiculous....ridiculously awesome! It's an opportunity that comes around once in a lifetime considering the national attention that the ULB receives on a regular basis. Considering I took this job to broadcast Broncos baseball with no thought of ever being able to call a Jose Canseco home run and now I've called four.
Without Further Adu....
It's my radio call and the video footage was provided by Ray Melendez, check out his site lifeintheminors.com
I had no idea what I was going to say when he hit his first homer, if he hit a homer at all. I decided to let it flow and that's what came out. I like it and hopefully you will too. A once in a lifetime opportunity slapped me in the face...