Canseco to be traded

RENO - Jose Canseco's career with the independent league San Diego Surf Dawgs lasted all of one game.

Reno Silver Sox general manager Dwight Dortsh said Tuesday that the former Major League Baseball slugger, who played for San Diego in Monday's 4-3 victory over Chico, will be traded to the Long Beach Armada for a player to be named later.

Canseco, who was to play in Reno for the Surf Dawgs beginning today, is expected to play in the Long Beach-Reno series at Peccole Park, a three-game set which begins on July 21, three days after the Golden Baseball League All-Star Game.

"The fans were expecting him, so they'll be a little disappointed," Dortsh said. "But now we can have a little more planning and time to prepare for when he arrives after the All-Star Game. It's great. Now we'll have him for three games instead of two."

Rumors started spreading around the press box about Canseco's departure prior to the Surf Dawg's 11-10, extra-inning victory at Peccole Park. One source close to the Surf Dawgs had the 42-year-old Canseco going to the Fullerton Flyers, but Dortsh and San Diego manager Terry Kennedy set the record straight.

Asked to comment on Canseco's departure, Kennedy smiled and rolled his eyes before taking the high road.

"I guess there are a lot of circumstances involved," Kennedy said. "It's a familial thing. He'll be closer to his daughter (who lives in Los Angeles). All I know is that it didn't bother me to have him on the team. He's still in the league. People will still come out and watch him play for one reason or another. He's a polarizing kind of guy."

In addition to hitting 442 career home runs during his 17-year big league career, Canseco also was the catalyst for more than his fair share of controversy. Among other things, in his book "Juiced," he wrote about the benefits of taking steroids and human growth hormones (HGH) as well as making claims he had personally injected with steriods former Oakland teammate Mark McGwire and former Texas teammate Rafael Palmeiro.

Canseco, who was expected to pitch and fill the designated hitter role for San Diego, has also claimed to be victimized and blackballed by Major League Baseball and that he has been discriminated against because of his Latino heritage.

In Monday's game, Canseco struck out three times and was hit by a pitch.

Long Beach is currently in second place in the GBL, trailing only the Silver Sox, which makes Long Beach's and Canseco's forthcoming series in Long Beach this weekend against Reno all the more intriguing.