Oakland Athletics: Brothers That Have Played For The A’s

Jose Canseco (1986-1992/1997) and Ozzie Canseco (1990)

In 1990, when Ozzie Canseco joined his twin brother Jose on the Athletics’ roster, it was so difficult to tell them apart that if they traded jerseys, the crowd wouldn’t have been able to tell it. The faces were the same, and so were their hard, sculpted bodies. They walked alike, talked alike, had the same ticks of the head and even in the batter’s box, Ozzie swung like Jose: feet apart, an open stance with the bat held high with a bit of a waggle. But the similarities ended there – when it came to statistics; there was no mistaking the two.

Slugger Jose Canseco was the Rookie of the Year with the Athletics in 1986 with 33 home runs and 117 RBIs. In 1987, he hit 31 more home runs. In 1988, Jose became the first player in Major League Baseball history to have at least 40 home runs (42) and 40 stolen bases in the same season. With his league leading 124 RBI and .569 slugging percentage, he was named AL MVP. In that year’s ALCS, Jose hit 3 homers. In his first (official) World Series at-bat, Jose hit a Grand Slam.

In 1990, Jose belted 37 home runs and received the most votes of any player for the All-Star Game. For 1991, Jose continued to be productive, hitting 44 home runs, capturing his second home run title. By August 1992, Canseco had hit 22 homers in 97 games for the Oakland Athletics and fans were shocked when Canseco was pulled from the on deck circle of a Aug. 31 game and traded to the Texas Rangers. Jose returned to the Athletics during the 1997 season, but only produced a .235 batting average and 23 home runs in 109 games.

Jose had a 17-year career in MLB where he hit a total of 462 HRs and was a five-time All-Star. Brother Ozzie isn’t so impressive.

Ozzie Canseco came up to the A’s in July 1990 at the age of 26. He played in nine games for the A’s and only got two hits (in his first hit he was thrown out at second base trying to stretch a double). Ozzie played in 15 more games for the 1992 and 1993 St. Louis Cardinals, acquiring 11 more base hits, but never hit a home run in MLB.

Next: Athletics Brothers: The Giambis