The New York Times-20080124-Canseco Is Said to Seek Favor to Omit Name

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Canseco Is Said to Seek Favor to Omit Name

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Jose Canseco, the former major league slugger and admitted steroid user who exposed other players in his 2005 best-selling book Juiced, offered to keep a Detroit Tigers outfielder clear in his next book if the player invested money in a film project Canseco was promoting, according to a person in baseball with knowledge of the situation.

Four people in baseball confirmed that referrals were made from Major League Baseball to the F.B.I. regarding Canseco's actions relating to the six-time All-Star outfielder Magglio Ordonez, who was not mentioned in Canseco's earlier book or in any other report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. All four insisted on anonymity because they said they didn't have authority to speak about the events.

The F.B.I. did not open a formal investigation because Ordonez said he did not want to pursue the complaint.

Canseco denied that he -- or any associate of his -- ever asked Ordonez for money to keep his name out of a book titled Vindicated.

Absolutely not, Canseco said in a telephone interview Wednesday. He also said he had not been told about being the subject of F.B.I. referrals.

Canseco said he tried to contact Ordonez several months ago to talk about his books but did not hear back from him. Canseco refused to say whether Ordonez would be named in connection with performance-enhancing drugs in his second book. You are going to have to buy the book to see that, he said.

Reached at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Wednesday, Ordonez said he did not want to talk in detail about Canseco. Although he criticized him for writing his tell-all book, he said he did not want to get involved with any formal investigation.

I didn't want to press charges against him, Ordonez said. I don't want any problems. He is probably desperate for money. I don't understand why he is trying to put people down.

He confirmed that he had talked about Canseco's reaching out to him with Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski last summer. The Tigers passed the complaint on to the commissioner's office in New York, which then filed a complaint with the F.B.I.

Asked whether Canseco had ever specifically asked him for money, Ordonez said, No.

One of Jose's friends was leaving me messages, Ordonez said. I told Dombrowski because I didn't know why he was calling me.

Dombrowski declined to comment. Any of the conversations I have with players would be between me and players, he said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Another complaint was filed with the F.B.I. in California by Ordonez's agent, Scott Boras, after Canseco called Boras's office and spoke to one of Boras's associates, saying Ordonez would be clear in Canseco's next book if he invested money in a $5 million movie project Canseco was promoting, according to a person in baseball with knowledge of the situation.

I have received calls from Jose Canseco but I have not talked to him personally about anything related to my clients or his books, Boras said Wednesday.

Canseco said in news accounts in 2006 that he was working as an executive producer of a documentary movie to be based on Juiced. The movie, originally scheduled for release in late 2007, has not been made. The job of an executive producer often includes fund-raising. Canseco said he was also working on Vindicated and a novel during this time.

Asked whether Canseco's alleged actions constitute extortion, Daniel C. Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School and a former federal prosecutor, said it would be a hard case to prove. A demand for an investment isn't as obvious of a threat, and a jury may be less likely to see it as extortion compared to a demand for hard cash, he said.

A former ghostwriter on Vindicated, which is scheduled to be published at the start of the baseball season, said Canseco planned to name Ordonez. He was the most prominent, said Don Yaeger, a former Sports Illustrated associate editor who reviewed all of Canseco's materials in December. Yaeger quit the book project with Canseco at the end of December, and the book was dropped by one publisher last week, only to be picked up by another.

Ordonez was not named in Canseco's first book or in the 409-page report on drugs in baseball by George J. Mitchell, or in any of the news leaks and affidavits from various state and federal investigations into the distribution of steroids and human growth hormone.

Ordonez has known Canseco since they played half a season together on the Chicago White Sox in 2001, Canseco's last year in baseball. He never talked about anything regarding steroids, Ordonez said of Canseco on Wednesday. Ordonez led the majors with a .363 batting average last year.

A native of Venezuela, Ordonez made $13.2 million in his 11th year in the major leagues.

Canseco's book agent, Brett Saxton, has said the book contains some huge new names of players who used performance-enhancing drugs, in addition to those named three years ago. Last July, Canseco told WEEI Radio in Boston that he had unspecified derogatory information on Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees.

Yaeger pulled out of the project at the end of December, saying he questioned many of the accusations Canseco was preparing to make. What he sent me was stuff like, 'Look at the difference in their bodies'; there were not a lot of specifics, Yaeger said.

Early last week, Vindicated was dropped by Berkley Books, an imprint of Penguin Group USA, after the publisher said it did not think the book would be ready by opening day of the season.

But on Monday, it was picked up by another publisher, Simon Spotlight, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, with plans to release the book March 31. Canseco has hired a new ghostwriter, Pablo F. Fenjves, a former National Enquirer writer who wrote If I Did It with O. J. Simpson.

Jennifer Robinson, a spokeswoman for Simon Spotlight, declined to comment late Wednesday.

Mitchell referred to Canseco in several parts of his report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. Canseco talked to members of Mitchell's investigative staff and had his lawyer provide additional information, the Mitchell report said.

Mitchell has not been informed of any concerns about Canseco's soliciting money nor of the referral to the F.B.I., John J. Clarke Jr., a spokesman and associate of Mitchell's at the law firm DLA Piper, said in an e-mail message Wednesday.

[Illustration]PHOTOS: Tigers outfielder Magglio Ordonez said he did not want to pursue complaints against Jose Canseco with the F.B.I.(PHOTOGRAPH BY GREGORY SHAMUS/GETTY IMAGES)(pg. D1); Jose Canseco denied asking Magglio Ordonez for money.(PHOTOGRAPH BY LOUIS LANZANO/ASSOCIATED PRESS)(pg. D3)