Over the winter before the 1995 season, the Red Sox traded with the Texas Rangers for slugger, José Canseco in exchange for outfielder Otis Nixon and part-time third baseman Luis Ortiz. Jose had the potential to hit a huge number of home runs in Fenway and provided some needed protection for Mo Vaughn in the Red Sox lineup.

Many Red Sox fans bought tickets last winter and did so because they thought they might indeed see Canseco hit 40 or 50 homers. But he once again battled injuries, missing 50 games during the first half of the year.

When he finally returned to the lineup near the end of June, for several days it looked as if the Sox had rushed him back into service. He went 0 for 15 in his first four games and went 0 for 28 dating back to May.

His best game of the season happened in a battle between the Sox and Athletics at Fenway Park on September 5th. It seemed fated to end one way, on a Jose Canseco home run. Fortunately for the Red Sox, Jose was wearing their uniform now, so his three-run blast in the 14th inning produced a 7-4 victory for the Sox instead of Oakland.

Canseco ended up with a solid year for the Sox after all. From July 1st until the end of the season, he had a .387 batting average with 21 home runs and 66 RBIs in 79 games.

From August 27th to September 15th he had the longest hitting streak of his career, hitting safely in 17 games (he had a hit in 24 of his last 28 games of the year). At the end of the regular season, he had 24 home runs with a .306 batting average.

The next year, Canseco had a great first half of the 1996 season. On May 30th in Seattle, he belted a grand slam homer, and on June 7th launched two homers against the Brewers, leading the Sox back from a six-run deficit. He had 26 home runs and 63 RBIs in 69 games and was hitting .301 by the All-Star break.

But he was sidelined once again due to injury, missing nearly 50 games, when he was diagnosed with a ruptured disc. When he returned to the lineup in September, he hit only two home runs the rest of the season and ended up needing back surgery.

After the 1996 season, Canseco requested a trade out of Boston. He was traded back to his original team, the Oakland A's, for John Wasdin in January.

Perhaps no other player in major league history had been blessed with as much talent as José Canseco. The former American League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player found his name as often in the tabloids as in the sports pages. But his legacy will forever keep him in the distant margins of the national pastime, because of his admitted steroid use.