Book Review #13: Vindicated

Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars and the Battle to Save Baseball (2008)

I really didn't have a desire to read this because based on his ego from his first book Juiced and the title of his follow up Vindicated, I knew what was in store. Sure enough, Jose Canseco's ego is out of control. I don't know who has a bigger ego, Gene Simmons or this meathead. I will let Gene slide since he can actually back up his achievements. Jose, not so much. How can you really take this guy serious when he says that "Cal Ripkin has played for a thousand years, but does he have more home runs than me?" 

Dude. Stop embarrassing yourself. Comparing yourself and saying your better than Ripkin is just asinine on your part.

I do believe that Canseco should have called this book "Nah nah nah nah, I was right and you were wrong, so you can go fuck yourself for doubting me". This pretty much sums up the entire book in a nutshell. The reason why this book exist is obviously to cash in on the first one by also promising to name even more players here: Roger Clemens and A-Rod. 

These two guys are the only reason why this book was eventually turned into a book. The rest of Vindicated is a rehash of Juiced and stroking his ego ad nauseum. The book was a pretty fast read, but not very entertaining though. If you want a drinking game while reading this one, then I have a drinking game just for you. Every time Jose mentions his achievements in baseball regarding his 40-40 club, down a shot of hard whiskey. By the end of Chapter 4, you will be fucked up. By the end of the book, you will be dead if you continue playing this game and drinking.

About 3/4th of this book is a waste because he literally uses whatever means necessary to pad the book to make it appear bigger than it really is. Reprinting his congressional speech word for word or both his lie detector test and a good chunk of the Mitchel Report is not what I call good writing. It's a cop out if anything.

And the Epilogue at the end is another wasted chapter to add more pages to fill in for the fact that after the Roger Clemens and A-Rod chapters, there is no need for the book. Here's what you get in the Epilogue. You get to hear what Jose does now days. He likes to bowl. He likes to ride his motorcycles. He likes to play poker. And if that isn't enough, he launches into the virtues of playing poker. Oh brother.

I'm being very generous giving this book 2 stars, one for each Chapter on Clemens and A-Rod. I absolutely do not recommend this book.

Rating: 2 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1