Jose Canseco To Break Home Run Record By Touring Country In RV
Jose Canseco is driving to a ballpark near you.
The controversial slugger announced his very own Jose Canseco’s Home Run Challenge Tour, a 17-city run through Canada and the United States covering 16,500 miles in 10 weeks where he will attempt to break the official world softball and baseball record for longest home run.
“This will be fun for the fans and the kids,” Canseco said via a news release found on Yahoo Sports. “I’m going for 600 feet for both records to really raise the bar. I have a 572-foot softball bomb at the College of the Canyons that was unofficial so I think it is possible. I expect a lot of big sluggers to come out at each stop to make this a great competition!”
To break the world home records in each category, Canseco couldn’t rely on just any method of travel, opting instead to pack himself into a 40-foot custom RV known as the “CansecoMobile.” The reason behind the RV, according to Canseco, is that “the RV makes it possible for my pets, four dogs, and three tortoises (unfortunately I no longer have my goats) to come along as well.”
Jose Canseco was a Major League Baseball star with the Oakland A’s back in the 1980s. Part of the famed “Bash Brothers” alongside Mark McMguire, Canseco was known for his devastatingly long home runs and blazing speed on the bases. He later rose to national prominence after his career had ended when he admitted to using performance enhancing drugs while on the team. In a controversial tell-all book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big, Canseco wrote that a majority of major leaguers were guilty of doing the same, essentially igniting baseball’s steroid scandal.
More recently, Canseco has popped up on crazy reality programs like Celebrity Boxing and was also accused of rape back in 2013. He was later cleared of all wrongdoing.
And while the The Jose Canseco Home Run Tour may seem like just a publicity stunt, organizer Jose Melendez has been quoted on Ballpark Digest as saying that the RV driven road trip will be used to front charity events across the country.
“Many of the minor league teams hosting this event are using it as a charity fundraiser and Jose is thrilled to be able to be part of their entertainment and philanthropic activities,” Melendez said. “It is simply amazing what he is able to do with a bat considering he will be celebrating his 50th birthday during the Tour.”
In fact, Canseco has already pointed out one immediate stop on the tour in his press release:
“One of my favorite stops on the Tour is Home Runs for Autism in Ottawa. This is my third year doing that event benefiting research and support for autistic kids and really look forward to being there again.”
Look for the CansecoMobile RV as it tours the country behind the Jose Canseco’s Home Run Challenge. And check out the tweet below from Jose as he announces the tour.
Getting ready for my home run challenge bus tour. On the road again!@JoseMelendez123. #cansecohomerunchallengetour pic.twitter.com/2oE19XQGSu
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) June 11, 2014
[Image courtesy of s_bukley / Shutterstock.com]
