Double Play: The Intriguing Story of Ozzie Canseco's Life and Career

In 1992, in Louisville, Kentucky, a man with an uncanny resemblance to baseball legend Jose Canseco is launching baseballs out of Triple-A stadiums for the Louisville Redbirds, the minor league counterpart of the St. Louis Cardinals. "Jose, we love you! Jose, you suck!"

At Pilot Field in Buffalo, New York, a specially built screen meant to catch home runs is no match for a 550-foot hit. The ball flies over the screen and past the highway.

"Good job, Jose!"

Before and after games, the six-foot-two, 220-pound slugger is often bombarded with questions about dating Madonna (he didn’t), provoked into altercations (he mostly avoids them), and asked for autographs. When he signs his name, fans seem puzzled and urge him to stop joking. Don't they realize he's Jose Canseco, a perennial All-Star and a home run king? But who’s Ozzie Canseco, Jose’s identical twin born two minutes earlier to Jose Sr. and his wife, Barbara? And if they’re identical, why was Jose raking in millions with the Oakland Athletics while Ozzie struggled to get consistent playing time in the majors?

Ozzie tried to explain all of this countless times. Every time he thought the message had gotten through, he'd venture back into the world, only to hear his brother’s name shouted out again. On one occasion, a car swerved and attempted to force him off the road. When Ozzie ended up on the shoulder, the driver laughed as if it were some joke and referred to him as Jose.

There are few examples of twins who reached the same level of success in sports. Ronde and Tiki Barber were both drafted in 1997 by the NFL and had standout careers; Karyne and Sarah Steben, accomplished gymnasts, toured with Cirque du Soleil and attributed their psychic bond to their ability to perform daring aerial stunts.

More often, the siblings of famous athletes remain in the shadows of their high-achieving counterparts.

Hank Aaron’s brother Tommie also played professional baseball. Hank smashed 755 home runs in his career, while Tommie hit just 13. The DiMaggio brothers had three members, but it was Joe—Marilyn Monroe's former husband—who garnered the most attention both on and off the field. If any of these brothers had looked identical to their famous sibling, it would have only intensified the comparisons. It's doubtful that anyone ever tried to run Tommie Aaron off the road.

Born on July 2, 1964, Osvaldo “Ozzie” Capas Canseco and his twin brother, Jose Canseco, would soon become part of the famous tale of sports siblings.

At barely a year old, the two brothers’ parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba. They both grew up immersed in "the great American pastime." Jose, a powerful outfielder capable of hitting towering home runs, was selected by the Oakland Athletics in 1982 right out of high school. After honing his skills in the minor leagues for three years, he made a brief appearance with the Athletics in 1985 as a late-season call-up. His full rookie season came in 1986, where he belted 33 home runs and drove in 117 RBIs, earning him Rookie of the Year honors.

Ozzie, who had played just as much baseball as his twin, chose to spend a year in college. Rather than becoming a power hitter like his brother, Ozzie was drawn to pitching. The New York Yankees drafted him in 1983, but after four unspectacular years in the minors, he was released. In 1986, he was picked up by the Oakland Athletics to continue developing his pitching skills.

It was like a genetic experiment in sports: Two men, nearly identical in build—Jose was an inch taller and perhaps 10 pounds heavier—who played the same game for the same length of time. In 1989, they even suffered the exact same injury to the hamate bone in their hands. Yet it was Jose who became a star, amassing millions and breaking records with the Athletics and the Texas Rangers, while Ozzie struggled to get called up.

According to Ozzie, the issue was that he had spent too many years pitching, perfecting a skill that wouldn't offer the same rewards as being an outfielder and a top hitter. Those years on the mound set him back, both in his development and in comparison to his brother. When he was finally promoted to the Athletics as an outfielder in 1990, the gap in their abilities was clear. After hitting 20 home runs and driving in 67 RBIs with the Huntsville Stars, he struggled with a .105 batting average in his first nine MLB games, striking out 10 times in 19 at-bats. Meanwhile, in 1988, Jose became the first player in MLB history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a single season—an achievement only three others have matched since. When Ozzie struck out in his debut with the Athletics, Jose hit two home runs.

Critics tried to pinpoint Ozzie’s shortcomings. On the surface, he seemed to have everything Jose had: a powerful physique, likely enhanced by steroids. (Jose admitted to using performance-enhancing substances in his 2005 memoir, *Juiced*; Ozzie was arrested in 2003 for driving a car that contained vials of steroids during a routine traffic stop. Jose later told VICE that Ozzie "used the same type of steroids I used and in equal amounts.") But experts noted that Jose had more flexibility, a wider range of motion in his swing, and quicker sprints. He also appeared more aggressive on the field. These subtle differences were enough for Jose to play in three World Series while Ozzie spent his time in the minors.

Feeling disheartened, Ozzie traveled to Japan to play for the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, hoping to improve his game by facing different pitching styles. After playing for the Japanese equivalent of a farm team in Osaka, he left midway through the season to return to the U.S. minors, joining the Louisville Redbirds, the Triple-A team of the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1993, he was called up to the Cardinals for a brief stint of six games. When Bernard Gilkey came off the disabled list, Ozzie was sent back down. Frustrated, he briefly quit baseball before signing with the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and later with the Florida Marlins.

After being released by the Marlins in 1996, Ozzie remarked that it was the first summer since his childhood that he hadn’t played baseball. While fans might have mistaken him for his brother Jose, the baseball world certainly didn’t.

If Ozzie was never quite as accomplished as his brother on the field, he did find some semblance of parity in other areas. For years, rumors spread that Ozzie would occasionally appear at autograph signings pretending to be Jose. The two also found themselves embroiled in similar legal troubles after a 2001 nightclub brawl in Miami Beach, which resulted in probation and a civil lawsuit for both.

In 2015, Ozzie was appointed the hitting coach for the Sioux Falls Canaries, a Double-A team in South Dakota. Soon after, he and his brother once again confused people when Ozzie tricked onlookers into thinking ‘Jose’ had arrived to film a segment for an NBC broadcast, where Jose worked as an analyst. This lighthearted moment suggested that years away from the game had allowed Ozzie to become more comfortable—both in his own identity and in sharing his brother's.

It had taken a long time for Ozzie to come to terms with his unique position. Speaking to *Sports Illustrated* in 1994, he reflected on the strange reality of looking identical to his brother in every way except for the one thing that mattered most to him: “It’s difficult to explain my existence as Ozzie Canseco on a daily basis,” he said.