When Jose Canseco's steroid-tainted body transformation ignited a power frenzy among MLB stars

In the late 1980s, it was hard to find a "sexier" player than Jose Canseco. In addition to being acclaimed as one of the best hitters of his time, the Cuban-American heartthrob attracted his fair share of attention off of the field.

Born in Cuba in 1964, the Canseco's soon fled the newly-established Castro regime, eventually settling in Florida around the time that Jose was one.

A promising young baseball talent, Canseco did not give up on his dream. This eventually led him to be selected in the 15th round of the 1982 Draft. After being named the MiLB player of the year for 1985, Canseco was called up, and hit 33 home runs and 117 RBIs to capture the 1986 AL Rookie of the Year. Two seasons later, he hit 42 home runs and 124 RBIs, leading the league in both categories to win the AL MVP Award.

"1986: Roger Clemens takes on Jose Canseco & Dave Kingman." - Stirrups Now

While Jose Canseco was certainly a highly skilled athlete, and a critical part in helping the A's win the 1989 World Series against the San Francisco Giants, something darker was at play.

In 2005, Jose Canseco admitted to using steroids. His comments put long-time speculation to rest, as Conseco's physique during his heavy-hitting days for the Oakland Athletics was nothing short of extraordinary.

In his 2005 tell-all Juiced, Canseco recounted how he and other Cuban-American players like Rafael Paleirmo would go to the Boys and Girls Club in Miami. Canseco would use his refined body as a motivation to get the youngsters, who admired him, to practice proper excersize and discipline with their health. According to a former youth:

"They knew (Canseco) as the pied piper of the steroid revolution. At a time before steroids were a dirty word"

While Canseco may not have been outwardly espousing his steroid use, many youth ball players might have read between the lines. Miami-area native Alex Rodriguez, who was banned for the entire 2014 season for steroid use with the New York Yankees, was an admirer of Canseco.

PED use aside, Jose Canseco was a sight to behold

While he was indeed cheating, Jose Canseco's physical dominance would surely have meant that the would have cleaned up in the MLB without PED's, although probably not as bad. Over the course of his 17-year career, Canseco hit 462 home runs and 1407 RBIs, and helped pull the curtain back on other PED users. Had he not made the vital mistake of judgement himself, perhaps he would be in the Hall of Fame now.