Jose Canseco claims 'my finger fell off' during poker tournament



(CNN) -- No way, Jose.

What else can you say when Jose Canseco -- the former baseball slugger who accidentally shot his own finger last month -- claims that part of said finger fell off during a poker tournament?

No word yet on whether Canseco won the hand, but he doesn't seem to be too broken up about it, given the tenor of his Twitter feed.

"I put my finger in the freezer," he wrote. "Anyone want appetizers?"



The joke stem from an incident earlier this week that no one else has reported independently, outside of Canseco's tweets. He claims that someone has a video of part of his finger coming off during a poker tournament, yet that footage hasn't been broadcast by anyone.

Jose Melendez, Canseco's representative, told CNN that the ex-player's camp has the video and may sell it to media outlets.

For now, though, all the world has to work from is Canseco's Twitter feed -- the same place where, just a few days ago, he was opining that "comet transport is the key to our survival" in the wake of the European Space Agency's putting a vehicle on a comet after a 310-million mile journey.

And, even for those with a strong stomach, it's a lot to digest.

It starts with his admission Friday that "my finger fell off" during a poker tournament the previous night.

Canseco then chimes in with this tweet: "My finger should have been amputated from the beginning. It was very loose with no bone to connect it. it was also smelling really bad."

And for good measure, the one-time Oakland A's basher shared a gruesome photo Saturday of his finger before it fell off.

"I bet a long time ago you could easily loose (sic) a finger a hand or even your life in a poker game if you couldn't pay up," Canseco joked.

It all stems from an incident last month, when Canseco accidentally shot himself in a finger on his left hand while cleaning a handgun, according to Las Vegas police.

The incident helped bring Canseco -- who won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 1986, was the league MVP two years later and finished his 17-season career with 450 home runs -- back into the public spotlight.

Besides his exploits on the field, the admitted steroid user has claimed there was widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball. He wrote two books on the subject: "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big" and "Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball."




CNN's Carma Hassan, Veronica George and Jill Martin contributed to this report.