Jose Canseco used his head. Literally.

The worst baseball play ever?

When it came to using a bat, Jose Canseco was one of the best.

Across 17 MLB seasons, he hit 462 homeruns, had 1,407 RBI and in 1988 became the first player in MLB history to hit 40 homeruns and steal 40 bases in a season.

But when it came to using his head, Canseco was no All Star. 

Among other misdeeds, Canseco admitted to using steroids (which certainly played a part in his prowess at the plate); wrote two tell-all books in which he implicated other players, including fellow Bash Brother Mark McGwire, for using performance-enhancing drugs; was charged with multiple crimes, including assault on his second wife; and filed for personal bankruptcy, claiming his two divorces left him destitute.  

But Canseco’s most well-known blunder occurred on the field. Thirty-one years ago tomorrow, Cleveland’s Carlos Martinez hit a fly ball to deep right field, where Canseco was playing for the Texas Rangers. Canseco moved to make the play, but missed the ball and it bounced off his head and over the fence for a home run.

It’s no wonder that Bleacher Report in 2012 listed Canseco as one of “The 40 Worst Fielders in Baseball History.”

Canseco’s post-baseball career included stints as a boxer, a mixed-martial-arts fighter, an actor, a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice, and the owner of a car wash in Las Vegas. He was sued by the promoter of one boxing match when his brother Ozzie appeared and pretended to be Jose.

Canseco was also depicted as a hero in an episode of The Simpsons.