Fact Check: Was Jose Canseco asked by Madonna to marry him? Uncovering the claims made by controversial slugger

If you were paying even remote attention to baseball in the late-1980s, Jose Canseco would have been impossible to miss. One of the first Cuban-born players to make a splash in MLB, his career was something special.

Born in Cuba in 1964, Canseco fled his homeland with his family when he was less than a year old, eventually settling in Florida. From a young age, everybody knew that Canseco would be a special baseball player. Soon, he was in the major leagues, proving to everyone what he could do.

Although the Oakland Athletics selected him in the 15th round of the 1982 Draft, the young Canseco soon proved his ability to punch above his weight. In 1986, his first full season in the MLB, Jose Canseco hit .240/.318/.457 with 33 home runs and 117 RBIs to win that year's AL Rookie of the Year Award, as well as an All-Star honor.

At the same time that Canseco was becoming famous, pop star Madonna was one of the biggest names in the music world. Her album True Blue, released in the summer of 1986, sold 1.5 million copies. She was also one of the most widely reckognized people in the world at the time.

According to Canseco, he and Madonna had an encounter in 1991, while he was still playing for the Oakland Athletics. According to the two-time World Series champion, Madonna was "obsessed with dating a Cuban guy and obsessed with having a baby with him."

Per Jose Canseco, someone from Madonna's agency had seen him practicing during 1991 spring training. According to Canseco, he was approached and asked if they wanted to meet. However, nothing apparently ever came of their meeting. Canseco claimed he attended because he was "a big fan."

Although Jose Canseco may have been her first baseball-related love interest, he was not her last. In 2008, she was romantically linked to then-New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez.

Jose Canseco has enough controversy without dating Madonna

A colorful offseason persona, Canseco has dabbled in journalism, martial arts, comedy and sports commentating. However, he has also been linked to incidents pertaining to firearms possession, inebriation, and even battery.

While he may have been one of the most dynamic baseball players of his time, it is likely very fiar to say that he likely did not Madonna to make his long career, which ended as a member of the 2001 Chicago White Sox, more interesting than it already was.