PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED : Canseco--the Johnny Rotten of A’s--Tries to Change Behavior

OAKLAND â€”  The smile is boyish, the answers polite, the availability seemingly unlimited. This then is where Jose Canseco has chosen to begin the healing.

This is where he begins the massive job of rebuilding a public image that’s in tatters, of recovering from an eight-month stretch when his life seemingly has been a string of broken appearances and scrapes with the law.

He begins by smiling and looking questioners in the eye, keeping the answers vague, yet informative. He begins by looking and sounding sincere.

“The person I’ve read about is not the person I know,� he says. “But I believe the public is behind me because all they want is for a player to go out and play. Other than that, I don’t want to get into that stuff. I want it behind me.�

Indeed, the person he has read about hardly resembles this smiling, friendly kid with the cantaloupe biceps and the Beaver Cleaver haircut. While his teammates defend him in their public comments, some are overly critical in private.

General Manager Sandy Alderson of the Oakland Athletics speaks similarly through tight lips and a thin tight smile.

“We don’t check Boy Scout merit badges before we sign a player, but we’re not going to compromise our principles either,� Alderson said. “I think it’s pretty clear Jose has some growing up to do. Will this stuff be a slap in the face? I have no idea.�

Here’s the rub: At 25 he’s one of the game’s brightest, youngest stars, an astounding mixture of power and speed. A year ago, he became the first player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season and only the seventh unanimous choice as the American League’s most valuable player.

Also, he is making $1.8 million. At 6-foot-3, 230 pounds people notice him. They notice him even more because he likes fast cars, and until he was married to a former Miss Miami last winter, escorted a string of beautiful women.

He says he just wants to go about his business, but he conducted some of it last winter driving a cherry-red Jaguar with “40-40� license plates. That got him into so much trouble that he swapped it for a white Porsche convertible.

“At his age, he’s had a lot to handle,� Alderson said. “But he’s not the first. He can’t keep thinking rules are going to be bent for him because they won’t be.�

Canseco, who chooses not to launch into a public mea culpa, could be from now until Christmas detailing his mistakes--the unexplained absences, string of speeding tickets and unregistered handgun found on the floor of his car.

He originally said he had registered the handgun in Florida and that he didn’t know additional California registration was required. Later it was discovered that no Florida registration existed, and the case may yet come to trial if no plea bargain is agreed upon.

A court hearing on gun possession charges was postponed until Aug. 18 while lawyers sought to work out a settlement.

Gregg Lowder, San Francisco assistant district attorney, said he and Canseco’s lawyer, Robert Shapiro, have an “agreement in principal,� but have yet to finalize it.

Shapiro said outside court that Canseco is willing to enter a plea of no contest to a misdemeanor charge.

Canseco was arrested April 21 for having a loaded pistol in his sports car, which was parked at the UC San Francisco.

Then, there was the speeding ticket in Miami and another in Oakland, and the famous spring-training red light in Arizona that netted him three violations.

His problems off the field have been made even worse because he hasn’t had the chance to redeem himself on it. After breaking a bone in his wrist early in spring training, he made his 1989 debut last week. The A’s went 52-36 without him and that is no small point of pride in their clubhouse.

“We’re not a team that relies on one player and I never fooled myself into thinking we were,� Canseco said. “We have great depth.�

As Oakland ace Dave Stewart said: “Home runs get the headlines, but it’s pitching and defense that’ll win you some games. We have the same pitching we had last year. We haven’t had the same amount of runs. Have you noticed a drop-off? What would it be if we didn’t hold the other team to two runs so often?�

Canseco smiles and says, yes, he’s proud of his teammates. Likewise, he’s disappointed.

“That’s the frustrating thing,� he said. “I really thought I could have a better season than I had last year, but when you don’t play, you feel like an outsider.�

If he’s not yet 100%, a lot of teams, including the Baltimore Orioles, are impressed with him at 70 or 75%. He homered for the third consecutive game Sunday, and has five homers in 38 at-bats.

In last weekend’s four-game series against the Orioles, he was 6 for 13 with three homers and five RBIs. Against the Angels Monday night, he singled once in four at-bats. “If I were 100%, who knows what I could do?� he said. “It’s not going to be back to full strength this year. It’s going to take a full off-season of work. The most frustrating thing is I’m getting 82 m.p.h. fastballs down the middle, and there’s nothing I can do about them.�

If Canseco is at some kind of crossroads, as some suggest, he does not admit it.

“It’s been a tough year,� he said. “I won’t deny I’ve made some mistakes, but I think there were times I became a convenient target as well. I don’t think there’s any question about that. Again, though, I want that stuff behind me. I want to go out and play ball.�

Still, he admits it has been a sobering time. Earlier this month he was sent to a double-A team in Huntsville, Ala., for rehabilitation. He had been there before, but in 1985 he was a rising minor leaguer who already had a reputation for his monstrous home runs.

“It brings you back to earth,� Canseco said. “The last time I was in Huntsville, I was putting together a big year (41 homers in 540 at-bats). This time I go down and I can’t get a ball out of the infield. You get reminded how hard this game is.�