BASEBALL "BEEF" - AROD SLEPT WITH CANSECO'S WIFE?

ALEX TAGGED MY EX-WIFE: JOSE
By BRIAN COSTELLO

April 2, 2008 -- Jose Canseco fired another shot at Alex Rodriguez yesterday, saying he believes the New York Yankees star did more than just lust after his ex-wife, Jessica.

"I believe they had an affair," Canseco said during a book-signing at Bookends in Ridgewood, N.J. "I'm pretty sure of it. I spoke with Alex and he denied it, but the way he denied it, it wasn't reassuring. I spoke to my ex-wife last year about it and I'm not going to say she acknowledged that they did, but she did not say that they did not."

Canseco wrote in his new book "Vindicated" that Rodriguez was smitten with his then-wife and constantly called her. Canseco has said this is the reason he hates Rodriguez and decided to include him in his new book, including allegations that he introduced the Yankees third baseman to a steroid dealer in the late 1990s.

Before last night's season opener, Rodriguez was approached by The Post about Canseco's latest charge.

"I don't care," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez has not fired back at Canseco, choosing "no comment" at every turn. Canseco believes this shows he is telling the truth.

"He's basically trying to sweep it under the rug," Canseco said. "Basically he has 'no comment' to say. He should say it was the truth and move on. Obviously, I don't know if he used steroids but I did put him in contact with an individual who was a known steroid dealer, but we don't know what happened after that. But if you look at his physicals and his charts in spring training, it looked like after that he gained about 20 to 30 pounds."

About 100 people turned up at the bookstore yesterday to get Canseco's signature. Some lined up hours before the signing. In an interesting bit of scheduling, Julie Andrews was scheduled to appear at the bookstore last night.

Robert Bannon, a 24-year-old Yankees fan from Ridgefield Park, waited to get Canseco's signature. He said he believes most of the book but not the part about Rodriguez.

"I think the A-Rod story is a little fabricated, personally," Bannon said. "You need something to sell books, and he's probably the biggest player in baseball right now and his name gets stories in the paper."

Several people in the crowd said Canseco has credibility because many of the allegations in his first book proved to be true.

"At first everyone treated Jose Canseco as if he was a joke," said Matt Whitfield, a 24-year-old from Chatham. "Everything he said in his first book came to be proven to be true. Now he has new allegations out and everyone is acting like he is a joke again. But he told the truth in his first book. A-ROD is a known womanizer. He was on the cover of your paper. I believe what he was saying and I want to meet him."