NEW YORK — Jose Canseco was approached by two employees from Major League Baseball before a book signing appearance, and the lawyer for the former AL MVP said they asked for assistance in drug investigations.

"You could have knocked us over with a feather," Canseco's lawyer, Robert Saunooke, said today. "Four years of denial and treating him as a pariah, and now they want his help"

Saunooke said he and Canseco spoke with the investigators, Eduardo Dominguez Jr. and Victor Burgos, for about 15 minutes Wednesday in the green room of a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Manhattan.

"We asked, `Why didn't you come before?"' Saunooke said, "and they said, `Those are good points. You're right, and now we want you help. Anything you can do to help us, we would be very interested in.' "

Saunooke said that he or Canseco would call them when Canseco finishes a book tour that is scheduled to run through next week.