Jose Canseco: Baseball legend shot himself in the hand while cleaning his gun

Former Oakland Athletics star shot a finger on his left hand

(Getty Images)

Former major league slugger Jose Canseco is recovering after shooting himself in the hand at his Las Vegas home.

Metro police Lt. Mark Reddon says officers responded to a call of an accidental shooting shortly after 2.30pm Tuesday.

Reddon says the former Oakland Athletics outfielder told police he was cleaning his gun in the kitchen when it fired, shooting a finger on his left hand. He was taken to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada.

Canseco is a right-handed batter who hit 462 career home runs and was a six-time All-Star. He also played for Texas, Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox during a career that spanned from 1985 to 2001.

An email sent to a representative of Canseco on Tuesday night was not immediately returned.

AP