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MIAMI -- Former baseball star Jose Canseco and twin brother Ozzie lost an appeal Wednesday of a $1 million judgment in a lawsuit filed by two men beaten by the ex-players at a bar in 2001.

The Cansecos had appealed both the amount and kinds of damages and said the trial judge made errors in the case, but the Third District Court of Appeal rejected those claims.

The award came in a lawsuit filed by Alan Cheeks and Christian Presley, who were in Miami Beach for a conference and went to the same nightclub as a group including the Cansecos on Halloween night 2001.

Testimony showed that the Canseco brothers, dressed as leather-clad vampires, punched and shoved both Cheeks and Presley. The appeals court found such actions came "without any provocation." The brothers contended the fight started after Presley accosted Jose Canseco's date that night.

The brothers pleaded guilty in 2002 to criminal battery charges.

Jose Canseco, the 1988 American League Most Valuable Player with the Oakland Athletics, hit 462 home runs during a 17-year career that also included stints with the Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers and other teams. Ozzie Canseco had a long minor-league career and played briefly in the majors.

Jose Canseco wrote a recent book claiming steroid use is rampant in major-league baseball and testified before Congress about the issue.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press