Miguel Tejada

Miguel Odalis Tejada Martinez is a professional baseball player from the Dominican Republic who plays as a shortstop. Born in extreme poverty, Tejada grew up wishing he could play in the MLB like his hero, Cal Ripken, Jr. When he was 19 and playing in the local Dominican Republic leagues, the Oakland Athletics picked him up for just two thousand dollars because the organization thought he was 17.

Tejada didn’t take much time to get into the groove at the A’s. Picked by Oakland in 1993, it took him just four years to break into the MLB roster at the Athletics. Playing 26 games for the team that season, Tejada had a .202 batting average but his power was there for all to see. Playing in the AAA-League with the Edmonton Trappers, Tejada led the team to the PCL championships. This was good enough to get him the job of starting shortstop for the A’s in 1998.

Between 1998 and 2000, Tejada improved his batting average to .233 with 11 home runs and then to .251 in 1999. Tejada, along with a strong lineup of youngsters, led the Athletics to their first American League Western Division title for 8 years, when they won in 2000. Tejada was batting at .275 and had hit 30 over the walls.

The following season, Tejada batted at .261, hitting 31 homers on the way to helping the Athletics capture the Wild Card spot in the post-season. However, post season ended quite rapidly at the hands of the New York Yankees for the second year in a row.

2002 was Tejada’s year and after Jason Giambi left for the Yankees, it was all up to Tejada to make a difference and he did. With Giambi out and Jermaine Dye on the disabled list, the A’s were short of two impressive offensive players and Tejada stepped up to the plate with a .308 batting average, hitting 34 home runs on the way. He was awarded the 2002 American League MVP award. Leading the team to the Western Division title, Tejada showed impressive form, something that abandoned him in the early part of 2003.

Despite a slow start to 2003, Tejada hit form again and led the A’s to their second consecutive division title, their third in four seasons. By the end of the season, he was batting at .278 with 27 home runs to his name. Despite such stellar performances, the Athletics decided against renewing his contract at the end of the 2003 season, citing budget constraints as the cause. A young Bobby Crosby was considered as his replacement as Tejada moved on to the Baltimore Orioles for a 6-year, $72 million deal. Like his childhood hero, Ripken, Tejada became a reliable and powerful shortstop at the Orioles.

In July 2004, Tejada participated in and won the Home Run Derby by hitting 27 home runs including a record 15 in the second round. Both his records lasted just a single season with Bobby Abreu taking over the following year. Tejada ended the 2004 season with 150 RBIs, leading the league in the category.

In 2005, Tejada was part of the All-Star weekend as a starter for the American League, hitting a home run in his first All-Star appearance. His homer and a subsequent sacrifice RBI & double-play got him the All-Star MVP award. Trade rumours began amounting in 2006 with public comments by Tejada stating that he wasn’t happy with the current team strength at the Orioles. This came amidst his 1,000th consecutive game at the Majors, ending his streak at 1,151 with a broken wrist. This was the 5th longest streak in the history of the MLB.

In December, 2007, after much speculation, Tejada was finally traded out to the Houston Astros in exchange for 5 players. Adam Everett’s contract was not renewed, making Tejada the starting shortstop for the team. He was part of the 2008 All-Star game as well, his fifth time (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009) out of six.

Tejada led the league in double plays in 2008 (32) and then again in 2009 (29). Tejada has also been awarded the Silver Slugger award in 2004 & 2005.

In 2005, Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for 10 games after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. Palmeiro claimed that it was Tejada who had given him the supplement and thus, it was Tejada who was responsible for steroids entering his system. Tejada denied the allegations claiming that he had given Vitamin B-12 to Palmeiro, a legal substance.

Numerous subsequent reports as well as a book by Jose Canseco have stated that Tejada might have taken steroids. During a federal raid, Jason Grimsley, a former relief pitcher, told the agents that Tejada also used performance enhancing drugs and his name was part of an affidavit filed in federal court. In the Mitchell Report released in 2007, Tejada was said to have received $1,500 worth of steroids. In February 2009, Tejada was finally charged with lying to the Congress about the use of steroids in baseball. He pleaded guilty to charges that he lied to the congress and received a one-year probation.

Tejada has also been in the news for lying about his age. Since his entry into the American Leagues, Tejada claimed to have been born in 1976 while his birth certificate showed 1974 as the date. His name was also spelt as “Tejeda”, in the certificate.