Interesting: Tejada says he lied about his age
The Houston Astros just found out that former Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada is actually 33 and not 31 as he had previously claimed. Tejada said that the deception began when he first signed with Oakland as a teenager in the Dominican Republic. A local coach said it would be better if he said he was 17 instead of his real age, then 19, Tejada said.
Tejada and the Astros say that all of Tejada's legal papers, such as his green card and driver's license have his real birthday, May 25, 1974. But all his baseball references say May 25, 1976.
Tejada said he didn't want the Astros to hear about his real age from someone else. Others have suggested that since Tejada is being investigated by the FBI for possibly failing to tell the truth to Congressional staffers/investigators about what he knew about performance enhancing drugs that the truth would have come out. For their part, the Astros say it's not an issue. The former Baltimore shortstop is off to a good start (.296, 2 HRs, 10 RBIs) after being traded from the Orioles to the Astros.
Comments
I know it's not completely uncommon for baseball players to shave a few years off their age, but this coupled with the steriods thing obviously shows that Tejada is a born liar. The Astros are looking more and more foolish for acquiring him.
Posted by: Steve | April 17, 2008 2:09 PM
Jesse Orosco didnt like about his age either! [wink wink]
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The majors are full of Jack Bennys.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Captain Jack | April 17, 2008 2:30 PM
Bill. I always thought that Tejada looked a little older and heard rumours about the age. That might explain why he seemed to slow down last year with us, although years of losing may have been a factor. I'm glad the age 'error' came out after the Astros trade as maybe we wouldn't have got as many players. On the other hand, maybe this makes up for the damaged goods in Troy Patton.
Posted by: TerryP | April 17, 2008 3:07 PM
I would not call Troy Patton damanaged goods. He will be back next year and healed and still only be 23 and a bright prospect.
Posted by: Captain Jack | April 17, 2008 3:42 PM
Brady didn't really hit 50 Hrs.with out help. Davey Johnson never hit near 50 Hrs. for Atlanta.With out help. Jack Nicholson does better commercials [ none ] then the older A Palmer. Brook's southern draw never kept him from being the best in the booth. Phil Chinier went back to college [Howard Community College ] after his playing days to learn to speak proper English and then becomes a pretty successful anouncer. Some of these are true.
Posted by: Herbie | April 17, 2008 4:09 PM