Baseball Star Comes Clean About Long Standing Lie
HOUSTON (AP) – Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada has told the team he’s actually 33, two years older than he’s listed in the club’s media guide and other baseball records.
Tejada, saying he wanted rid himself of a burden, approached general manager Ed Wade and asked to correct misinformation he gave the Oakland A’s when he signed in 1993, the Houston Chronicle reported on its Web site Thursday.
Team officials were not immediately available to comment to The Associated Press. The Astros were wrapping up a three-game series Thursday with the Phillies in Philadelphia.
Tejada was actually 19 when he signed out of poverty-stricken Bani, Dominican Republic. At the time, he says, a local coach encouraged him to say he was 17.
“I’m a poor kid that wanted to sign,” Tejada said on the Chronicle site. “I’m feeling free now. It’s something that I had in my mind.”
The former American League MVP was signed out of the Dominican Republic by Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, but he was clear Marichal had no part in the deception. Moreover, Wade and Tejada both said the shortstop’s green card, driver’s license and other legal papers in the United States reflect his actual birthday, May 25, 1974.
The Astros’ media guide lists his birthday as May 25, 1976.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
