UPDATE: (April 17th, 11:06pm EST) -  It turns out that Tejada is a little less innocent in this story than one might have initially thought.  On ESPN’s Sportscenter tonight, a clip was released of an “E:60″ interview scheduled to air next week in which Tejada is asked point blank when he was born.  The shortstop replies “1976″ with the ease of an Oscar nominated actor.  But then, to his surprise, Tejada is handed a copy of his birth certificate showing that he was born in 1974.  (At this point, it would have been great if the reporter also handed him a fleece.)  Tejada then becomes visibly nervous, and actually begins to chide the ESPN reporter for bringing up a “personal” matter.  The shortstop then starts fumbling around in his chair in an attempt to take off his microphone.  He finally does, and then walks away from the interview…FURIOUS.  It was hilarious…ESPN caught him in a vicious lie and Tejada didn’t know how to respond.  In conclusion, it appears that Miggy only came clean today because he knew this ESPN interview was about to air and he wanted to pre-empt the negative PR.  As for this fifteen year lie being a “personal” matter, I wonder how the Feds will feel about that, given that Tejada is already under investigation for lying to federal investigators. 

April 17, 1:00pm (EST) - Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada has admitted to Houston General Manager Ed Wade that he has been lying about his age for 15 years, as per the Houston Chronicle.  Tejada is currently 33-years-old instead of the 31 year-old age that he is listed as in the club’s media guide and other baseball records.

It turns out that Tejada was actually 19 when he signed with the Oakland A’s in 1993, instead of 17, which is what he told the Oakland scouts.   

Said Tejada, “I’m a poor kid that wanted to sign.  I’m feeling free now.  It’s something that I had in my mind.” He went on: “The thing is I didn’t want Houston to find out from somebody else.  I wanted to find out just from my face. I’m a man and I’m responsible for everything. That’s why I prefer to come to them and say, ‘You know what? That’s the way it is and we’re moving forward.’  I was feeling like I had something to say in the last three days. That’s why I waited for today to do it.”

The funny thing is that Tejada’s green card, driver’s license and other legal papers in the United States show his actual birthday, May 25, 1974.  So this must not have been a secret to Houston.  In fact, Ed Wade doesn’t seem that upset at all.  Says Wade, “Fact of the matter is that he plays like he’s 25, so I don’t think it really matters a whole lot.”   (We’ll let that “he plays like he’s 25″ comment slide here, even though it is an outrageous homer comment.)

The real fleece lies with the A’s, who were blatantly lied to by Tejada when he originally signed, and with the Orioles, who may have been duped into giving Tejada more cheddar when they signed him in 2004 because they thought he was so young (Tejada received a 6 year, $72 million deal in 2004).  And before you argue that the O’s clearly checked his U.S. information before they signed him, remember that this is the Orioles.  So I don’t put it past them. 

On a sidenote, if Miguel Tejada lied about this for 15 years, why the heck should we believe anything he has to say about his involvement with performance enhancing drugs?  Now we have his name in the Mitchell Report and proof that he’s willing to lie for over a decade to gain an advantage.  Seems like a closed case for me.  You?

Filed under: Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, Oakland Athletics, _Off-Field Fleeces