Happy Birthday, Dominican Style
After 9/11 a lot of Latin American ballplayers aged a few years overnight. Some people still refuse to believe Albert Pujols correctly states his age. But now the truth is out about Miggy Tejada. This bit of news also answers why his range at shortstop has been cut down.
Age ain't nothing but a number, unless you're Miguel Tejada.
The Houston Astros shortstop told the Oakland Athletics when he was signed out of the Dominican Republic in 1993 that he was 17. But he was actually 19, meaning he is now 33, two years older than his listed age in the Astros' media guide and other baseball records.
The shortstop made his admission after being approached Tuesday by ESPN.
"E:60" correspondent Tom Farrey presented Tejada with a copy of a birth certificate, filed by his father in his hometown of Bani, that showed he was born on May 25, 1974. The document was acquired by a Dominican law firm hired by ESPN after clerks at the town hall in Bani declared -- improperly -- that Tejada's records were confidential.
Now if ESPN had only done that kind of investigation before they fired Harold Reynolds.