Miguel Tejada was one of the best shortstops in the MLB during his playing career. The Dominican Republic native played for multiple teams throughout his career and had a lot of success.

Tejada played 16 seasons in the league, and he played in multiple All-Star games and also won an MVP award. During his playing career, Tejada was caught lying about his age. Something no one ever noticed until it was brought up.

Miguel Tejada’s MLB career

Tejada began his major league career in California playing for the Oakland Athletics. The shortstop quickly developed into a high-level prospect in the Athletics’ farm system. He made his MLB debut during the 1997 season and played in 26 games. Over the next few years, Tejada would see improvement in his game, especially at the plate.

During the 2002 season, Tejada made his first All-Star team at the age of 28. That year he also won the AL MVP award. He finished the season with a .308 batting average while hitting 34 home runs and 131 RBIs. The Athletics had some success during the season as well. Tejada helped the team go on a 20-game winning streak, and they won their second Western Division title in three years.

Tejada spent one more season in Oakland after his MVP season and then joined the Baltimore Orioles. In his first season in Baltimore, he led the American League in RBIs with 150. He also made the All-Star team for the second time in his career and won a Silver Slugger award for the first time in his career. The following season Tejada found himself back playing in the All-Star game and won another Silver Slugger award. His first three seasons in Baltimore were productive. Tejada batted over .300 in each of those three seasons and played in three consecutive All-Star games.

Miguel Tejada continuing to play at a high-level late in his career

After a successful career in Baltimore, Tejada played for the Houston Astros for two seasons. During both seasons, he made the All-Star team and had a combined batting average of .298 between both seasons.

After those two short years in Houston, Tejada returned to Baltimore for one season and went back to California, where his career started. He played for the San Diego Padres for a season and the San Francisco Giants for a season. When the 2011 season ended, Tejada took a season off and returned in 2013 for his final season. He ended his career playing for the Kansas City Royals. Tejada played in 53 games and finished with a .288 batting average. For his career, he finished with a .285 batting average with 2,407 hits, 307 home runs, and 1,302 RBIs.

Miguel Tejada lied about his age

In 2008, Tejada admitted that he lied about his age. In an ESPN article, it talked about how Tejada told the Athletics that he was 17 when he was actually 19. ESPN approached Tejada about the incident, and Tejada ended up telling his real age.

Tejada was eager to play in the MLB, and he talked about how vital that opportunity was for him in the ESPN article. “I wanted to sign a professional contract, and that was the only way to do it,” Tejada told reporters when he was playing in Houston. “I didn’t want or mean to do anything wrong, at the time, I was two years older than they thought.”

Tejada did not get in any trouble for lying about his age. The Astros made the necessary change to have his correct age and birth year. Tejada was still playing at a high level, and though he lied about his age, he wanted to be the one to let people know the mistake he made.