Miquel Tejada
- Thread starter Dave19642006
- Start date
He originally lied when he was 19, to say he was 17. A 19 year old Dominican kid doesn't have near the value as a 17 year old. He had to live with it this long and wanted to get it out there. If you were 19 and this lie was the diference in a couple hundred thousand dollars wouldn't you lie too?
Obviously, I have never been a hot shot baseball prospect from Latin America, but I have to believe I would not lie in that situation. Especially if it would someday threaten my career, life, and general integrity.
So he lied to accelerate getting the income he was eventually going to get anyway. Hard for me to see that as a valid reason to justify lying...
5% of players playing minor league ball ever play in the Bigs and only a third of them stay more than a year. When you are living in a third world country you need to get what you can when you can. At 17 he could sign a six figure signing bonus. At 19 he would have gotten a plane ticket and $750/mo.
It's hard for me to be too critical when two years could be the difference between his/his entire families quality of life. Had he known he would eventually make the big leagues would he have lied? Maybe not. But in that situation, for that kind of money, I don't think many would tell the entire truth.
The are alot of latin american players that have lied about this for the same reason. He wasn't the first and probably won't be the last either
As a 19 year old eating dirt for breakfast I would take the advice of anyone who could even get me a shot at a career worth millions, let alone a job in the states. What I want to know is how old El Dookie (yes, I know, but he was a Yankee and I hate all Yankees) is, I bet he lied by more than 2 years!
Why does two years of age at that young age make such a difference? If a young kid has enough talent to garner a look for six-figure signing bonus, it would seem that the MLB teams would want to get him. Considering the guys that go through college BB for four years, it wouldn't seem that 19 should be "over the hill" for a baseball player...
Anyway, it would seem that since Tejada was actually 19 instead of 17 (or whatever) and did sucessfully make it to the big leagues, "discriminating" against him for being 19 instead of 17 would have been foolish...
I don't know why it happens, just that it does... If a kid in the Dominican isn't picked up by 16 there are questions around him...
I could tell you some other stories about the way things run down there that would really make your head spin, but I'll save that for another time...
If all of his ID's had his real age on them, then I would think that most of the people in the management offices of the clubs he worked for would know his real age. They made his contract, so I don't think it bothers them. The only people who dislike him for this do not understand the situation with Latin American baseball players. This is professional baseball, not little league - who cares?
From what I've read, a few years of age difference in their system can be the difference from a serious look and being told to go home.
Scouts often encourage the Latin players to lie about their age because the scouts get a finders fee for the players and they're more likely to get signed if they're younger. I don't think this is that big of a deal or that unusual. Tony Pena, a relief pitcher for the DBacks, played under a completely different identity when he was in the minors for the same reason.
Obviously Tejada is not the first person that has lied about his age. Gary Hart, Ann Coulter, Beyonce, Tom Anderson, and the list goes on.
Gary Hart seems to be the hardest one to fighure out since he was a graduate of Yale Divinity School. Hart changed his name from Hartpence in 1961, lied about his age, and gave different explanations for these oddities at different times. I don't suspect that we will see another presidential candidate that could repeatedly lie so casually.
Gary Hart seems to be the hardest one to fighure out since he was a graduate of Yale Divinity School. Hart changed his name from Hartpence in 1961, lied about his age, and gave different explanations for these oddities at different times. I don't suspect that we will see another presidential candidate that could repeatedly lie so casually.