Miguel Tejada, Pitch-Tipper?
Baseball August 30th. 2009, 1:00pm
Fascinating story in the NY Times today about an incident that took place in July of 2001 involving Miguel Tejada possibly tipping pitches for his friend from the Dominican Republic, Tony Batista. There’s some great reporting here – especially the clubhouse chaos that ensued.
Manager Art Howe, contrary to his laissez-faire style, was forced to address the issue. He spoke first on Tejada’s behalf, trying to quell the outrage. Then Jason Giambi, the unequivocal leader and biggest star on the team, laid out the players’ concerns.
Not surprisingly, several people who attended the meeting, in the A’s home clubhouse, described it as contentious and ugly. Frank Menechino, an A’s infielder at the time, said the veteran Ron Gant took control at the first hint that it might turn nasty.
To recap Tejada’s career:
* Lied about his age
* Allegedly lied to Congress (to be fair, the bigger question is who hasn’t lied to Congress)
* Named in the Mitchell Report
* Allegedly tipped pitches
A career golden sombrero for Miguel Tejada.
Friendship or Betrayal From Inside the Lines? (New York Times)
9 Responses to “Miguel Tejada, Pitch-Tipper?”
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August 30th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
(runs into the room) OHMYGODYOUGUYS!!! I just walked into the kitchen and some man was laying on top of mommy, and she was making sounds like he was hurting her! Then he got up and I saw his thing and THEREWASHAIREVERYWHERE! I gotta go tell Billy!!! (runs out of room)
August 30th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
No worse than Jose Lima intentionally throwing softballs to his friend Sammy Sosa in 1998…
August 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I’m not technically from Oakland, but I can walk there from my parents’ house (not to the ghetto part). Miggy was awesome back in the day, Giambi was the man, and those squads really should have won a World Series. The bigger story here is not that a third-world player tried to help someone else make some money (shocking!), but that the Oakland A’s may not exist in five years. Seriously, the Oakland mayor had a chance to put a stadium downtown and passed it up for low-income housing (admirable, but we love the baseball). They play in a stadium off the side of the shittiest freeway in the Bay Area, which the Raiders ruined by returning from LA, so no one ever shows up.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Was he the alleged friend who was tip buddies with A-Rod?
August 30th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
theted,
I know this is a sportsblog, but complaining that your mayor chose low income housing over a baseball team that never does anything isn’t exactly a popular stance. I can’t imagine the A’s do much for oakland as it is. It’s especially not the time to be building stadiums w/public money when California is bleeding money left and right.
I dont care about AL baseball, but didn’t the As move, or announce plans to move 2 or 3 years ago?
August 30th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
* Allegedly lied to Congress (to be fair, the bigger question is who hasn’t lied to Congress)
He didn’t allegedly lie to Congess, he actually did lie to Congressional investigators. But he was not under oath, so it’s not the same thing as sitting before a committee and lying like, oh I don’t know, Rafael Palmeiro.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I can’t find the link, but somebody actually assumed that Tejeda was one of the most likely culprits for who A-Rod would be doing this with (they were in the same division, easy reciprocity for one shortstop to help the other). I believe that they even took a look at the numbers and showed that A-Rod, Tejeda, and somebody else’s numbers all improved in late meaningless game situations.
August 30th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I would choose a ham sandwich over low income housing. And I hate pork.
August 30th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
if oakland baseball dies, it dies
/drago’d