Miquel Tejada

[Clones85']

Alfonso Soriano did the same thing. And Miguel Tejada was going to get 6 figures no matter if he was 17 or 22. Talent is talent.

[CycloneWanderer]

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?

[CycloneWanderer]

Originally Posted by Clones85'

Alfonso Soriano did the same thing. And Miguel Tejada was going to get 6 figures no matter if he was 17 or 22. Talent is talent.

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.

[CloneFan65]

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.

[alaskaguy]

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.

[LindenCy]

Originally Posted by cytech

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

I think with Latin American stars, you should just assume 2 extra years.

[shagcarpetjesus]

Originally Posted by jbhtexas

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...

Two years is an eternity when it comes to baseball development. When you are dealing with teenage kids who come from Third World countries, two years is a huge, huge deal. You are asking scouts to make determinations on young kids who most likely will never even sniff the majors. Given that reality, the difference between a 17 and 19-year old is 2 full years of development within a professional organization. That is extremely significant when dealing with such young players and when trying to determine the likehood of them becoming a good professional player.

When it comes to amateur talent in baseball, there is very, very, very rarely such a thing as a surefire major leaguer. Just go back and look at all of the players drafted in the 1st round of the baseball draft. Sure there will be some superstars and some solid players. But you'll also notice that 50% of the guys who were selected are people who the average baseball fan has probably never heard of. And that's just if you look at first-round picks. The baseball draft is a huge crapshoot.

And we're not even talking about kids who are drafted. These are guys who get noticed once or twice by a scout in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, or any number of other Latin/Caribbean countries. Hardly any of them get any kind of significant money when they sign professionally. As pointed out earlier, lying about your age has been a very common practice among many of these players. And the degree of accuracy when it comes to documentation in many of these countries leaves a lot to be desired as well. It's easy to sit on the moral high ground and condemn these kids. But if my family had absolutely nothing and lying about my age by 1 or 2 years might be the difference between a six-figure signing bonus or a plane ticket to the states and per diem money, I'm not so sure that I wouldn't lie my *** off.