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THE BIG LIE
Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Red Sox fans love Big Papi.
Last night we asked y’all which of these four Hall of Famers never threw a perfect game: Cy Young, Randy Johnson, Babe Ruth, and Sandy Koufax.
The correct answer was Babe Ruth - congrats to those of y’all who got it right!
If you want more baseball trivia, please reply to this email and let us know.
Let’s dive in.
Today’s story is about a six-time All Star who got exposed on national TV for lying about his age.
If you watched any baseball whatsoever in the early 2000’s, you definitely know who Miguel Tejada is.
He’s been the MVP, HR Derby Champ, and a two-time Silver Slugger winner as well.
But one of the most infamous moments of his career came when ESPN exposed Tejada for lying about his age.
The interview was an awkward and brutal exchange in which the ESPN reporter asked Tejada about his age, and then blindsided him with a birth certificate that proved him wrong.
At the time, Tejada was two years older than the MLB records stated.
Basically, in ‘93 when he was drafted, he told the scouts that he was 17 rather than 19 because he knew it would make them think he had more upside.
He was right; it worked.
And to be honest, this is a pretty common practice among players from the Dominican Republic.
Wandy Rodriguez, Rafael Furcal, Bartolo Colón, and Fausto Carmona all lied about their ages to get pro contracts.
Fausto Carmona took it to the next level and assumed an entirely different identity.
In Tejada's case, his lie really caused no harm and he was worth every penny the Athletics spent on him at the time.
People just don't like being lied to, and the fact that he kept the charade going for over a decade didn't help either.
Ultimately, the Astros (his team at the time of the ESPN interview) didn't give a shit because he was still getting almost 200 hits a year.
And as it turns out, this whole "age scandal" was nothing compared to what Tejada had lined up for his future.
On August 17, 2013, MLB gave Miguel a 105-game suspension for violating their drug policy; he promptly retired.
Then in 2015, he filed for bankruptcy after making nearly $100 million over the course of his big-league career.
Yeah, that hurts.
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STRANGE NAMES
If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.
Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.
If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.
Today's winner is:
Cain had the sweetest name in baseball back in the 30s.
He stuck around for seven seasons in the big leagues, but never posted an ERA under four.
The thing he was probably best at was walking people.
Sugar walked over 500 hitters in less than 1,000 career innings - tough to do.
Over his career, he averaged 5.2 walks per nine innings.
THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE
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