BALTIMORE (AP) -Miguel Tejada wore his trademark wide smile, and his enthusiasm for playing baseball obviously had not waned.
Back at Camden Yards for the first time since being traded to the Houston Astros in December, Tejada spoke excitedly Tuesday about seeing his former teammates and fondly looked back on his four years with the Baltimore Orioles.
“I’m happy to back here. Like I always say, I love this team,” Tejada said in the visitor’s clubhouse. “These people here are first-class people in the Baltimore organization, from the bottom to the top.”
When he signed a $72 million, six-year contract with the Orioles before the 2004 season, Tejada hoped to be the cornerstone of a winning team. It never happened, but it wasn’t due to a lack of production on his part – the shortstop never batted lower than .296, hit 102 home runs and averaged 107 RBIs during his four-year run.
“It’s not something I can do by my own. Everybody sees all the numbers I put here – I put up great numbers,” he said. “We’re not winning. I think that’s something I put in my mind, (that) I feel sorry because … we don’t get to the playoffs. To get to the playoffs has to be everyone – the owner, the players, the pitching.”
It’s also helpful to be in a division that doesn’t have the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Before Tejada arrived, the Orioles were a fixture in fourth place in the AL East. They finished third in his first season, then dipped to fourth place in each of the next three years.
The frustration of being part of a losing team got to Tejada toward the end of his stay in Baltimore, but he never changed his energetic style of play.
“I never give up. I always play this game hard because that’s the only thing I always do,” said Tejada, who is batting .300, with nine home runs and 41 RBIs this season. “I know who I am and the reason we weren’t winning here is we don’t have a team to compete with the Yankees and Boston. That’s why we’re not winning and everybody knows that. … They had to have a team to compete with those people to be a champion. That’s why we always were in last place. It’s not because of me. Are they in first place now? Are the Orioles in first place?”
Baltimore began play Tuesday in fourth place.
While with the Orioles, Tejada batted cleanup, didn’t miss a game during his first three seasons and served as a leader in the clubhouse.
“He was a great teammate, a great guy with a big heart,” Orioles first baseman Kevin Millar said. “I loved his energy and passion.”
Tejada ultimately became a bargaining chip for a team looking to rebuild. Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail found a taker in the Astros, who sent outfielder Luke Scott, pitchers Matt Albers, Dennis Sarfate, Troy Patton and first baseman Mike Costanzo to Baltimore for the 2002 AL MVP.
“When it came, it’s not like I want it. It’s business,” Tejada said. “I asked the Orioles to trade me three years ago, and this time they did it. The only thing I could do was say I was coming to the Astros (and) they want me.”
The Astros got a .300 hitter with power, and the Orioles got a handful of players who have already made solid contributions. Although Patton is out for the year with an arm injury and Costanzo is in the minors, Scott has been a fixture in left field and Albers and Sarfate have been solid in the bullpen.
The Orioles and Astros, as well as everyone involved in the deal, appear happy with the results.
“I think it was good for both. Dennis and Matt and I are happy here,” Scott said. “We’re getting treated very well, everything’s fair, it’s all open on the table. At the same time, the Astros got a great player in Miguel Tejada. He’s tearing it up, putting up good numbers. I think both teams are benefiting from it.”
As the Astros took the field for batting practice, Tejada hugged some of his former teammates and chatted with Orioles manager Dave Trembley.
“You don’t have players in your generation that come along often that did what Tejada did,” Trembley said before the game. “He played every game for as long as he did. The guy has a tremendous desire to win and compete. I thought he was somebody when he was here that was counted on heavily to provide that. So for that, I believe he’s earned respect and should be appreciated for what he did.”
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