Chapter[ VIII. Information Obtained Regarding Other Players’ Possession or Use of
Steroids and Human Growth Hormone ]
Section[ Miguel Tejada ]
Miguel Tejada
Miguel Tejada is a shortstop who has played for two teams in Major League
Baseball since 1997, the Oakland Athletics (7 seasons) and Baltimore Orioles (4 seasons). He
was the American League Most Valuable Player in 2002. He played in every game from June 2,
2000 until June 21, 2007, the fifth longest streak of consecutive games played in Major League
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Baseball history. Tejada has played in four All-Star games and was the Most Valuable Player of
the 2005 All-Star game.
In 2003, Adam Piatt’s locker was located next to Tejada’s in the Oakland
Athletics clubhouse. According to Piatt, Tejada asked specifically if he had any steroids. Piatt
believed that Tejada asked him because Piatt was in good shape and generally friendly with him.
Piatt had several conversations with Tejada before a transaction occurred. Piatt
admitted he had access to steroids and human growth hormone and agreed to obtain them for
Tejada. Piatt recalled that he provided Tejada with testosterone or Deca-Durabolin, as well as
human growth hormone. Piatt emphasized that he did not know whether Tejada actually used
the substances.
Piatt’s bank provided two checks deposited into Piatt’s account that had been
written to him from Miguel Tejada. The checks are dated March 21, 2003 and are in the
amounts of $3,100 and $3,200 respectively. Both are included in the Appendix; one is shown
below.
Separately, before our interviews of him, Piatt also spoke with federal agents by
telephone. Piatt had his personal lawyer present for this call, as he did in his meetings with me
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and my investigative staff. The federal agents later advised my staff that Piatt also informed
them of Piatt’s sales to Tejada during their telephone interview.
Radomski recalled receiving a call from Piatt during which he said he needed
extra testosterone because “one of the guys wanted some.” In a later conversation, Piatt told
Radomski that the testosterone was for his teammate, Miguel Tejada. Radomski never spoke, or
sold performance enhancing substances, directly to Tejada. Radomski provided this information
to me without knowledge that I had spoken to Piatt or that I was otherwise aware of Piatt’s
alleged sales to Tejada. Similarly, Piatt was unaware of any statements by Radomski on this
subject when he was interviewed by my investigative staff.
As discussed earlier in this report, Tejada was interviewed as part of a
congressional investigation into whether Rafael Palmeiro had lied under oath about his use of
performance enhancing substances during a March 17, 2005 congressional committee hearing.408
In that investigation, Palmeiro said he had received injectable, and legal, vitamin B12 from
Tejada; Palmeiro said it was possible the vitamin B12 had been tainted and had been the reason
for his positive test for steroids. Tejada admitted to investigators that he provided injectable
vitamin B12 to Palmeiro and two other unidentified Orioles players during the 2005 season. The
congressional report said that the Players Association had tested another vial of vitamin B12
provided by Tejada and it showed no signs of steroids.409
Tejada is also mentioned in two books on the subject. In Juicing the Game, the
author Howard Bryant wrote that during the 2002 season, an airport security screener found a
syringe in Tejada’s briefcase. Tejada reportedly explained that he received a supply of vitamin
408 See supra at 103-06; see also H. Comm. on Gov’t Reform, Report on Investigation
Into Rafael Palmeiro’s March 17, 2005 Testimony Before the Comm. on Gov’t Reform, at 6
(109th Cong. 2005) (“Palmeiro Report”).
409 Palmeiro Report at 9-10, 25, 27.
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B12 from the Dominican Republic that he administered to himself.410 Mickey Morabito, the
director of team travel for the Oakland Athletics, confirmed the incident in an interview with my
investigative staff. He acknowledged that he did not report the incident to anyone with the club
or the Commissioner’s Office.
In his book Juiced, Jose Canseco wrote that, in 1997, when he and Tejada were
teammates on the Athletics, they discussed the use of performance enhancing substances:
I started giving him [Tejada] advice about steroids, and he seemed
interested in what I was saying. Tejada and I had a secret weapon: We
could speak in Spanish, which made it easier to talk about whatever he
wanted, even if there were reporters around.411
Tejada denied that he had ever had any discussions with Canseco about steroids. He was further
reported to say: “I work very hard to keep in shape and any suggestion that I use steroids, or any
banned substance is insulting and not worth discussing further.”412
In December 2005, Texas Rangers owner Thomas O. Hicks and general manager
Jon Daniels engaged in an email exchange about possible trade discussions. In one email,
Daniels stated that he had “some steroids concerns with Tejada,” and cited Tejada’s decreased
productivity over the second half of the 2005 season.413
In order to provide Tejada with information about these allegations and to give
him an opportunity to respond, I asked him to meet with me; he declined.
410 Howard Bryant, Juicing The Game 335 (Plume 2005).
411 Jose Canseco, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball
Got Big 177 (Regan Books 2005).
412 See Associated Press, Report: FBI Agent Says He Warned MLB about Steroid Use,
Chi. Sun-Times, Feb. 16, 2005, at 134.
413 Email from Jon Daniels to Thomas O. Hicks, dated Dec. 15, 2005.
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