Of all of the major-league shortstops who took the field in 2000, only the venerable Alex Rodriguez had better power numbers than Tejada, who set club records at his position with 30 homers and 115 RBIs. Had he not averaged over twenty errors a year over his first three seasons, Tejada would have been counted among the best of a crop of fine young shortstops that emerged in the late 1990s.
After Tejada passed Bert Campaneris as the franchise’s all-time leader for home runs by a shortstop in July 2000, a group of A’s fans in the Oakland Coliseum bleachers began a ritual drum chant during his at-bats. It marked the pinnacle of a remarkable journey for Tejada, who grew up in extreme poverty in the Dominican Republic before he was signed to a minor-league contract by Juan Marichal in 1993.
