ARod, Nomar, Jeter—the great debate over the AL’s top shortstop has been raging for years. Common wisdom said let the MVP voters decide; whoever wins it first gets to say he’s the best. But a funny thing happened on the way to the trophy case. Miguel Tejada of the Oakland A’s snatched the hardware away from this holy trinity with a remarkable 2002 campaign. Now the question may be which, if any, of the “Big Three” will be the first to catch Miguel? This is his story…

GROWING UP

Miguel Odalis Tejada was born on May 25, 1976, in the Dominican Republic. His mother’s name was Mora, his father’s name was Daniel. The youngest of 11 children, Miguel grew up in the town of Bani, population about 100,000, an hour or so southwest of the capital of Santo Domingo. In 1979, the family’s small home and all their belongings were swept away by Hurricane David, which devastated the island. They were forced to retreat to the slums that lined the fringes of the city, where they lived in a rickety three-room shack. There was no running water or electricity.

As soon as he was old enough, Miguel went to work. He was begging at age three, shining shoes at age six, and later helped his father on construction jobs. When his mother died in 1988, Miguel went to work in a garment factory, making a few cents an hour so the family could survive.

Miguel spent his afternoons playing baseball. He learned the game from his brother, Juansito, a marvelous player who might have signed a pro contract were it not for a broken leg that was set improperly. Miguel was a strong hitter and a good fielder, despite using a glove fashioned from old milk cartons. Baseball was all he thought about. Sometimes Miguel dreamed about playing professionally, of becoming a big league shortstop. However, he was not like the other boys who played the position. Though he carried himself with confidence, he was not a graceful athlete. Nor could Miguel skitter around the infield the way they did—a fact that was constantly pointed out to him by those who claimed he should quit. A friend, Rafael Lugo, always managed to talk him out of it.

Miguel sensed that the boys who drew the scouts’ attention did something to make themselves stand out. He decided this was a good way to get noticed, and perhaps get offered a contract. As luck would have it, he met a man named Enrique Soto, a former minor-league player who had failed to reach the majors because he lacked the fundamentals. He told Miguel that most young Dominicans failed for this same reason. They decided the best way for Miguel to succeed was to concentrate on the “little things,” and to show coaches he was eager to learn.

Miguel put this information to work and—after an agonizingly long wait—eventually caught the eye of his country’s greatest baseball hero, Juan Marichal when he was 17. A scout for the A’s, Marichal signed Miguel for the princely sum of $2,000. He recalls feeling like it was all the money in the world.

Miguel entered the A’s Dominican academy as one of many boys hoping to become a shortstop in the majors. The star of the camp was actually an outfielder, Mario Encarnacion, a monstrous talent whom the other kids watched in wide-eyed wonder. Compared to Encarnacion, Miguel barely registered on the A’s radar. But unlike most of his peers, he understood the value of practice and embraced repetition instead of disdaining it as menial or insulting. He hungered for the kind of information that would give him an edge, or reveal new facets of his game.

Miguel was also just plain hungry. For the first time in his life, he was getting enough nourishment, and he was beginning to fill out in ways that excited baseball scouts. When Marichal signed him, Miguel had a strange body—thick and powerful on the bottom, incredibly skinny on top. After a few months at the academy, he gained weight and strength in his upper body. He was now a rock-solid 5-9 with explosive power in his arms and legs. When Miguel threw the ball, it hummed across the infield; when he hit it, it jumped off his bat. Slowly but surely, he rose up the charts and surpassed the boys whom he had once looked up to.

Miguel’s first taste of top-flight competitive ball came in 1994, when he began playing regularly in the Dominican Summer League. He played second base (alongside the A’s top shortstop prospect, Jose Castro) and competed against the likes of Jose Jimenez, Timo Perez and Carlos Febles—all future major leaguers. Miguel hit a solid .294 with 18 homers and 62 RBIs in 74 games. His performance vaulted him ahead of the other boys in Oakland’s Dominican complex, and the team decided to send the 18-year-old to the States for the 1995 season.

Miguel’s first year in the minors found him in the Class-A Northwest League. He stayed with a local family, Bobbi Naumes and her son, J.P., in southern Oregon, and was amazed at how well Americans lived. Miguel and J.P. got along like brothers. He picked up the English language by watching cartoons. One thing Miguel did not like much about life with the Naumes was their food. Often he fixed himself plates of rice and beans.

Miguel found it interesting that other Latino players on the club did not share his single-minded drive to improve. They seemed satisfied to go to the ballpark during the day and have fun at night. The A’s were better than most organizations at motivating their Spanish-speaking players, but like most teams the club tended to view Latinos in the low minors as “warm bodies” to fill out rosters. One or two might pan out, and the rest would be cut—there was always a fresh supply being trained back in the Caribbean. Those released from the team were given a plane ticket home, but most cashed it in and simply melted into the general population, living illegally in the U.S., playing ball on the weekends, and trying to make a new life.

Miguel’s 1995 campaign was a good one. He proved a dangerous hitter and a solid fielder, leading the league in putouts, assists and total chances. He was voted the loop’s best prospect over the much ballyhooed Jose Cruz, Jr.

In 1996, Miguel was in minor-league training camp when he was asked to hustle over to the big-league complex. The team was short a shortstop and needed him for an exhibition game. Never one to let an opportunity slip through his fingers, Miguel homered in his first at bat.

A few weeks later, Miguel was assigned to Modesto of the California League, a talented team featuring some of the A’s best prospects, including Ben Grieve, Jose Ortiz, D.T. Cromer, and Emil Brown. Miguel’s stats—.279, 20 HR, 72 RBI—were good, but they only hinted at the rapid development he was making. At the plate, he was handling everything pitchers threw at him. He could drive fastballs to all fields and didn’t flinch in the face of nasty breaking stuff. In the field, he had major-league range and a cannon for an arm. At season’s end, the league’s manager’s voted Miguel the circuit’s top prospect, and the A’s honored him as the #1 prospect in the entire organization.

The 1997 season found Miguel in a Huntsville uniform. The plan was to give him a full year in the Class-AA Southern League—where he could gain experience at the plate and polish his skills at shortstop—then promote him to the A’s top farm team in 1998. If all went according to schedule, Miguel was slated to join the big club in his mid 20s.

ON THE RISE

The Tejada timetable was accelerated in 1997, thanks to another exceptional year by Miguel. He rocked Southern League pitching to the tune of 22 homers and 97 RBIs. The A’s were now entertaining the possibility that he might be good enough to become their starting shortstop as early as 1998—especially considering that six players had occupied that spot in ’97 without success. A cup of coffee was in order, and Miguel got the call after rosters expanded. He played in 26 games for the A’s that September, batting .202 in 99 at bats and slugging a couple of home runs. Miguel was initially overwhelmed by righties, but seemed to gain confidence with each plate appearance. He played fearless, sometimes over-enthusiastic defense, flashing enough leather to convince the club that he was ready to be an everyday player.

Oakland was in the midst of a rebuilding campaign, and Miguel was a major piece in the puzzle. A shortstop that hits for power gives a manager options at other positions, and skipper Art Howe needed all the options he could get. Working without a big payroll, he and GM Billy Beane cobbled together a respectable lineup featuring rookies at five positions—third baseman Eric Chavez, outfielders Ryan Christenson and Ben Grieve, catcher A.J. Hinch, and Miguel at shortstop. The team’s lone star was first baseman Jason Giambi. Howe and Beane wanted to develop these players, pick up the odd veteran here and there, then wait for their minor-league pitching to start bearing fruit at the major-league level.

The A’s could not afford to sign multi-talented major leaguers. Instead, they looked for players who did one or two things really well. Beane believed that players who took a lot of pitches and then hammered the ball when they got a pitch they liked were the easiest to find, and the easiest to develop. Howe cooperated by building an offensive strategy around this type of personnel.

Miguel did not exactly fit Beane’s profile. Despite being tutored in the “A’s way” of hitting, he was still a free swinger who chased a lot of bad pitches. Nevertheless, he was given a chance to beat out Kurt Abbott at shortstop in 1998. The Tejada experiment was going well in spring training until Miguel broke the middle finger of his right hand. The injury kept him out until late May. When he returned he took over the starting job, but had a hard time getting untracked, struggling to keep his average above .200.

Still, when Miguel got a pitch he could handle, he murdered it. He drove balls into both gaps with excellent power, and knocked 11 out of the park. He worked hard to improve his pitch selection and strike zone judgement, but old habits die hard. While he whiffed only 86 times on the season, he often got himself out before he saw three strikes. On defense, he showed very good range and a strong arm, but made an alarming number of errors—most on routine grounders. For every botched play, however, he made three that took your breath away.

The A’s took a step toward respectability in 1998, winning 74 games. They seemed headed for at least a .500 season until a July swoon sent them reeling. Miguel finished the year at .233, but 32 of his 85 hits went for extra bases—the kind of stat teams love to see from 21-year-olds at any position.

The 1999 A’s started slowly but finished strong. Beane’s insistence on patience at the plate and Howe’s patience with his young studs finally began to pay off. The team was first in the league in walks and won a lot of games late. By elevating opponents’ pitch counts, Oakland got deep into enemy bullpens, and Howe did a masterful job creating batter-pitcher matchups that swung the odds in the A’s favor.

Among the players who stepped up were Giambi, who led the team in almost every offensive category, and oft-injured journeyman John Jaha, who stayed healthy and had a big year. He and Giambi combined for 68 homers, 234 RBIs and 206 walks. Rightfielder Matt Stairs had his second good year in a row, and second baseman Randy Velarde batted .317 with 200 hits.

With this kind of firepower, the pressure was off Miguel. Though he still got eaten up by righthanders, he was making headway in other areas. He kept his average around .250 all year and finished with 21 homers and 84 RBIs. He clubbed three homers in one game against the Dodgers, and for a couple of weeks in August was Oakland’s best clutch hitter, keeping the A’s in the Wild Card race longer than anyone could have imagined. It felt good to carry the team on his back, however briefly. It also felt good to have Velarde as his double-play partner. One of the knocks against Miguel was that his concentration sometimes wavered. Velarde kept him focused and passed along pointers before, during and after games.

The A’s finished 87-75, missing the playoffs by three wins. Among the many positives to be found in the ’99 season was the emergence of Tim Hudson, who went 11-2 in 21 starts. Hudson was the first of several pitching prospects to make an impact on the big-league level. Still on the horizon were Mark Mulder, the #2 pick in the 1998 draft, and Barry Zito, the #9 pick in the 1999 draft. Both had advanced to Class-AAA Vancouver in ’99.

MAKING HIS MARK

For the A’s, 2000 was a year of breakthroughs. Infused with confidence, the offense tore it up. Giambi had an MVP season with 43 home runs and 137 RBIs, Chavez chipped in 26 homers, Grieve added 27, and rookie Terrence Long had a nice year with 56 extra-base hits and 104 runs. In all, the A’s belted 239 round-trippers and walked 750 times, which produced a whopping five runs per game.

The breakthrough of the year, however, belonged to Miguel—who signed a four-year deal with the A’s that April that made him a wealthy young man. Following the lead of his teammates, he began taking pitches he used to hack at. To his astonishment, he saw increasingly better pitches, particularly against righthanders, who no longer bedeviled him. When Miguel worked the count to 3-1, he hit a robust .545. With the A’s in more close games, Miguel found himself in more pressure situations. He responded by batting .364 in the clutch. This was the best mark on the team, and eighth-highest in the league.

Miguel was promoted to the #2 spot in the order, and finished the year with 30 homers and 115 RBIs. His biggest contribution came in July, when a shoulder injury sapped Giambi’s strength and the team needed a lift. Miguel pounded eight homers during that stretch, enabling the A’s to stay in the hunt for the division title.

Oakland’s young pitching also helped them through tough times. Hudson had an astonishing year, going 20-6. Zito got called up and proceeded to handcuff the league down the stretch, as well. Combined, the pair went 10-1 in September. Mulder, the third jewel in Oakland’s pitching crown, was having a great final month, too, before he was shelved for the year by a back injury. Luckily, the team had veterans Gil Heredia and Kevin Appier on the staff, along with closer Jason Isringhausen. In a thrilling race, Oakland edged the Mariners by a half-game in the AL West to win its first division crown since 1992.

The A’s took on the big, bad Yankees in the Division Series and were simply dazzling. They beat Roger Clemens in the opener behind Heredia, then shutout the Bronx Bombers in Game 2. Needing just one win to close out the series, the A’s went to New York looking like a lock. But Hudson and Zito could not finish the job, and the Yankees battled back to knot the series. The teams returned to Oakland for the decisive game, and the A’s unraveled in the first inning, letting six Yankees score. The A’s worked their way back into the game, but fell short, 7-5. Miguel batted .350 in the series, reached base nine times, and played flawless defense. His performance went unnoticed in the crushing defeat.

With a maturing and battled-tested nucleus, the A’s were favored to take the flag in 2001. But an 8-18 start, coupled with the record pace set by Seattle, ended any hope of another division crown by June. Howe, who had built a lot of trust with his young stars, convinced them everything would be okay if they focused on playing the game the best they could. The Oakland manager was correct. The A’s put their heads down and finished with 102 wins—the first time in major-league history a team won 100 after being so far under .500.

Newcomers Johnny Damon and Jermaine Dye had good years, Chavez blossomed into a dangerous hitter, Giambi had another MVP-caliber season (although Ichiro won the award), and Ramon Hernandez, the young catcher, became an important contributor. The pitching came through, too. Mulder, fully recovered, went 21-8. Zito finished at 17-8, and was unhittable in the last two months. And Hudson was nasty all year, posting an 18-9 record.

As for Miguel, he proved 2000 was no fluke, producing virtually identical numbers—31 home runs, 113 RBIs, 107 runs scored, .476 slugging, and a .267 batting average. Early in the season he was matching his teammates hit-for-hit and homer-for-homer. His power numbers tailed off in the second half, but he hit better in the clutch, driving in 58 runs with 74 hits.

The A’s nailed down the Wild Card and once again faced the Yankees in the Division Series. Mulder pitched a gem in the opener and Oakland won, 5-3. Hudson slammed the door on the Yanks, 2-0, the next night to put the A’s within a win of the ALCS for the second year in a row. This time, the series was headed to Oakland, where fans were sure their A’s would finish off the New Yorkers.

Zito was in command in Game 3 until Jorge Posada belted a long home run. Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera made the lead stand up for a 1-0 victory. Game 4 got away from the A’s early, as Bernie Williams knocked in five runs in a 9-2 romp. In this game, Dye fouled a ball off his leg and broke it, leaving Oakland without its cleanup hitter.

Game 5, in New York, started well for the A’s, who took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Alfonso Soriano tied it up for the Yanks, then a series of fielding miscues opened the door to three more runs. Miguel, who hammered out four hits in the do-or-die game, tried to lead a comeback, but all the A’s could muster was one more run. The Yankees rose from the dead once again, winning 5-3.

Miguel went home after a second straight post-season disappointment and thought long and hard about what was coming. The A’s were going to lose some important players, most notably Giambi (who was signed by the Yankees), which meant that Miguel would have to be better than good. He would have to be great.

Miguel watched endless hours of videotape on himself. It was obvious that he would have to develop more discipline at the plate, or he would never see decent pitches to hit. A slow, subtle transformation started in winter ball and continued into spring training.

Miguel was surprised by the attention focused on him during training camp. He reported a couple of pounds heavier, which started whispers about his weight, which led to questions about his commitment, which dredged up old stories about how his attention wandered at times. It was true that Randy Velarde sometimes had to help him keep his head in the game, but those days were in the past. As far as Miguel was concerned, he was locked in and ready to have a monster season.

The departure of Giambi had not only focused more attention on Miguel, it would test the A’s to their very core. The lefty slugger had been Oakland’s signature player, both on and off the field, and the very embodiment of the organization’s philosophy: patience at the plate. To make up for Giambi’s production, Beane went to work plugging holes. First he looked across the infield to his two young Latino stars, Miguel and Eric Chavez. They were coming into their prime years, and were thoroughly professional hitters at this point.

Auditions for first base began in spring training, with rookie Carlos Pena and free-agent pickup Scott Hatteberg in competition for most of the playing time, and utilityman Olmedo Saenz available against tough lefties. Hatteberg eventually won the job thanks to his willingness to take pitches, and Pena was dealt to Detroit. Another important development was the acquisition of closer Billy Koch from the Blue Jays. It cost the A’s a major prospect, Eric Hinske, but the deal had to be done because Jason Isringhausen had signed with the Cardinals. Hinske was expendable because he played the same position as Chavez. Damon departed via free agency, too, so Long moved over to play centerfield.

The new chemistry took a while to work. Unfortunately for Oakland, the Mariners got off to another fast start. By late May, Seattle had 10 games on the A’s, who were sitting in last place. Leftfield and second base were unexpected problem spots. Bean solved the outfield dilemma by trading away stone-fingered Jeremy Giambi and installing a three-way platoon between David Justice, Adam Piatt and Eric Byrnes. Second base duties eventually fell to rookie Mark Ellis, an unnoticed throw-in on the deal that had originally brought Damon from Kansas City.

Oakland’s pitching was inconsistent early in the year. Zito was great, but everyone else stunk. Mulder and Hudson sported ERAs above 5.00, Cory Lidle couldn’t buy a win and was in danger of being dropped from the rotation, and the finishing trio of Koch, Jim Mecir and Chad Bradford were blowing a full third of their save opportunities.

Oakland fans were worried but not panicked. Chavez was hitting a ton and Miguel—inserted into Giambi’s old #3 spot in late May—was batting over .300. As the season passed the midway point (Miguel made the All-Star team and went 1-for-2 in the game), the A’s righted their ship and cut the Mariner lead in half. Miguel went on a 24-game hitting streak after the All-Star break and began driving in big runs. Mulder and Hudson turned things around, Zito—who would go on to win the Cy Young Award—established himself as the league’s top starter, and Koch was closing games without incident. Meanwhile, Beane was picking up spare parts like John Mabry, Ted Lilly and Ray Durham for what promised to be a compelling stretch run.

Not even the most avid A’s fan, however, could have guessed just how compelling a run it would be.

In mid August, the A’s began stringing together timely hitting and clutch pitching, and started a winning streak that grew well into double-digits by the end of the month. Day in and day out, Miguel was the man. After a torrid July, he continued to pound the ball in August. At the start of September he found himself among the league leaders in batting and had 110 RBIs. He was also being mentioned in the same breath as MVP front-runners Alfonso Soriano, Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez. With Seattle in a deep swoon, the A’s passed the Mariners and Angels to grab first place.

On September 1, Miguel blasted a dramatic three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth against the Twins to give Oakland its 18th straight win. A victory over the Royals the following afternoon would tie them with the 1947 Yankees and 1906 White Sox for the American League record of 19. Playing at home in front of 26,000 fans, the A’s looked like a sure thing with Zito on the mound going for his 20th win.

The normally hapless Royals roughed him up, however, and took a 5-0 lead after four innings. Miguel muffed a grounder that could have ended a rally and kept the score close. The A’s battled back, and the game went into the bottom of the ninth, tied 6-6. After a leadoff triple by Long, the Royals intentionally loaded the bases, hoping to set up a force at the plate. Hatteberg obliged with a ground ball to second, forcing Long.

Miguel strode confidently to the plate, and took the measure of Kansas City veteran Jason Grimsley, owner of a nasty sinker when he’s on. The Royals brought their outfielders in, using one as a fifth infielder. Grimsely’s first delivery was knee-high on the outside corner. Miguel knew the pitch was coming, kept his hands back, and lined it over second base for the game-winner.

The record-setting 20th win came two days later, and for the third time in a row it came the hard way. The A’s staked Hudson to an 11-0 advantage, only to watch the biggest lead in Oakland history evaporate. Once again, Miguel botched a double-play ball that ignited a Royal rally. In the bottom of the ninth, with score tied 11-11, Hatteberg came up as a pinch hitter against Grimsley, who was on the mound again for KC at crunch time. The lefty drilled the ball into the seats for the victory.

The A’s lost their next game, against the Twins, then fought the pesky Angels the rest of the way to win the AL West. There were more thrilling one-run victories, and more game-winning hits for Miguel, who finished the year with a flourish—batting .308 with 204 hits, 34 homers and 131 RBIs. His also cut down on his strikeouts, whiffing five times less despite significantly more plate appearances than in 2001.

The A’s figured they had caught a break when they drew the Twins in the Divisional Series instead of the Yankees. After opening a big lead early in Game 1, however, Oakland’s bullpen floundered and Minnesota won, 7-5. The pitching held in Games 2 and 3, as the A’s won, 9-1 and 6-3. Miguel homered against ace Eric Milton in Game 4 to stake the A’s to a 2-0 lead, but the Twins exploded for 11 runs against Hudson and Lilly to knot the series. Game 5, a nail-biter for eight innings, went up in flames as the two teams’ closers blew up. The Twins were a run better in the end, hanging on to win the series, 5-4. Miguel managed just three hits in the five games, and watched with the rest of his teammates as the Wild Card Angels scored an amazing World Series win over the cross-bay San Francisco Giants.

A couple of weeks later, the MVP voting was announced. Miguel received 21 first-place votes to ARod’s five and took home the award. Soriano, Garrett Anderson and Giambi rounded out the Top 5. Miguel was honestly shocked (and happy—the award was good for a $100,000 bonus). He figured all along that Rodriguez’s league-leading 57 homers and 142 RBIs would make the MVP a no-brainer. But the baseball writers used their heads and gave Miguel a clear victory. He had important at bats all year and came through time and again.

Despite the hardware that said he was the best, Miguel’s thirst to improve remained unquenched. As the team’s leading player, he hoped to take the A’s deeper into the postseason. With Hudson, Zito, and Mulder all under contract, Oakland’s window of opportunity was still wide open.

It didn’t happen in 2003, however. Oakland went on one of its typical second-half tears, storming back in the AL West to overtake the Mariners and capture the division with relative ease. But in the ALDS, the A’s went flat after going up 2-0 on the Boston Red Sox. With three chances to win the series, they couldn’t seal the deal. Their defeat in Game Five, on their home turf, was a bitter pill to swallow. Miguel was as frustrated as anyone. He collected just two hits in 22 at-bats, drove home only two runs and made a bonehead play on the basepaths in Game Four.

In retrospect, given the team’s inconsistent pitching in ‘03, Oakland’s first-place finish was amazing in and of itself. While Hudson was sensational, Zito was up and down, and Mulder got hurt and missed the last two months of the year. But rookie manager Ken Macha pushed the right buttons, and also benefitted from a great performance by closer Keith Foulke, who more than filled the void for the departed Billy Koch.

Miguel once again had an important hand in Oakland’s fortunes. Few would have believed it after the way he started the season. Burdened by new types of pressure—he was set to become a free agent in 2004—Miguel fell into a dangerous trap. Charged with carrying the A’s offensively and hoping to prove he was worth a mega-million-dollar deal, he tried to do too much at the plate. Normally a lethal hitter to all fields, Miguel looked to yank every pitch into the leftfield stands. By the end of April his average had plummeted to .167, and he had just 13 RBIs.

As Miguel slowly began to awake from his slump, the A’s focused on just treading water. Chavez gave the team at least one consistent bat, catcher Ramon Hernandez matured into an effective hitter and role players like Scott Hatteberg, Mark Ellis and Eric Byrnes chipped in when needed.

In August, Miguel kicked it into overdrive. During the campaign’s final two months, he sizzled at the plate. By year’s end, his stats—a .278 batting average, 42 doubles, 27 homers and 106 RBIs—only hinted at his struggles early on.

Miguel’s lackluster performance in the ‘03 playoffs, however, had some wondering about his value as a free agent. As expected, he hit the market in the offseason, and initially the interest in him was moderate at best. The Tigers and Mariners made offers, but Miguel was looking for a bigger payday. Enter the Baltimore Orioles—whose fans had grown accustomed to having a power guy at short—who inked him for six years at a reported $72 million.

With a new manager (Lee Mazilli) and a shaky rotation, the odds were against the 2004 Orioles, who had to compete with the beefed-up Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East. Miguel was acutally one of several big offseason acquisitions by Baltimore, which also signed slugging catcher Javy Lopez and starter Sidney Ponson.

The Orioles and their new shortstop started the season well, with Miguel batting over .300 and driving in runs in bunches. On the first of June, they were 24-24, six games in back of New York. That was as close as Baltimore got. By the end of the month, the team was out of the race.

Miguel, however, never stopped swinging. At the All-Star break, he was asked to replace the injured Jason Giambi in the Home Run Derby at Houston's Minute Maid Park. The event included an array of proven sluggers, including Barry Bonds. But it was Miguel who stole the show. In the second round, he ripped a record 15 homers, and then faced off against hometown favorite Lance Berkman in the final. Still going strong, Miguel won easily.

He continued to hit in the second half, never allowing the Orioles to give up on the season. In fact, a hot finish left them with a final record of 78-84.

In most other seasons, Miguel would have been a leading MVP candidate. But big years from Gary Sheffield, Manny Ramirez and Vladimir Guerrero made him no more than an also-ran. That being said, he had an outstanding campaign. Miguel batted .311, smashed 40 homers and, most impressive, drove in 150 runs. He was just the 25th player in big-league history to reach this plateau.

Miguel certainly found the friendly measurements of Camden Yards to his liking, and put up monstrous numbers in his home ballpark, proving he was worth every penny of his contract. For a long time, the only thing separating him from elite players like Jeter was the size of his bank account. Now he must also show he can deliver a championship.

MIGUEL THE PLAYER

Miguel is the kind of hitter who knows he can beat a pitcher on his best pitch. The difference between the Miguel of 2002 and the Miguel of old is that he recognizes that if he waits he’ll see something much better. He can yank an inside pitch 400 feet, or flick his bat at an outside offering and line it to the rightfield wall. Committed to improving himself at the plate, Miguel has a firm grasp on what it takes to win the cat-and-mouse game between pitchers and hitters.

In the field, Miguel still suffers lapses in concentration. He routinely makes spectacular plays, but still has a tendency to botch routine grounders. Improvement in this area should come with time. On the bases, no one doubts Miguel’s speed or his ability to get a decent jump. But until the A’s change their big-inning philosophy, it is doubtful he will steal more than a dozen bases.

Even if Miguel could steal 30, the A’s probably would not let him. He is so reliable and so consistent that the risk of losing him to injury—or asking him to play at 75 percent—might have a devastating effect on the team. Miguel is remarkably durable and the A’s would like to keep it that way.