La Guagua, or The Bus is what they call him in Santo Domingo. Tejada drives that bus, steers the offense, navigates the game. Every game.
Tejada refuses to miss a game, an inning, an at-bat. Besides, he’s enjoying this, his first season for the Houston Astros, too much to miss a minute.
“I like to play,” he said. “And, you know, the day I take off might be the best day of my career.”
“They told me they were going to make it a good team and they didn’t,” Tejada said of the Orioles. “I don’t play for the 15th and 30th of the month, when the paychecks come. I play to be a champion every day. I was getting tired of seeing it. It was time.”
He gestured toward teammates …
“This means a lot,” he said. “At this time in my career, it’s not about numbers or money. It’s about pride. This is much better. You can see everybody wants to win here. I’m here to win.” Link
“It sets an example for the other guys,” Cooper said. “You’re on this team and you want to take a day off because you’ve got a little nick somewhere and you don’t want to play…you see that guy wants to play every day, regardless. It makes you want to go.”
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