MIGUEL TEJADA
On where to find the best crab cakes in Baltimore
I always go to Babalu Grill or the Cheesecake Factory. Also, at Camden Yards, they serve the best soup--it's like a potato soup with crabs. My wife, Alejandra, always orders some to take home for me.
On how crabs are served in the Dominican Republic
Lots of seasoning--salt, pepper, lemon--and usually coconut milk, so you can drink the broth. One hour in a pot, high heat. Alejandra [who is from the dominican] is going to learn to cook it like that. She likes it too.
On building a stadium in his hometown of Bani in the Dominican
It's a dream come true. It has my name on it, Miguel Tejada Stadium, and a painting of me on the centerfield wall, six feet high. When I was playing in the minors, I told everybody in my hometown that i was going to do something for my neighborhood. The stadium opened in December; my winter ball team, Aguilas, against a team of Dominican major leaguers. It holds 3,000 people, and i saw everybody happy, all those kids running around, everybody laughing.
On how things have changed for Dominicans who want to play big league ball
Before [when he played on the land his stadium now occupies] we just had the dirt, no fence, no dugouts, nothing.  When I was coming up, you had to fight with what you had: broken shoes, no gloves.  Now kids have opportunities--all the major league teams have academies there because they know there is a lot of talent.  And guys like me playing in the big leagues, then bringing stuff over like gloves, balls, shoes, bats, makes it a little easier for the kids.  We're doing better.
On new teammate Sammy Sosa
He makes everybody more energized. It makes us more complete to have a guy who's hungry to win. The young ballplayers [back home] all try to be like him. He is good on the field and great off it, so players coming up have an example.
On Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro's Congressional testimony
I watched a little. They did great. They said the truth, and I'm with them.
On his first year in the U.S., playing rookie ball in oregon in '95
To learn English, I watched cartoons. I remember the people I lived with, Bobbi Naumes and her son J.P.  He was about 12, and he treated me like an older brother. I'll never forget all that family did for me. They worked a lot, so I had to cook my own food. I burned their pots once, cooking rice.
On what the O's must do to contend with the Red Sox and the Yankees
Believe in ourselves.  We have the talent.  We just need everyone to believe from the first inning to the last.
--Reported by Daniel G. Habib
TEJADA, 28, LED THE MAJORS WITH 150 RBIS IN 2004 AND THROUGH SUNDAY WAS HITTING .325 WITH 22 RBIS FOR THE 12-7 ORIOLES
"YOU HAD TO FIGHT WITH WHAT YOU HAD: BROKEN SHOES, NO GLOVES"
COLOR PHOTO
Photograph by Michael Heape
COLOR PHOTO
HEINZ KLUETMEIER (TEJADA ACTION)
COLOR PHOTO
CHRIS STANFORD/GETTY IMAGES (JOHNSON);
  "There's fear at first, but you only understand what's happening for a split second."--Jimmie Johnson, Crash Course, page 30