Cleats From Tejada's Two Biggest Seasons in Baltimore: Game-Used, 2004-05

When the Orioles signed Miguel Tejada in December 2003, they added the former AL MVP on a six-year, $72 million deal, a big bet for a team trying to rebuild. He paid it back right away. In 2004, he was named Most Valuable Oriole after hitting .311 with 34 home runs, a club-record 150 RBI that led the majors, and 203 hits, playing in every game. He finished fifth in MVP voting, and he won the Home Run Derby in Houston, hitting a then-record 27 homers. The 2005 season was nearly as good. He hit .304 with 26 home runs and 98 RBI, set a club record with 31 RBI in April, and was named an All-Star again.

These game-used cleats come from those two seasons. The 2005 All-Star Game belonged to him: he hit a towering home run off John Smoltz in the AL's 7-5 win at Comerica Park, finished 1-for-3 with two RBI, and was named MVP. He also won Silver Sluggers in both seasons. The team around him struggled, and the Orioles had been 14 games over .500 in 2005 before collapsing to a losing record by year's end, but Tejada was one of the game's best shortstops and the center of Baltimore's lineup. For Orioles collectors, a pair of cleats from the two years he was at his peak in Baltimore is an appealing piece of that era.