Ballplayer buys new home base.

Byline: Jessica Burke

Baltimore Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada will now be playing closer to home during spring training after buying a house in Fort Lauderdale.

Tejada and his wife, Alejandra, purchased the residence at 3013 NE 20th Court in Fort Lauderdale for $3.503 million from auto dealership owner Terry R. Taylor. The Orioles hold spring training at Fort Lauderdale Stadium.

“It was a record sale for the area,” broker Tim Elmes of Sol Sotheby’s International Realty said. He represented Taylor in the transaction.

When the Tejadas first saw the waterfront property, the listing price was just shy of $4 million, Elmes said. The seller later raised the price to $4.499 million. The 0.3-acre property had been on the market for 13 months and closed Aug. 10.

The home is east of the Intracoastal Waterway and north of Hugh Taylor Birch State Park.

The 5,692-square-foot house sits on a point on the wide waterway and has 218 feet of waterfront, including 124 feet of side dockage for a boat and 94 feet directly on the Intracoastal.

The property has privacy gates, a heated waterfront pool and spa, a three-car garage and a guesthouse. Built in 2002, the estate has five bedrooms, six-and-a-half bathrooms and an elevator.

A hand-painted rotunda ceiling is above the two-story formal living room, which has a stone fireplace. A wine room with murals depicting rolling vineyards is attached to the formal dining room.

The master suite is on the second floor along with other bedroom suites and a laundry room. A breezeway leads to the guesthouse and a large terrace.

The Tejadas financed the purchase with $2.21 million and $500,000 loans from Wells Fargo Bank, according to Broward County public records.

Tejada’s new home is about 15 minutes away from Fort Lauderdale Stadium, where the Orioles limber up each spring. The team has been training there since 1996 after the New York Yankees moved to Legends Field in Tampa.

Tejada, born and raised in the Dominican Republic, was signed at age 17 by Oakland Athletics scout Juan Marichal. He made his major league debut late in the 1997 season with the A’s.

Tejada stayed with the team through the 2003 season and signed a six-year, $72 million deal as a free agent with the Orioles.

While with Oakland, Tejada was the American League’s most valuable player in 2002. He had 34 home runs, 131 RBIs and batted .308.

Tejada’s success continued after moving east, winning the Home Run Derby, a prelude to the All-Star Game, by hitting 27 in the competition in July 2004. A year later, he was named most valuable player in the All-Star Game after hitting a home run and two RBIs. He received the American League’s Silver Slugger award in 2004 and 2005.

The Los Angeles Angels almost acquired the four-time all-star last July, but they wanted him to switch from shortstop to third base. The occasional designated hitter expressed no interest in a new position, but the two teams may talk again this winter.

The Orioles, sitting in fourth place in the American League East, took a 63-82 record into Thursday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox.

So far this season Tejada has hit 22 home runs and 93 RBI. His batting average entering Thursday’s game was .330.

When he’s not playing ball, Tejada returns to a home he owns in the Dominican Republic with his wife and two children. He grew up in Bani, west of the capital of Santo Domingo, and is the youngest of 12 children.

The former owner of Tejada’s newest stateside property never lived in it. Taylor acquired the Fort Lauderdale home in a property trade, Elmes said.

Taylor owns a 26,805-square-foot beachfront estate in Palm Beach at 780 S. Ocean Blvd. and the adjacent 3,742-square-foot guesthouse at 755 S. County Road. The main house is landmarked by the town and sits on 268 feet of beachfront.

He purchased the two properties for $24.2 million in 2003 from Lowell “Bud” Paxson, the founder of PAX-TV and co-founder of the Home Shopping Network. Previous owners of the Addison Mizner-designed estate include George Rasmussen, the founder of National Tea Co., and Mary Woolworth Donahue, the department store heiress.

Taylor made his money as president of West Palm Beach-based Automotive Management Services, which owns car dealerships throughout the state, including part of the Daytona International Auto Mall. u

Jessica Burke can be reached at jburke@alm.com or at (305) 347-6685.