It seemed that Tam spent more time flying between Cleveland and New York then he did on the mound during his first years in the big leagues. The Cleveland Indians picked him off waivers from the New York Mets in June 1999, the Mets took him back two months later, but Tam finally got his break when he was invited to the Oakland Athletics' spring training camp as a non-roster invitee in 2000. Finally given a chance to show off his accurate sinker and 90 MPH fastball, the groundball specialist proved to be an effective setup man, leading the club in appearances while posting an astonishing 2.63 ERA. In 2001 he continued to control the middle and late innings of games, keeping his ERA near 3.00. (EPW)
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FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»May 3, 2000:
The Major League Baseball Players Association again denies several major-leaguers admission to the union. The players crossed picket lines during the 1994-95 strike becoming replacement players. These players don't pay union dues, receive full pension benefits, and can to use the Association's grievance procedure. However, they do not receive a share of royalties from the sale of baseball merchandise. Historian Stuart Shea notes the players are the only ex-replacements currently on major-league rosters: Benny Agbayani and Rick Reed of the Mets; Trenidad Hubbard and Kerry Ligtenberg of the Braves; Cory Lidle and Damian Miller of the Diamondbacks; Keith Osik and Rich Loiselle of the Pirates; Matt Herges of the Dodgers; Joe Slusarski of the Astros; Shane Spencer of the Yankees; Jeff Tam of the A's; Donne Wall of the Padres.
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