Boone has heart surgery to repair congenital defect

HOUSTON -- Astros third baseman Aaron Boone had open heart surgery in California on Thursday to replace a bicuspid aortic valve.

The 36-year-old Boone was diagnosed with a congenital defect in his heart where the valve has two -- not the normal three -- cusps to manage blood flow. The surgery was performed at Stanford University Medical Center.

Boone is a member of one of baseball's most famous families. His father is former major league catcher and manager Bob Boone.

The Astros signed Boone in the offseason. He announced his condition at spring training March 18 and said he's uncertain if he'll ever play baseball again. He said his recovery from the surgery itself would take "several months."

Boone has played for Cincinnati, the New York Yankees, Cleveland, Florida and Washington in his 12-year major league career. He is best known for his 11th-inning homer off Boston's Tim Wakefield in Game 7 of the 2003 AL championship series that sent the Yankees into the World Series.

Boone said at spring training that he felt fine, but a routine physical determined he needed surgery.

Tejada receives one year probation

WASHINGTON -- With an apology to Congress, baseball and the kids who looked up to him, All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada received a sentence of one year probation Thursday for misleading Congress about the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Tejada faced possible prison time, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay issued a sentence of one year of unsupervised release, 100 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine. Kay waived drug testing often required of other convicts on probation and said he wouldn't restrict the Houston Astros player's travel.

Tejada stood before the judge and gave a 45-second statement, speaking softly in accented English. He said he takes "full responsibility for not answering the question" and apologized to Congress, his sport, "and especially the kids."

He added: "I learned a very important lesson."

Last month, the 34-year-old athlete pleaded guilty to withholding information when questioned by a House committee's investigators in August 2005 about an ex-teammate's use of steroids and human growth hormone.

He also acknowledged he bought HGH while playing for the Oakland A's, but said he threw the drugs away without using them. Prosecutors said they have no evidence to contradict that.

-- The Associated Press