Vladimir Guerrero: 10 Hall of Fame Moments

As he takes his place in Cooperstown, Vladimir Guerrero becomes the first position player from the Dominican Republican to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. This January, Guerrero received 92.9% of the vote from the BBWAA, the highest vote percentage ever for player not on the ballot for the first time.

Guerrero will also join Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines and Randy Johnson as the 5th product of the farm system of the Montreal Expos to get a Cooperstown plaque. Ironically, the now defunct Expos have the most players from their organization to make the Hall of any team in the last 50 years.

Cooperstown Cred: Vladimir Guerrero

• .318 career BA, 449 HR, 1,496 RBI
• One of six players in MLB history with a .318 average and 449 HR (Ruth, Gehrig, Williams, Foxx, Musial)
• 8 times with a .300 BA, 30 HR and 100 RBI
• 9-time All-Star
• 2004 MVP with Angels (.337 BA, 39 HR, 126 RBI, 124 Runs)
• Career: 59.4 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) & 140 OPS+ (ballpark-adjusted OPS)
• Led league in assists from RF 3 times (10 times in the Top 10)

(Cover Photo: Jeff Topping/Reuters)

In this piece, the fifth in a six-part series, we look at ten moments that make Vladimir Guerrero a Hall of Famer. For a more definitive overview of Vladdy’s great career, please enjoy Vladimir Guerrero: Ready for the Hall of Fame Call (published shortly before this January’s Hall of Fame vote announcement).

So, without further ado, here is the list of 10 great moments in the career of Vladimir Guerrero:

#10. September 21, 1996: Expos v Braves

In late September 1996, the Expos came into Atlanta to start a five-game series against the first place Braves. Montreal was in 2nd place in the National League East, 6 games behind Atlanta. With 11 games left in the season, a 6-game deficit in the standings was daunting but not insurmountable since 8 of those final 11 contests were against the team they were chasing.

The Expos took the first game of the five-game set thanks to a four-run 9th inning outburst against Braves relievers Mark Wohlers and Brad Clontz. The win pulled Montreal to within 5 games of Atlanta. In that game a highly touted prospect, 21-year old Vladimir Guerrero, made his MLB debut, starting in right field and batting 6th. Guerrero went 1 for 5 in his debut but did not factor in the scoring.

Guerrero got another start in the second game of the series, going 0 for 4 against Tom Glavine as the Braves won 3-2, going back up to 6 games in front of the Expos. This made the third game of the series a virtual must-win for Les Expos.

Manager Felipe Alou gave his young right fielder another start. In the 9th inning, with the Expos trailing 5-3 and Wohlers on the mound for the third straight game, Vladdy hit his first major league home run, a first-pitch opposite field blast off a fastball by the Braves closer. Wohlers managed to save the game regardless, in essence ending the Expos chances at the playoffs. Still, even in losing a star was emerging.

#9. August 14, 2009: Angels v Orioles

This was not really a Hall of Fame moment as much as a defining moment and great piece of video. In the first inning, Orioles starter Chris Tillman bounced a curveball and Guerrero hit it, after the bounce, into center field for a base hit. Orioles Hall of Fame announcer Jim Palmer commented that he had never seen anything like it.

Although this particular hit did not merit the baseball being put into a trophy case, it was indicative of what made Vladdy such a tough out. Guerrero, with his long arms, could reach anything. He was impossible to pitch around.

#8. June 3, 1997: Expos v Mets

During his official rookie campaign, Vladimir Guerrero announced himself on the national stage as a young stud with a big gun for an arm by famously throwing out Todd Hundley at the plate on this two-run double. The play itself gave the Mets a one-run lead (as Edgardo Alfonzo had previously scored on the play) but the throw was remembered far longer than the outcome of the game, which the Mets won 2-1.

Guerrero had 10 outfield assists in his rookie campaign and notched at least 10 assists in 7 out of his first 8 MLB campaigns.

#7. June 2, 2004: Angels v Red Sox

In early June, Vladimir Guerrero was already off to a great start in his first campaign with the Anaheim Angels. In his first 51 games in an Angels uniform, Vladdy had hit .345 with 12 HR, 40 RBI and a .989 OPS. On this night at Fenway Park, however, Guerrero put a big charge into his MVP campaign.

The Angels new slugger went 4 for 4 with 2 home runs and 9 RBI. It started with a two-run first inning blast off his former Expos teammate and fellow Dominican Pedro Martinez. Vladdy followed that up with a 2-run double in the 3rd, a sacrifice fly in the 4th (both also off Pedro), a 3-run tater in the 6th off Mike Timlin and an RBI single in the 7th off Keith Foulke. All in all, Guerrero drove in 9 of the Angles 10 runs in their 10-7 victory.

Incidentally, Guerrero had 25 games in his career in which he picked up 4 hits. I couldn’t find any video of this game but it easily the most explosive offensive performance of Vladdy’s career, with the added significance of getting the first 5 RBI of the game off the future Hall of Famer, Vladdy’s dear friend Martinez.

#6. June 29, 1999: Braves v Expos

After his breakout year in 1998, Vladimir Guerrero was a legitimate star in the game of baseball, in spite of the fact that he was playing for second division team. Coming into this game against the perennial N.L. East champion Atlanta Braves, Guerrero was in a bit of a slump, having hit just .214 with no home runs in his previous 12 games.

In this particular game, the Expos were trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the 9th inning in front of a paltry crowd of just over 7,000 at Olympic Stadium. The Expos scratched out a run off Braves’ closer John Rocker and loaded the bases when Vladdy’s older half-brother, 2nd baseman Wilton Guerrero, came to bat to hit for the pitcher.

When it came to baseball genes, Wilton drew a shorter straw than Vladdy. Wilton’s Baseball Reference page lists him at 5’11” and 145 pounds. Vladimir’s page lists him at 6’3″ and 235 pounds. Regardless, the two brothers were teammates with the Expos from mid-1998 through the end of the 2000 season.

In this game, on a ground ball force out, Wilton drove in a run to make the score 5-3 with 2 outs and runners at first and third, bringing Vladdy to the plate as the potential winning run.

Vlad did not disappoint. He blasted a 1-0 off-speed pitch from Rocker deep to left field for a walk-off three-run home run with Wilton waiting at home plate to greet him. This was the 2nd of Guerrero’s 9 career walk-off home runs.

#5. October 22, 2010: ALCS Game 6 (Yankees v Rangers)

In his first season with the Texas Rangers, Guerrero delivered the key blow in the team’s 6-1 Game 6 American League Championship Series win over the New York Yankees. In the first 5 games, Vladdy had been fairly quiet. Although he went 4 for 5 in the Rangers’ 10-3 victory in Game 4, he didn’t drive in any runs. Through 5 games, he was hitting .273 with no runs batted in.

In Game 6, with the Rangers up 3 games to 2, the score was tied at 1 in the bottom of the 5th inning. With runners on 1st and 3rd and 2 outs, Guerrero stroked a 2-run double to left-center field off Phil Hughes to give Texas a 3-1 lead. Scroll through this game video to 1:53:20 to watch Vladdy’s big double. The win sent the Rangers and Guerrero to their and his first appearance ever in the World Series.

#4. October 19, 2009: ALCS Game 3 (Yankees v Angels)

Having been bounced by the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS in both 2007 and 2008, the Angels made it to the American League Championship Series by exorcising those demons in a 3-game sweep over their tormentors in the the 2009 edition of the ALDS (see below).

Game 3 of the ALCS (against the New York Yankees) was a must-win for the Angels as the Bronx Bombers had won the first two games of the series. In Game 3, Vladdy hit a 2-run home run off Andy Pettitte in the bottom of the 6th inning to tie the game at 3. The Angels would go on to win the game in 11 innings.

Guerrero hit .370 with a .985 OPS in the series but the Angels would not ultimately prevail against the powerhouse Yankees, who won in 6 games.

#3. July 7, 2001: Expos v Blue Jays

In what mlb.com calls the most “iconic” throw of his career, Vladdy throws out out the Blue Jays’ Alberto Castillo with a perfect strike to home plate. No, the Expos didn’t win the game. In fact, the Jays scored two runs in the inning after the throw. Today, it doesn’t matter. It was an iconic missile from the young right fielder that is a defining moment in his career.

#2. October 8, 2004: ALDS Game 3 (Angels v Red Sox)

2004 was Vladimir Guerrero’s first season in Anaheim. This was Game 3 of the ALDS and the first post-season opportunity for the eventual A.L. MVP. The Boston Red Sox had blown out the Angels in the first two games in Anaheim so Game 3 was an elimination game for Mike Scioscia’s Angels.

The Red Sox built a 6-1 lead after 6 innings so it looked like a sweep was inevitable. In the top of the 7th, however, BoSox pitchers walked the first two batters of the inning. Veteran set-up man Mike Timlin was brought into the game. After a hit and two outs, Timlin walked Darin Erstad with the bases loaded. Still it was a 6-2 lead for Boston.

Up strode the Angels slugger. Guerrero proceeded to hit the second offering from Timlin deep to right-center field for a game-tying grand slam. With the score tied at 6, the Angels were back in the game.

Vladdy’s big moment, unfortunately, was overshadowed as another Dominican-born slugger (David Ortiz) won the game and the series in the bottom of the 10th with an opposite field walk-off blast of his own over the Green Monster.

#1. October 11, 2009: ALDS Game 3 (Angels v Red Sox)

In 2009, for the fourth time in six years, the Angels were matched up against the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS. Many things had transpired in the 5 years and 3 days since the 2004 ALDS ended. The Red Sox won the World Series twice and the Anaheim Angels became the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Also, the Angels, having won Games 1 and 2 in Anaheim, had a chance to finally vanquish the BoSox in the playoffs.

The Angels entered the top of the 9th in Game 3 down 6-4 with Boston’s closer Jonathan Papelbon on the mound. The Red Sox closer got two outs on the first two batters and had an 0-2 count on Eric Aybar. The Angels shortstop, however, managed a single to center field. After a 7-pitch walk to Chone Figgins, Bobby Abreu delivered a run-scoring double. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Torii Hunter was intentionally walked, loading the bases for Vladimir Guerrero.

Papelbon, who had entered the game in the 8th inning, had already thrown 31 pitches. Guerrero, a career .363 hitter when hitting the first pitch, didn’t wait beyond #32. Vladdy promptly swatted a first pitch 95 mile per hour fastball into center field for a 2-run, go ahead single. The Angels’ 3-game sweep of the BoSox was sweet revenge over the team that had eliminated them in the ALDS matchups of ’04, ’07 and ’08.

The 2009 season (and post-season) was the last for Vladimir Guerrero in an Angels uniform. In his post-season swan song, Vladdy hit .378 in 9 games, while driving in 7 runs and posting a .966 OPS.

There you have it. 10 great moments for a great player.

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