Vladimir Guerrero

Vladimir Guerrero Alvino (born February 9, 1975), nicknamed "Vlad the Impaler", is a Dominican former professional baseball player who spent 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right fielder and designated hitter.

During the process he lied about his age, claiming to be born February 9, 1976.

Guerrero's mother, Altagracia, made money selling food on the street until Hurricane David ravaged the country in 1979.

After the hurricane, his mother traveled between the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in order to find work, while Guerrero and his siblings were in the care of a great aunt.

One of nine children, Guerrero is the younger brother of ex-major leaguer Wilton Guerrero of the Montreal Expos, where the two were teammates for several seasons.

Guerrero and his brothers played baseball using makeshift gloves assembled from milk cartons and socks filled with plastic bags as baseballs.

Guerrero did not own a real baseball glove until he was 15 years old, when he received one from his older brother, a minor leaguer.

Guerrero's brothers, Eleazar and Julio Cesar, played in the farm systems of the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively.

Guerrero is also the cousin of minor leaguers Armando Guerrero and Cristian Guerrero, and the uncle of major leaguer Gabriel Guerrero.

As a teenager, Guerrero worked out for the Dodgers at their baseball complex in the Dominican Republic but he was ultimately sent home after eight months without a contract.

In 1993, scout Arturo DeFreites convinced the Montreal Expos to sign Guerrero for $2,100.

Guerrero was signed by the Montreal Expos as an unsigned amateur free agent, on March 1, 1993.

He played for the Montreal Expos (1996–2003), Anaheim Angels / Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2004–2009), Texas Rangers (2010), and Baltimore Orioles (2011).

A nine-time All-Star, Guerrero was widely recognized for his impressive offensive production — regularly hitting for power and average — as well as his defensive range and strong throwing arm.

He advanced quickly through the Expos' Minor League Baseball (MiLB) farm system, making his MLB debut on September 19, 1996.

That night, Guerrero went 1 for 5 at the plate; his first big league hit, a single to center field, came against Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Steve Avery, in the top of the fourth inning, at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium.

Two nights later, on September 21, 1996, Braves closer Mark Wohlers yielded Guerrero's first career home run (HR) — a ninth-inning blast that capped Montreal's scoring, in a 5-4 loss.

That contest is also significant, in that it marks Guerrero's first multi-hit game.

Guerrero was criticized during his first full season, in 1997 (he had played only 9 games, in 1996), for being too aggressive at the plate.

Nonetheless, he put up solid numbers for a rookie, batting .302, with 11 home runs and 40 runs batted in (RBI), in just 325 at bats (AB).

Guerrero led all big league outfielders in errors, in 1997 (12; tied), 1998 (17), 1999 (19), 2000 (10; tied), and 2001 (12; tied).

Scorn for Guerrero's free-swinging ways changed into admiration, in 1998.

While he continued to swing at pitches that were clearly balls, he also continued to hit them with authority.

In one instance, Guerrero got a base hit off a pitch that bounced before arriving at home plate.

His superior hand-eye coordination and prodigious strength allowed him to be unusually aggressive at the plate, but still put up high batting averages year after year.

Despite Guerrero's freeswinging style, he never struck out 100 times in a season.

Guerrero batted .324, with 38 home runs, and 109 RBI, in 1998.

Before the end of the 1998 season, he agreed to a $28 million deal.

Guerrero represented the Expos at the 1999 All-Star Game.

He also led all NL outfielders in errors in 2002 (10), and led all AL outfielders in 2006 (11), and 2007 (9).

In 2004, he was voted the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Guerrero helped lead the Angels to five AL West championships between 2004 and 2009 and was voted one of the most feared hitters in baseball in a 2008 poll of all 30 major league managers.

Regarded as the game's premier "bad-ball hitter", Guerrero consistently hit balls thrown well outside the strike zone, a skill evident on August 14, 2009, when he hit a pitch after it bounced in front of home plate.

With his aggressive batting style, he hit more than 30 home runs (HR) in each of 8 seasons and surpassed 100 runs batted in (RBI) 10 times, though he had just 2 seasons with at least 65 walks.

In the first pitch of an at-bat, Guerrero hit 126 home runs and put 1,780 balls in play.

It was not until March 2009 that he inadvertently revealed to Major League Baseball that he was born in 1975.

On September 26, 2011, Guerrero surpassed Julio Franco as the all-time MLB leader for hits by a Dominican player, a record since broken by Adrián Beltré in 2014.

He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.

In 2021, Guerrero and his son Vladimir Jr. became the second father-son duo in MLB history to each have a 40-home run season in their careers, joining Cecil and Prince Fielder.

Guerrero was raised in Don Gregorio, Dominican Republic, in a house made of mud and brick and a palm-leaf roof.