NO BAD PITCHES FOR GUERRERO
Former Expos star liked to swing the bat and clubbed his way into Hall of Fame
Swing Away was the perfect title for the outstanding TSN feature Michael Farber did on former Montreal Expos outfielder Vladimir Guerrero, who on Sunday will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
There was no such thing as a bad pitch to Guerrero, who would swing at anything, even pitches that bounced before reaching the plate. That’s what makes Guerrero’s lifetime .318 batting average even more impressive, along with his 449 home runs. Guerrero never struck out more than 95 times during his 16 seasons in Major League Baseball and never walked more than 84 times. To put that in perspective, the Boston Red Sox’s J.D. Martinez, who had an MLB-leading 31 homers heading into Wednesday’s games, had already struck out 97 times in 96 games this season. New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who had 26 homers, had struck out an MLB-leading 136 times. When Barry Bonds hit his MLB-record 73 home runs with the San Francisco Giants in 2001, he walked 177 times.
“The amazing thing to me is, look at power hitters, and if you don’t strike out 100 times now you’re not doing your job,” Farber said Wednesday while discussing Swing Away, which premiered Tuesday on Sports-Centre. “Vlad never struck out 100 times, and most years it was well below that. Considering his strike zone — or what he considered a hittable pitch — and considering his power, that’s the most amazing stat in baseball.” During his best season with the Expos in 2000, Guerrero struck out only 74 times while hitting .345 with 44 homers and 123 RBIs.
“I don’t think he had a strike zone,” said Sportsnet’s Jeff Blair, who was the baseball beat writer for the Montreal Gazette when Guerrero broke into the majors in 1996. “Actually, he had a strike zone … it was any time the ball was thrown at him, that’s probably a better way to put it. That’s what I think of when I think about Vladimir — you couldn’t pitch to him.
“The guy didn’t wear batting gloves, he didn’t have an earring. He was really just a plain guy who would grab a bat and go up and swing.”
Like so many star players with the Expos, Guerrero left Montreal when he became too expensive for the penny-pinching club after the 2003 season, signing a fiveyear, US$70-million contract with the Anaheim Angels. When Guerrero is inducted into the Hall of Fame, he’ll be wearing an Angels cap, yet another blow to long-suffering Expos fans who dream of a day the team might return. If the Expos don’t come back, Guerrero will be the last player associated with the club to enter the Hall of Fame. Only three players have gone into the Hall of Fame wearing Expos caps — Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and Tim Raines — and Raines is the only one who wanted to go in as an Expo. Carter wanted to go in as a New York Met and Dawson as a Chicago Cub, but the Hall of Fame overruled them. Guerrero, who spent eight years in Montreal and six in Anaheim, will be the first player to enter the hall wearing an Angels cap. He won the American League MVP award during his first season in Anaheim after hitting .337 with 39 homers and 126 RBIs, and went to the post-season five times with the Angels. During a Hall of Fame conference call last week, Guerrero talked about the difference between playing for the Expos and Angels.
“I was very happy to be in the situation where the team was playing for something,” Guerrero said through an interpreter. “I think what really motivated me the most is that we were fighting for something. And as I’ve said many times, in Montreal there’s so many times when August rolled around and we were talking about packing our suitcases and sending stuff back to the Dominican.
“That inspired me and it inspired the rest of the team. I mean, the (Angels) players had success a couple of years before. Some of the players were still there. But to me, that was the biggest inspiration, how they rallied around me and, you know, my six years there and winning the division five times meant a whole lot. But that was it pretty much. Just playing baseball, having fun, but also it meant a lot to be playing for something at that time.”
TSN’s Swing Away feature showed young boys in Guerrero’s hometown of Don Gregorio in the Dominican Republic playing la placa, a game that taught the future hall of famer to swing at anything while growing up. La placa is played using a rolled-up sock as a ball with the pitcher trying to hit a can on the ground and the batter protecting the can by swinging the bat.
Said Farber: “Essentially, it’s a cross between street baseball and cricket — and that’s where his swing came from.”
It’s a swing that remarkably put Guerrero into the Hall of Fame.
The guy didn’t wear batting gloves, he didn’t have an earring. He was really just a plain guy who would grab a bat and go up and swing.