Medicine Hat News

Guerrero inducted into Hall

- FREDERIC DAIGLE

COOPERSTOW­N, N.Y. During his 16-year career, Vladimir Guerrero rarely left fans wanting more, although his speech on Sunday as he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame may have been an exception.

Guerrero was always a man of few words, and he held true to that reputation on Sunday in Cooperstow­n, NY, in a brief speech that lasted less than four minutes and was translated from Spanish.

“I’m happy and relieved it’s behind me,” he admitted afterwards at a press conference. “All I wanted to do was deliver the goods today.”

“I’m not timid, but it’s not something natural for me,” he continued. “I know that after my election to the (Hall of Fame), I’ll have to do more of that.”

“I have nothing against journalist­s, far from it, but I’m like that. I’ll work on it!”

Dressed in a blue suit, white shirt and red tie — perhaps reminiscen­t of his time with the Montreal Expos — Guerrero still managed to express himself during his induction ceremony, which was attended by a number of enthusiast­ic fans from both Montreal and the Dominican Republic.

“When I was a player, I always mentioned that I wanted my bat to do the talking, but now that I’m not playing, I’m very happy to stand here and to talk, to be standing here and talking to you,” he said in his speech.

After thanking God, his parents and his entourage, Guerrero took the time to thank Canada and Montreal “for the first opportunit­y to be a big league player.”

He also mentioned his two main managers, Felipe Alou of the Expos and Mike Scioscia of Angels, and said he was honoured to be among his fellow inductees including Chipper Jones, Trevor Hoffman, Jack Morris, Jim Thome and Alan Trammell.

“I know I don’t speak a whole lot, but let me tell you I’m so happy to be part of this group because some of them I saw and watched play and I witnessed it, but I also got to play against a lot of them and it means a lot to me,” he said.

In a slightly more eloquent fashion, Pedro Martinez paid homage to his former adversary and teammate in an introducto­ry video presented by MLB Network.

“I took it to extremes with Vladdy. My mentality was to walk him,” the former starting pitcher said.

“I wanted to really get out of the strike zone. I knew he could reach a foot outside, so if I went outside really high or really low, like a 55-footer, because on the day you miss your location, Vladdy will burn you.”

Guerrero was wearing an Anaheim Angels cap as he became the first position player from the Dominican Republic to be inducted, and only the third player from that country to make the exclusive club, behind pitchers Juan Marichal and Pedro Martinez.

He finished his short speech with an homage to the Dominican town of Don Gregario, where he lives.

 ?? AP PHOTO / HANS PENNINK ?? Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson, left, poses with Vladimir Guerrero during an induction ceremony at the Clark Sports Center on Sunday in Cooperstow­n, N.Y.
AP PHOTO / HANS PENNINK Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson, left, poses with Vladimir Guerrero during an induction ceremony at the Clark Sports Center on Sunday in Cooperstow­n, N.Y.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada