Vladimir Guerrero days

It’s Vladimir Guerrero days until Opening Day

I loved watching Vlad play baseball. Everything about his play was overpowered and reckless. He was so unpredictable in the outfield. He often misplayed fly balls and he had many errors. When he finally did get the ball he sent it back to the infield through the absolute cannon on his arm. You weren’t always sure where the ball was going but you knew it was going to get there quickly.

The same recklessness applied to his batting. Famous for hitting a ball that bounced before it got to the plate, the Impaler was a true junk ball hitter. If you pitched it, he was probably going to swing. The best part is he would probably hit it! For all of the junk he swung at, he never struck out 100 times in a season (career average was 74 K/season). He also had a career .318 batting average.

He was never the biggest guy but for some reason when he was at the plate he made the bat look like a toothpick, like it was tiny and light as a feather. I loved that.

He was even reckless on the bases: he was caught stealing 94 times, including 20 times in one season (but maintained a lifelong stolen base average of 66%).

No one could accuse him of not hustling, ever.

But as Vladdy got older you could see him breaking down. His legs betrayed him and he always looked like he was in pain, trying to push the wheels faster than they could go. I could barely stand watching Ron Washington send Vlad out to right field in Game 1 of the 2010 World Series, where he hobbled around and his arm was a ghost.

The silver lining of his decline is that he probably won’t be accused of taking PEDs, and I’ve never heard his name in that conversation. For that I’m grateful.