Los Angeles Angels: Vladimir Guerrero is a Hall of Famer
By Jason Reed
Vladimir Guerrero is one of the best to ever do it for the Los Angeles Angels. Now, Guerrero joins an exclusive company in Cooperstown.
Vladimir Guerrero is a Hall of Famer. One of the best to ever do it for the Los Angeles Angels and Montreal Expos, Guerrero earned the highest career honor on Wednesday. Joining Guerrero in the 2018 Hall of Fame class is none other than Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman.
This is just the fourth time the Baseball Writers Association of America has inducted four people into the Hall of Fame in one year. The other instances happened in 1947, 1955 and 2015. The 2018 Hall of Fame class was so deep that there could have been six, seven or even eight inducted. At the end of the day, though, Guerrero was chosen as one of the final four.
It was deserved, as well. In his career, Guerrero hit .318 with 449 home runs and 1496 RBIs. Guerrero was a nine-time all-star and eight-time Silver Slugger throughout his career. In his first year with the Los Angeles Angels, Guerrero won the 2004 AL MVP. He would go on to be an AL MVP finalist two more times in his six seasons with the Halos.
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Guerrero was implemental in showing that players from The Dominican Republic and Central America could succeed in the MLB. Guerrero joins Juan Marichal and Pedro Martinez as the only Dominican Republic-born players to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Manny Ramirez and Miguel Tejada could join Guerrero next year.
Surprisingly, the new emergence of Sabermetric statistics did not hold Guerrero back. Due to his below average fielding, Guerrero only had a 54.3 career Wins Above Replacement — according to FanGraphs.
That is pretty low for a Hall of Famer and is, in fact, less than Mike Trout has accumulated in his short career (54.4).
Regardless, it is impossible to deny the kind of impact Vlady had on the game. Vladimir Guerrero, with the cannon of the arm and the ability to hit pitches that bounced on the floor, was huge in ushering the game of baseball past the steroid era.
Next: Mike Trout is already a Hall of Famer
Now, his contributions to the game and his fantastic career will forever be showcased in Cooperstown. Congratulations to Vladimir Guerrero.