From Don Gregorio to Cooperstown: Vladimir Guerrero in his own words

The big man from the little town of Don Gregorio in the Dominican Republic will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, July 29. Vladimir Guerrero is the first position player from his native land to be voted into the Hall. For much of his career, he let his bat and his arm do the talking for him on the field. Now that he has been selected for enshrinement to join fellow Dominicans Juan Marichal and Pedro Martínez the powerful right fielder has begun to talk more with the media, still in Spanish, but he’s opening up nonetheless.

Guerrero sat down with La Vida Baseball to talk about his life in the game, making it to the Hall of Fame, and what’s next. Always humble and typically a man of few words, he shared about his path from Don Gregorio to the majors, the importance of family in making that journey, and what his mother did for him and others. He also shares about a number of players and manager who inspired and helped him realize his potential and flourish into a Hall of Fame player.

The Game

This summer they will unveil your Hall of Fame plaque. You will be next to Marichal, Martínez, Babe Ruth, Roberto Clemente, and the other legends. What does it mean for you to be included in that group? To be a part of this select club?

Well as I will tell you now, in my town they [MLB teams] did not sign [players]. They signed me in ’93, my two oldest brothers, one named Eleazar Guerrero and the other Wilton Guerrero, started signing from ’90 and onwards. Before this, teams did not sign in Don Gregorio. But thanks to God what I wanted was to sign, and I believe that’s what God wanted. I did a good job in tryouts. I started batting in the Dominican after signing, and in the minor leagues as well, then did good work in the major leagues. I feel happy to be in the Hall of Fame now.

And from these names, aside from Clemente, which other names stand out to you?

Well the two Dominicans who are Pedro Martínez and Juan Marichal, we are all country folk. I spent time in 2017 with the catcher Pudge Rodríguez in the All-Star game, we spent some time together, given that my son played in the Futures Game.

You mentioned that you liked José Uribe, and Moíses Alou. Who were your first idols, the first ballplayers that inspired you?

Yes, José Uribe when he played with the San Francisco Giants. He would take uniforms and give them out in town, in towns close by. He would give uniforms, bats and mitts. He always gave nine mitts and two aluminum bats, when he had the contract with Mizuno. He always shared with people.

I saw Moises playing and, like I told you before, sometimes I saw la negra pola [Pedro Guerrero’s nickname]. I met Pedro Guerrero when I was older. He played with my brother with the Dodgers in ’96-97, it was there where I got to know him.

What did you learn from Moises Alou?

Moises’s thing was that he didn’t bat with batting gloves. I always saw him batting without gloves, he used tape. Until one day that we shared in ’96, they [Expos] promoted me, he was there, then in ’97 he signed and I don’t know if he went with the Marlins. Then he told me that in order to get one’s hands hard, it had to be done with one’s own urine when in the shower. And I started like that, but in the minor leagues, I didn’t use batting gloves, sometimes I used a wristband but sometimes I would take it off, it didn’t feel right.

You had another habit, an interesting habit. I imagine that you had your own bat, but you liked to look for and borrow your teammates’ bats?

It wasn’t that I would look for my teammates’ bats, I would just bat with whatever bat was available. Sometimes we would change bats. Sometimes  I would sign bats for the pitchers, he would give me one and that same bat that the pitcher would give me I would get it all dirty and so I would just bat with it. It wasn’t that I had a specific bat for batting, it was just that whichever bat I felt comfortable with, I would choose that one.

All of this started in the town of Don Gregorio. It’s an incredible trajectory. What is your first baseball memory?

My first memory, we started playing at five years old. We played in my grandmother’s yard, [or] my grandfather’s or in my aunt’s yard, wherever we saw the yards as being huge. We had a sock to make the ball. We would make the mitts out of cardboard. That’s a beautiful memory, and later you think about how you thought that you wouldn’t do a good job or thought that they didn’t sign [players] from your town. They started signing players in ’91 and they signed me in ’93. I played in the Dominican [League] in ’93. I batted .373, only one home run. It wasn’t until the following year in ’94, that I started in 25 games, I had 12 home runs batting  .424. They sent me to Rookie [League] and I guess I felt happy when I started to travel. Like I have told you, you wanted to be signed and thank God I played a year and half in the Dominican and I traveled [to the States] my second year.

You were one of the game’s most feared hitters. Pitchers didn’t know how to pitch to you due to your plate coverage. How did you prepare yourself as a hitter?

You know that we don’t always bat great, but sometimes it’s not the practice but instead the game. Sometimes I would go and practice batting, I would hit by myself. In the cage I would just swing towards the middle or towards the right field because I know that a lot of pitchers throw inside in order to get the bat out in front much more.

Featured Image: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images Sport