Major League Baseball

Will Vladimir Guerrero be first to go into hall as an Angel

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Vladimir Guerrero had an amazing career is his 16-year Major League career.  Six of Guerrero’s best years were with the Angels from 2004-2009. Will he make it to the hall in 2017?

When the Anaheim Angels signed outfielder Vladimir Guerrero to a five-year 70 million dollar contract in 2004 great things were expected from one of the most-talented outfielders in the late 90’s and 2000’s. Unlike some of the more recent busts the Angels have ever had in Vernon Wells and Josh Hamilton, Guerrero lived up to his potential and then some.

In Guerrero’s first year in Anaheim he helped lead the Angels to a AL West title and also became only the second player at the time to win AL MVP honors for the Angels, with the other being former OF/DH and batting coach Don Baylor.  Guerrero hit .337 with  39 home runs and 126 RBI’s and a Mike Trout-like OPS of .989.

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Guerrero didn’t stop there as he swatted over 30 home runs the next two seasons and drove in over 100 runs for the next three years. All total for Guerrero in his career with the Angels he hit 173 home runs and drove in 616 runs with a .319 batting average.

Some of Guerrero’s most memorable moments while with the Angels were a nine RBI game against the Boston Red Sox on June 2, 2004.  Another great moment came during the post-season in 2004 when Guerrero smashed a 7th inning grand slam in Boston in game 3 of the ALDS series that tied the game at 6, although the Angels would lose the game in 7-6 in extra innings.

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Guerrero would hit his 400th career home run at the Big “A” on August 10th, 2009 against the Tampa Bay Rays Russ Springer in an 8-7 victory.  His final special moment was a two-out two-run single in the top of the ninth of Game 3 of the 2009 ALDS against the Boston Red Sox that capped a six-run comeback to knock the Red Sox out of the playoffs with a 7-6 victory.

Big Daddy Vladdy, as he was affectionately known always seem to have a flair for the dramatic and while he was with the Halos the team won the AL West in five of those six seasons.  Enough said, Vladimir Guerrero was a winner. For his career Guerrero finished with 449 home runs and 1,496 RBI’s with a career .318 batting average while stealing 191 bases and sporting a career .379 OBP.

In 12 of Vlad’s 16 seasons he hit at least 25 Homers and drove in over 100 runs in nine seasons and his lowest season-ending batting average was .290 in his final season.  If those aren’t Hall of Fame worthy numbers then I don’t know what is.  This is the first time Guerrero is on the HOF ballot and experts are saying there is a good chance he may make it in this season.

So then the question is what team will Vladimir wear the cap for in his bust.  It will be between the Angels and the now defunct Montreal Expos.  If it was totally up to Guerrero he would probably don an Angels hat, thus becoming the first player in Angels history to go in with a “Big A” on their hat.

Unfortunately Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame will make the ultimate decision which could be the Expos as they have never had a Hall of Famer either.  Although Guerrero had a fine career with Montreal I think he made more of an impact with the Angels and he genuinely wants to go in as Angel.  So much so that he signed a one-day contract in 2014with the Angels in order to retire as an Angel.

No matter what happens, one thing is for sure, Vladimir Guerrero deserves to be in the hall of fame and hopefully he will be there as an Angel.

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