Vladimir Guerrero was received as a national hero when he returned on Sunday to the Dominican Republic after being inducted to the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame. A merengue celebration was organized for the caravan of followers that rendered tribute to him at Las Americas International Airport where he arrived to the Parque Eugenio Maria de Hostos on the Malecon. Merengue stars El Jeffry, Kinito Méndez, Diómedes, Ramón Orlando, sang for his fans. Next, Guerrero headed to Don Gregorio, his hometown in Peravia province for more celebrations.
42-year old Dominican slugger, Vladimir Guerrero had already celebrated his election into the Baseball Hall of Fame Wednesday night, 24 January 2018, on social media by thanking the game of baseball and his hometown of Don Gregorio in the Dominican Republic. Shortly after the announcement, Guerrero posted the video where he got the phone call from Jack O’Connell, secretary treasurer of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Guerrero is now part of the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2018 alongside Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, and Trevor Hoffman. Guerrero had already been inducted to the Angels Hall of Fame and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on Sunday, 29 July 2018, in Cooperstown, New York starting at 1:30pm. Guerrero received 92.9% of the votes in his second year on the ballot. In 2017 he received 71.7%, just shy of 75% needed to be inducted.
Guerrero is just the third player born in the Dominican Republic to be enshrined in Cooperstown. He is the first position player. Other hall-of-famers are pitchers Pedro Martinez and Juan Marichal.
In an interview with MLB Network on Wednesday, Guerrero said that it was a great honor to be the first Dominican position player in the Hall. “First of all, I’m thrilled to be the Hall of Fame,” Guerrero said through a translator. “With so many outstanding position players that come out of (the Dominican Republic), what an honor to be the first one to make it into the Hall of Fame.”
On the evening of the call, pitcher Pedro Martínez placed a Facetime call:
“I just told him how proud I am, how excited I am about reaching the Hall of Fame, becoming the third and the only position player that ever was selected from the Dominican Republic to the Hall of Fame,” Martinez said. “I’m so proud to have influenced his life and his career in baseball and I’m just like an older brother that feels really proud to have given a younger brother some advice and that the advice pretty much paid off big time like it did tonight. I’m extremely proud. I’m celebrating over here. The entire country is celebrating.”
Guerrero played 16 MLB seasons, recording a career .318 batting average, 449 home runs and 1,496 runs batted in. He played his first eight years with the Montreal Expos, then with the Anaheim Angels, the Texas Rangers, and Baltimore Orioles.
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The Sporting News
Jock Bio
Diario Libre
30 January 2018
