MLB
Vladimir Guerrero Has Enough Children to Fill Out a Major League Baseball Lineup
Joe Kozlowski began his career as a sports journalist in 2013 and joined Sports7 in 2019. He covers the NBA and soccer for Sports7, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie. Growing up loving Shaquille O'Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history — likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center — he's continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives. As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He's barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe's big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level. Regardless of the sport, Joe is captivated by the stories of athletes beyond the box scores and how they push the envelope — both in terms of what we think a human is capable of accomplishing and how they find new competitive tactics to win.
Get to know Joe Kozlowski betterUpdated24 Jun 2020
While pitching may be an important part of building a winning baseball team, most fans head to the ballpark hoping to see something a bit more flashy. If that was the case, Vladimir Guerrero was your man. Whether the outfielder was throwing out baserunners with incredible ease or turning seemingly unhittable pitches into home runs, the outfielder was a must-see MLB player.
Guerrero's prolific production wasn't confined to the baseball diamond, though. The former Montreal Expo has had enough children to fill out an entire lineup card; unsurprisingly, at least two of them are pretty talented.
Vladimir Guerrero's Hall of Fame baseball career
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If you grew up playing Little League baseball, you know that success at the plate starts with a good eye. Vladimir Guerrero, however, found incredible success without worrying about the strike zone.
Guerrero, a native of the Dominican Republic, signed with the Montreal Expos as an undrafted free agent in 1993. After three seasons in the minors, he made his MLB debut at the tail end of 1996; while he didn't set the world on fire during that call-up, he did make the Expos squad the following spring. He posted a .302 batting average with 98 hits, 11 home runs, and 40 RBIs, finishing sixth in NL Rookie of the Year voting.
With each passing season, though, Guerrero continued to develop. While he was far from the perfect player, he had more than enough ability to make up for any flaws. He frequently swung at pitches out of the strike zone, but managed to hit them with relative ease; similarly, he made up for any errors in the outfield with an incredible arm.
In 2004, Vlad joined the Anaheim Angels; he promptly hit .337 with 39 home runs and 126 RBIs, en route to AL MVP honors. He spent a total of six seasons in California, before joining the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles on two consecutive one-year deals. After signing a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays and briefly returning to the Dominican Republic, Gurrero officially retired in March 2014.
In total, the big outfielder spent 16 years in Major League Baseball, piling up 2,590 hits, 449 home runs, and 1,496 RBIs. He also batted .318 for his career and earned a place in Cooperstown in 2018.
Enough kids to fill out a lineup card
During his time Major League Baseball career, Vladimir Guerrero was an incredibly productive player. Away from the field, however, the outfielder was apparently keeping busy.
As explained in a 2012 TMZ report, Guerrero has a total of eight children with five different women; assuming Vlad himself could take right field, that would be enough to fill out an entire baseball lineup. That reality, however, doesn't come cheap.
At the time of TMZ's post, Guerrero was reportedly paying upwards of $25 million in child support. While that's far from an insignificant sum, Vlad probably had enough money in the bank to cover his expenses; according to Baseball-Reference, the outfielder earned more than $125 million during his big league career.
Vladimir Guerrero's kids have some serious talent
Based on Vladimir Guerrero's impressive MLB career, it's safe to assume that he passed some serious talent on to his kids. As far as we know, two of them are taking advantage of their genetics.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has made a splash with the Toronto Blue Jays. After shining in the minors, the third baseman made his big league debut in 2019. He finished the year batting .272 with 126 hits, 15 home runs, and 69 RBIs; the third baseman also stole the show at the 2019 Home Run Derby, although he lost in the final round.
Based on one of Vlad Sr.'s tweets from 2018, Vladdy Miguel also has some pop at the plate; the former Expo shared a video of his son crushing a Little League home run. While that's obviously miles away from the majors, it sure seems like the Guerrero family power didn't skip a generation.
From the Boones to the Griffeys, baseball is filled with famous fathers and sons. Vladimir Guerrero and his sons, however, may be the most exciting family ever to hit the diamond.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference
