Baseball Hall of Fame 2018: Guerrero thanks Expos, but will enter Hall as an Angel

Jim Cerny

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Baseball Hall of Fame 2018: Guerrero thanks Expos, but will enter Hall as an Angel image

NEW YORK -- Vladimir Guerrero said Non, Merci to Les Expos Thursday afternoon, announcing at the National Baseball Hall of Fame press conference in midtown Manhattan that he decided to enter Cooperstown as a Los Angeles Angel instead of a Montreal Expo.

In choosing not to be the third player wearing an Expos cap on his Hall of Fame plaque, Guerrero instead will be the first to be enshrined as an Angel.

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"Those seven years in Montreal, I will never forget, they were very special years to me," offered Guerrero, who signed with the Expos out of the Dominican Republic and made his big league debut as a 21-year-old in 1996.

"Going to the Angels, getting a taste of winning, the way Montreal prepared me for that. I thought about this for a long time because the Canadian people mean a whole lot  to me, but the Angels mean a lot, too."

 

 

The free-swinging slugger never played in a single playoff game for the Expos, for whom he was a four-time National League all star. With the Angels, Guerrero made the post-season in five of six seasons, reaching the ALCS both in 2005 and 2009. He also won the American League MVP award in 2004 when he batted .337 with 39 home runs and 126 RBI.

With Angels owner Artie Moreno sitting in the audience, Guerrero respectfully still saluted the Expos.

"When they came to sign me, and gave me that opportunity, it's something I will never forget," Guerrero said through an interpreter. "Thank you to the Montreal Expos for the opportunity."

No player hit more home runs in an Expos uniform than Guerrero, who belted 234 over 1004 games with Montreal. He also drove in 702 runs, fourth most in a 'spos uniform. His .323 batting average is far and away the highest of any Expos player.

 

 

Guerrero hit 34 or more home runs and drove in 100 or more runs each season between 1998 and 2002 for Montreal, topping out with 44 homers in 2000 and 131 RBI the year before.

On Thursday, Guerrero credited former Expos manager Felipe Alou for bringing him along as a major league player.

"He gave me the opportunity to be an every day player and even though I was a rookie, he was very patient explaining things to me and continued to put my name in the lineup," explained Guerrero, who shared the dais with Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman, who also were elected to the hall on Wednesday.

Several times Guerrero referenced his mother, who was at the press conference and was with him when he received the news the night before.

"There was joy all over the house," said a smiling Vladdy.

 

 

Guerrero also thanked the Texas Rangers, with whom he appeared in his only World Series back in 2010, and the Orioles "who allowed me to play one more year" in 2011.

The third Dominican-born player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame retired following that '11 campaign with 449 career home runs, 1496 RBI and a lifetime .318 batting average and made it into the hall on his second year of eligibility.

"I will be forever thankful for this day. It is a beautiful moment."

Jim Cerny