Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Vladimir Guerrero spent his young days herding cattle and milking cows with his grandfather. Guerrero attributes his gloveless batting to all that bare-handed cattle work of his youth. He’s not used to wearing gloves, and isn’t about to start now.
Guerrero hit a home run in the sixth inning to lead the Los Angeles Angels over the Chicago White Sox 2-0 Saturday. He is predicted to go down in the Hall of Fame before the end of his career. He was voted the American League Most Valuable Player in 2004, and received the American League Silver Slugger Award in 2007, among other honors. He previously played for the Montreal Expos.
Vladimir Guerrero is a man of great faith and strong family. He carries his Bible with him everywhere and says “You have to try to deal with whatever God puts in front of you.” His grandfather, who mostly raised him, had 22 children. Guerrero has provided in many ways for his great big family, with both financial assistance and job creation in his homeland.
The LA Times ran a nice article on Guerrero several months back, and highlighted one of the purposes behind Vladimir’s lucrative baseball career:
That somewhere else probably would be Bani, a dusty provincial capital of 62,000 near the Dominican’s southwestern coast. Guerrero and his brother Wilton, a former major leaguer, own more than half a dozen small businesses there, ranging from a construction company and concrete-block factory to a small grocery and a hardware store across the street from the house where they grew up. None of the businesses make much money, Guerrero confirms with another hearty laugh and flash of his megawatt smile. But that’s not the point.
The point is they provide hundreds of jobs and necessary services. Many of the employees are family – and those who aren’t are made to feel as if they are.
“We hope God continues blessing us so we can keep supporting our family. And also the people that work for us,” Guerrero says.
You can next see Guerrero in action when the Detroit Tigers play at Los Angeles tonight, 9 p.m. ET.
Hey, nice to see you back!
hey man,
i’m loving the blog. just found it.
i’ve been running a sports/faith website since October that you might want to check out. It’s called Prayers For Blowouts and it focuses on the frequent collisions of sports and faith.
http://www.prayersforblowouts.com
keep up the good work!
bryan
Vlad’s the main.
Definitely HoF worthy by the end of his regime.
I too just found this blog and am wishing it was updated more frequently.
As a christian I don’t want to judge Vlad Guerrero, but he has six children from 5 women……..I have never heard him address this situation or explain how he justifies this as a Christian. We need to be careful who we hold up as Christians……….be sure they are who they say hey are.