Former All-Star and Most Valuable Player Vladimir Guerrero announced his official retirement from baseball this weekend.
In a way, this is a bit of an Allen Iverson situation. Even though he hadn’t played in the majors since 2011, Guerrero never made the announcement about stepping away from the game. A potential return could have been in the works, but since he couldn’t come to an agreement with another club for a contract, the outfielder is retiring.
The Hall of Fame will be an interesting call for Guerrero. He was a former Most Valuable Player but doesn’t have either of the two ‘slam dunk’ stats widely accepted for induction in Cooperstown, falling short of 500 home runs and 3,000 hits. There’s no question that Guerrero was great, though. He finished with 449 home runs, 2,590 hits, and was a career .318 hitter. He drove in just short of 1,500 runs and also had 181 stolen bases.
If Guerrero does get the call, it will be interesting to see with which team he goes in on behalf of. Guerrero played in 1,004 games with the Expos to 846 with the Angels but had four All-Star seasons with each club. He also won his MVP award with the Angels and despite playing more games in Montreal, it can be argued that he was slightly more successful in Anaheim. Either way, Guerrero has had some kind of career.
