Young Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the Olympic Stadium field with his father and other Expos
I will never get tired of photos of toddler Vladito.
He still has the baby face
He just looks bigger, not necessarily older lol
He is much much meaner.
Source: His tenants in New York.
I think Vladdy is the tenant, and he’s living there rent-free! 😂
Nah, I saw the papers.
He owns Yankee stadium.
He leases it to the Cashman and Boone!
It’s hilarious that the Yankees never did him wrong personally but his pops hates/hated them and he’s carried on that grudge.
Technically it was something against vladdy directly. It wasn’t just bad contract negotiations or whatever, but they booted vladdy jr from the staff only area while letting the white players kids stay. Same thing happened with Ken Griffey jr
Not his fault, he is now father to 26 in New York
They shall call him Daddymir
Ever since he cut off the dreads, he has the same hairstyle too, lol.
Baby face assassin
He has somehow not become even slightly less adorable, even as he’s simultaneously become terrifying to face as a player
He was sooo adorable!!! I will never either
He’s also one of those adults who very much still resembles the kid version of himself
He’s so adorable.
Could barely walk but he was throwing a ball like a boss already
I watched a video the other day of three year-old Vlad Jr. at an Expos pregame stretch. He was so cute that I just keep thinking about it. He had a great arm on him then already and he was so ready to get stuck in on the exercises!
Vlalitle
I want to pinch those cheeks.
My son looks similar to Vladdy the toddler look is so adorable I miss it
It’s crazy to me to watch him in the box because he’s a much more disciplined hitter than his dad was lmao Vlad would swing at literally anything and often would still put it in play
The difference is that Junior had top tier equipment and coaching and organized games from a young age.
Senior showed up to his first pro tryout without shoes on and slept on a piece of cardboard in a one-room shack with his large family. You don’t walk your way off the island - you HIT!
Baseball is so important in the Dominican Republic, it’s such an important part of the culture, it’s more than a sport. I’m not Dominican, but I am Latino and I have to thank the Dominicans for being faithful to the sport. In Panama, Cuba and Venezuela soccer has become too dangerously popular in the last 10-20 years. Sad.
I think baseball is popular wherever it’s too expensive to play other sports. Same with soccer. I grew up on an island and baseball was the sport of choice because all you needed was a glove, a bat, and a ball to play.
I still use my uncle’s glove that he gave me 20 years ago.
a bat, and a ball
and that’s not all..
You got the bleachers, got ‘em from spring ‘til fall.
And a dog, and a drink, and the umpire’s call.
WHAT DA YA WANT?!
LETS PLAY BALL
I think soccer fits this same model, kids just need a ball (or something that does the job of a ball), and that’s it.
Most popular sport in the world for a reason.
Also probably why basketball is growing in popularity.
1 ball for 22 people. Although I guess you can basically play baseball without gloves so just bat and ball
Besides being a baseball fan and having a rooting interest for the sport, what makes soccer becoming popular a bad thing?
My personal beef with soccer is that I find it uninteresting. My societal beef with soccer is the fact that a lot of youth soccer boards whitewash the safety risks.
Soccer brands itself as a sport that is particularly safe for young players, especially in the wake of concussion lawsuits pertaining to the NFL and NHL. It was seen as an opportunity to compete with basketball not only on the territory of affordability and accessibility, but also perceived parent safety (with the added benefit of larger rosters).
Yet when looking at the concussion rate for women’s high school soccer players, it’s 8.2 per 10k athletes. For comparison, high school football is 10.4 per 10k athletes. According to research from the CDC’s heads up, girls’ soccer has a higher rate of concussions in youth leagues and high school than boys and girls lacrosse, boys and girls hockey, and boys wrestling. It’s a marketing ploy, especially considering that boy’s soccer ranks lower, but still well above boy’s basketball.
They should just ban headers at the youth level. There is no version of a header that is completely safe and a lot of concussions come from head on head collisions while contesting.
US Soccer has banned headers for kids under 10 and limited heading practice for 11-13 year olds to 30 minutes a week, starting in 2016. The science is still unclear as of now, but from what I’ve read, it’s slightly decreased concussion rates at those ages, and slightly increased concussion rates at the ages directly above the ban (when heading gets introduced, as the game is faster and more likely to be vertical but players do not have years of practice heading the ball).
Overall, the rate of concussions basically follows from “how often are people colliding with each other”.
Concussion rates are a pointless state for tracking brain trauma (see Ann McKees research). All that matters is repeated exposure to hits, even sub concussive. So while the Concussion rate isn’t down that much, my guess is the quantity of sub concussive hits is way down
lol this is such a weird reason to not like soccer but respect I guess
This is the reason I hate football (I used to love the college game, but the demise of the PAC-12 and ripping up tradition was the last straw for me), Look at what just happened with Doug Martin and tell me CTE didn’t play a role here?!?!?
My kid plays baseball and basketball (he’s a far better baseball player). He gets asked all the time to play youth football because of how he’s built. His response is “I don’t want to get hit”, I’m glad he has no interest in playing concussion ball.
I’ve yet to come across any ‘marketing’ that depicts soccer as a safe sport. I live in Canada, so maybe that’s why? Is US Soccer running ad campaigns comparing the concussion rates between various contact sports?
Also, per the CDC’s own research, the data is skewed. Injury reporting is a cultural thing, and there’s quite a bit of evidence, data and anecdata that some sports - by gender even more so - are more/less likely to report injuries than other sports.
Seriously? Uninteresting? It’s literally non-stop action. I mean, to each their own, but soccer is fucking awesome.
No argument on the youth header stuff. Here in California, you can’t head the ball at the youth level. It’s a penalty. When I was growing up playing soccer in Arkansas and playing tackle football by the time I was 8… I’m sure I was getting concussions left and right.
Soccer’s the global sport. It’s always gonna be tough to defeat soccer.
Japan and South Korea are the few countries where baseball seems to prevail, other than the US.
Had me until the soccer hate
It’s happening in DR too, but Baseball will never wane in popularity. Room for both. Whatever the fuck gets people out of poverty lol, especially when people built like a Neymar, for example, don’t have Basketball or Baseball as an option.
I know who Neymar is, but I don’t know why he wouldn’t be built for basketball or baseball
I have heard the Dominican Republic is not as poor as it used to be, lots of tourism, industry, services and the like
It’s happening in DR too
ay coño no
They’re not saying Neymar’s build prevents him from playing basketball or baseball. They’re saying that he’s built like a professional athlete, but basketball and baseball aren’t options because he grew up in the favelas of Brazil, where only soccer is played.
I know this is sappy but I can’t help but think it’s cool that the Dominican Republic and Japan are vastly different countries yet are bonded by a love of baseball. I remember watching some NPB highlights and seeing the camera cut to a Japanese fan waving a huge Dominican flag in the outfield when one of their Dominican players was batting. Hopefully they see that and appreciate the gesture.
Part of the reason sports are inherently nepto-based. Not in the sense of they don’t deserve the spot but that the skill level passed from father/mother to son/daughter is so much easier because the knowledge, training regimen, etc are all tailored by success. Not to say that any random person can’t make it, but part of the hard part for them to get there is the contacts and also knowing what needs to be worked on and how.
Not taking away from Vlads accomplishments. We see this in every sport the Curry brothers come to mind in the NBA.
NBA will inevitably be a bunch of rich kids or nepo babies. Dont really see as many kids grinding their way up from poverty like LeBron and KD anymore. It still exists, but it is getting increasingly rarer.
You want nepo sports, talk about hockey. Between all the major sports league in NA, hockey has the highest start-up costs, you gotta pay for a huge amount of equipment and gear (that probably has to be replaced on an almost annual basis for growing kids) plus rink and ice time fees (which are also expensive compared to other sports fields) just to practice.
Not to say other sports aren’t expensive but there’s a reason why the NHL is by far, the least diverse of the four major sports league in North America with over 90% of the players being white.
And virtually all of the players coming from wealthy countries.
The true nepo sport is lacrosse, take the kids who weren’t good enough at hockey the parents that still have money and throw them at an even more insulated culture and baby you got a shit stew
Mostly true, but genetic freak athletes will always get their shot regardless of financial situation or home life. You can only walk around your local middle school as a 6’9” man-student for so long before someone tries to develop you. And if you look at modern NBA players… there’s quite a few genetic freaks
I think because NBA and NFL select so strongly for certain types of genetic outliers there are always going to be room for giant dudes from all walks of life. Baseball will always have its Juan Sotos but is overall a little less egalitarian since most guys spend their childhoods on travel teams which isn’t really in reach for a lot of people. Hockey is probably the worst though, considering how much investment you need to even get on the ice.
I would be so interested in seeing data comparing whether some major league sports have a greater chance of father/son success in the four most popular men’s leagues in North America. I’d bet a decent amount that the NHL tops the charts.
I reckon NBA would be a close second or first given the height requirements that the other four major sports don’t have.
Other than the big names (Curry, Klay, Kobe, Brunson) you also got a ton of mid range talent grinding a career in the league like Scottie Pippen Jr, Gary Payton II, Cole Anthony, Tim Hardaway Jr, etc.
Yeah, having a 6’10 dad in a sport that requires you to be closer to 7 feet than 6 is a huge advantage. Only reason I think it falls second behind hockey is simply because of the huge economic and ice time advantages having an NHLer for a father confers on their sons. Those are the two biggest obstacles in the sport; clearing both hurdles in one fell swoop is no small thing.
I’d bet a decent amount that the NHL tops the charts.
You need a lot of money to get your kids into hockey, moreso then basketball, baseball, football or soccer. Football is probably closest to hockey just because of the amount of gear you need to buy and maintain and constantly replace as they grow out of them. Hockey has the added cost of having to pay for ice time/rink fees which are expensive compared to fees to rent a baseball/football/soccer field.
Yeah, I mentioned this in another reply, but the money + ice time obstacles are the two biggest hurdles in the sport. Having an NHL parent clears both easily.
I actually think, despite the gear similarities, football might be lowest on the list. Middle/high schools and youth programs in football make it surprisingly accessible compared to hockey or even baseball, at least in the US.
FWIW Vlads older brother Wilton was signed by the Dodgers in 1991, two years before Vlad. Vlad was no nepo baby, they both had to work their way to the majors but Wilton came before Vlad.
Genetics are a key part of that too.
Friends of ours come from a family of NCAA, NFL and CFL players. Their kids are almost all ultra athletes now in their chosen sports.
He may not have been a stranger to occasionally using that equipment, but if you can find and look back at some of the videos from before he was signed, he wasn’t exactly training in top tier facilities. Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTXyjHZ1fDE
I remember a couple clips (that I can’t seem to find) of him doing routines as a youngster with some pretty primitive ‘equipment’ (huge tires, buckets of cement, etc).
Damn, that last sentence is a BAR
Jesus. “You don’t walk your way off the island–you hit!” is a great movie tagline for a film I didn’t know I needed.
Vlad Sr. had a .318 career average while swinging at (and hitting) balls bouncing in the dirt. He was so fun to watch.
I always find it funny that Bo bichette hits more like Vlad Sr. Then Vlad Jr.
I suppose he hits the most like Red Sox legend Dante Bichette, right?
Only one conclusion to draw for that; Vlad Sr. is Bo Bichette’s biological father
Considering the number of kids Vlad Sr. has had and the number of women he’s had them with, it’s not the most unlikely thing.
Vlad didn’t care about balls and strikes. He cared about hitting.
.318 lifetime BA with power is insane
Just kinda shows how dominant pitching has become or how bad hitting is now.
Being below the Mendoza line use to mean you were un playable. Now thats half the lineup on half the teams
Sr didn’t lack discipline. He just knew he could hit those. A career batting average of .318 and never striking out more than 90 times in a season is a testament to that.
Also per 162 game average, Jr is only getting 15 more walks a year.
Vlad Sr. had a crazy wingspan. He had those Kevin McHale arms where you can just visibly tell immediately that his arms are disproportionately long. Dude looked like he could get a hit from the on deck circle
I think Vlad Sr swung at everything because he knew he could hit from pretty much anywhere on the plate
Sr. can hit anything from shoulder-ankle high haha
I miss my Expos
I miss em too man. Took a class trip from Toronto to the big O in grade 7 when the Expos were still around. Loved every minute of it. And then decades later Vladdy Jr hitting a bomb at the O in that preseason game and watching all the o.g. Expos fans lose their shit was pure magic.
We caught the worst beating in team history that my class all wanted to leave early unfortunately when I went lol.
It was.
That was the preview now we’re seeing the movie! lol
I want to upvote you but you’re at 27 points so I’mgonna just leave it.
Should have won a World Series in 1994, robbed of that too.
The real worst luck team. They did that strike just so we wouldn’t win. I swear. Canadians won the prior two years and the MLB said hell no.
One of the goat logos in pro sports yes I’m biased as a Montrealer lol
Y’all got done so dirty at the end too. Letting the owner drop you off to buy the Marlins and taking everything and everyone with him
Selig could’ve bought the team (I.e league ownership) and ran them for a couple years while trying to negotiate for a new stadium that worked. Also could’ve spent the time rallying the Canadian business community to find a buyer.
Feel bad for Expos fans because the Twins were able to survive and avoided contraction whereas Selig seemed to do everything in his power to fuck them over.
Pretty sure there was a legal case in motion that prevented the team from folding.
Same
Canadian heritage moments
Bring back the Expos
I fear our media monopoly will never allow it unless the MLB relaxes dual ownership investment. No way Rogers allows another team into the Canadian market without getting a big slice of it.
The solution is simple, let Bell have the other team.
I’d love to see it but Bell seems to be getting out of the sports business.
Time for BMO to step up
No… Couche-Tard. They already have a mascot!
Rogers should just own both teams 🤣
“I play both sides so I always end up on top”
This is a similar reason to why I don’t think the White Sox will ever leave Chicago- the MLB would permanently lose out on having 2 teams in the 3rd largest city in north america, because you know the Cubs wouldn’t agree to have another team move in after the White Sox leave.
The Maine Expos have returned.
A brand new ‘Subway Series’ was born. (meaning drive a few hours in a bus)
Agree
If Tampa doesn’t get a new stadium they should just move the Rays to Montreal
Sorry Rays fans
God yes.
I’m a big fan of this idea, I’d love the natural rivalry now in the age of frequent interleague play!!!!
As a Blue Jays fan, I think our plan after winning the world series this year should be to acquire Pablo Guerrero from the Texas Rangers system and Vladi Miguel Guerrero from the NY Mets system to have all 3 of Vladdy Sr.’s sons. Have a 3rd of our lineup be mini-Vladdys
I see no flaw
I will not fall for this cute ass propaganda
I will! I have suddenly and without preconception decided to root against the dodgers.
BRING BACK THE EXPOS
Then start making AI pictures of Ohtani with his family pronto. What are you waiting for?
#BornReady
#IBornReady
Da janki luuuss
The royal family of Canadian baseball
Ketel Martel’s wife is Vladdy Jr’s cousin.
https://celebs.infoseemedia.com/elisa-guerrero/
They have two sons who play baseball too.
Vladdy Jr’s cousin Gabriel Guerrero played 14 major league games for the Reds.
his brother Pablo Guerrero is a prospect in the Texas Rangers system
and his half brother Vladi Miguel Guerrero recently signed with the NY Mets system
Cute af
Precious AF. ❤️
I love how some people’s faces just do not change as they grow up, like most people are recognisable from photos of them as kids if you really know their face, but then there’s people like Vladdy where they just got bigger and that’s it.
People are always shocked to find out I was an adorable child. In other words, I can’t relate.
“You were so cute as a kid!” I always tell people that I don’t know what happened either lol
He’s Ontogenetically Monomorphic 🙏
that turf just looks painful
Astroturf burn is real.
My knees hurt just looking at it
So adorable! Petit vingt-sept. ☺️
I want that little cutie patootie to win a championship so bad.
It looks like he has dirt on his pants. Already swiping bags at a young age.
He got a huge lead cause he was too small for the pitcher to see
Been leading off before he could walk.
he was made for this
I love this pic.
I love this picture so much because he looks so much like my little brother at that age. 😭💙
Baby Vladdy was just cute as hell - imagine growing up around the game, tons of stars know you from the age of 2 and you end up becoming one of best hitters in the sport. Can also tell he just loves playing and being a good teammate - didn’t get spoiled by his upbringing like so many do.
Vladdy Jr. trying to do what his father couldn’t do, win a World Series
In Big Daddy Vladdy’s defense, he was signed by Arte Moreno…..
He said he wants to give the ring to his father
My knees hurt just thinking about playing baseball on that turf. It was basically carpet on top of concrete
Man, I haven’t thought about Joey Eischen in a long, long time. What a photo.
I loved how he would bend over as part of his wind-up before every pitch.
my heart just broke a bit
This looks like a photo taken at the last Expos home game. Eischen addressed the crowd to say goodbye.
I guess it could have been opening day, the only real times the lower seats were packed.
Vladdy wasn’t with the Expos in the final 2004 season – we let him go without even getting a compensatory draft pick because MLB couldn’t accept the extremely unlikely possibility that he would accept his qualifying offer.
dude if Canada wins America’s Pastime that’d be… kinda hilarious lol
This is so cute 🥹
He born ready!!
I’m still profoundly confused by who doesn’t let this little guy hang out with his pops in the dugout.
Sorry just watched the “Who Killed the Expos” doc and this pic made me weep
God this is amazing and precious
now do young vladdito at yankee stadium
I’m a BoSox fan but live down near Tampa FL. Like 8-9 years ago the company i worked for at the time gave us tix to see a game at the local minor league park here in Dunedin. Most went because it was dollar dogs and beer night, I went for that and because I’m a sports nerd.
To my shock when the game starts and I start hearing names like Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio. All kids of really notable former big leaguers. I had no clue those players even had kids, all along all made the pros and all found themselves on the same team.
So crazy to see now all these years later to see them in the majors and in the world series.
Hasn’t changed a bit. Look at that little butterball.
Same rascally, endearing baby face
https://i.imgur.com/w2Fkmic.jpeg
Cute picture of Vladdy jr. At that time Vladdy sr was an intimidating player. He was a bad bad man at the plate. Yes I’m that old
Bring back the Expos!
All I can think about is how much it would of sucked to dive or perform a sliding catch on that Astro turf 😂🔥
You can’t deny he grew up with a lot of love around him. Not everyone can say that.
Is that Joey Eischen?
Joey Eischen erasure!!!
I went to get a Vladimir Guerrero bobblehead because he was being inducted into the Harrisburg Senators HOF and I was at the Harrisburg stadium on the island and just walking through the back of the stadium near the back gate and I see Vladimir Guerrero and his family coming into the stadium with a staff escort. Pretty sure his son was there too and this was way back in 2016 before he was drafted.
EOS
So cute!
Aww that’s a sweet picture. Is that Felipe Alou behind Vlad Sr.?
Probably not, Frank Robinson managed them at the end. Felipe would have been managing the Giants then.
Awesome photo
I like Vladdy. Springers cheating ass is a different story.
I wish it had been vladdy who done us in, impossible to hate that guy
I wonder if mods take down new MLB official posts as frequently as they do average users, cause MLB has been spamming this sub.
oooof that astroturf, I cant believe they played on that.
Someone please escort that toddler out of the stadium.
I’m glad for these children of MLB players being able to shine on the biggest stage, and this has nothing to do with Vlad Jr. but Jackson Holliday is a twerp and I hope he has an extremly average baseball career. That kid just screams nepo baby in the worst way to me.
Oh my gosh, Baby Vlad.
All post season I’ve been watching videos of Vladdy sr. . He was one of my favorite players when I was a young kid. I want this story for him.
Steinbrenner would have kicked him off the field.
They both absolutely rake
Video of baby vladdy playing catch with the expos🥺: https://youtu.be/Agr00k2Op60?si=yxJbbMblYYAinrL8
/r/TorontoBlueJays mods, I demand this flair.
https://i.imgur.com/MDptoM4.jpeg
He really was born ready 🙌
Vlad Sr is my favorite player of all time
I completely forgot young Vlad is Canadian! Winning one back home means so much more now!
🥰
Some people look WAY different when they grow up, Vladdy looks the same lol
Awww
I remember watching Tim Wakefield pitch to Vlad in Montreal. What a hilarious contrast.
That’s the “kick me out of here and you will pay decades later” look. So happy the Dodgers never kicked him out of Dodger Stadium when he was a kid.
We need this turf back to increase ground ball success you know they were blowing past the infield rolling on that
The baseball genes in that family are just ridiculously strong. Like father, like son.
Was their turf just a a green carpet back then??
“Born Ready”
I was watching a game earlier on in the Seattle-Toronto series. I asked out loud ‘wow, Vladimir Guerrero STILL plays for the Jays?’
I’m old y’all.
Did you know the Joey Eischen (pictured) pitched for 10 years across 324 games and only factored in the decision 20 times (11-9 career record). I find this astounding.
Shout out to the goof that posted a thread yesterday asking why there isn’t a Taylor Swift camera on Vlad Sr. for every game.
That looks like painted concrete for a field.
I know seniors only tie to Toronto is junior (though I suppose Canadian team also applies), but it would be cool to see him throw a first pitch to Vladdy in the world series.
I almost missed a little boy he was
