The Legend of Vladimir Guerrero

Jonah Keri:

And yes, he approached the game differently from anyone else, including sizing up opposing pitchers by facing them on his PlayStation. One of the oldest axioms in sports is to practice the way you play. No problem for Vlad. He swung at everything on PlayStation, too.

Favorite memory of Vlad was when he went yard on the pitch that bounced in the dirt. Never seen a player with an unlimited strike zone like Vladdy.

— Pat Carroll

People tell stories about Vlad the way they might about Roy Hobbs, if he were real. I once saw Vlad make a diving catch over an alligator in right-center. Oh yeah? I once saw him hit a ball that landed in Moose Jaw. Pfft! You weren't there when he threw a guy out at home while lying in a sleeping bag in the right-field bleachers while his mom read him ghost stories.
Thing is, everything short of gators and Moose Jaw and sleeping bags actually happened. Tim Kurkjian wrote a whole feature about the home-run-on-the-pitch-that-bounced. I never saw Vlad hit a home run on a ball that bounced in front of the plate. But I did see him hit a ball off the wall in right-center on a pitch like that. And where most hitters learn plate discipline as their careers wear on, Vlad never lost his urge to swing at everything.

I just remember the home run he hit in, I believe, the 2005 2006 all-star game.  The thing was almost in the dirt, and he golfed it so far it was amazing.  As soon as he made contact I knew it was way gone.  Unbelievable.  I just finished reading a book about Yogi Berra, and he was the guy before Vlad who could hit any pitch.  I am always impressed by such players, mainly because I liked the pitches that were at least on the high side of the strike zone.  The hardest ball I ever hit (which went tremendously foul) would have hit the bill of my helmet if I hadn't have tomahawked it.  Good times.