In his major-league debut for the Cardinals, Rick Ankiel gave up a home run to Vladimir Guerrero. Like many pitchers, Ankiel learned fast that Guerrero was a dangerous hitter.
Guerrero is a leading candidate for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame when results of voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America are announced on Jan. 24, 2018. In 2017, his first year on the ballot, Guerrero got 71.7 percent of the vote. A candidate needs 75 percent to be elected.
In his playing career with the Expos (1996-2003), Angels (2004-2009), Rangers (2010) and Orioles (2011), Guerrero batted .318 with 2,590 hits, 449 home runs and 1,496 RBI.
A right-handed batter and outfielder, Guerrero batted .280 against the Cardinals with 59 hits in 55 games and 43 RBI.
His best seasons versus St. Louis were 1999 (.333 with nine RBI in nine games) and 2002 (.409 with seven RBI in six games).
Guerrero had two hits, both home runs, and three walks in seven career plate appearances against Ankiel.
Rookie mistake
Ankiel, 20, was a highly touted pitching prospect. He heightened expectations by posting a combined 13-3 record and 2.35 ERA with Class AA Arkansas and Class AAA Memphis in 1999. The Cardinals promoted him to the big leagues in late summer and he was given a start in his debut on Aug. 23, 1999, at Montreal.
In his first at-bat against Ankiel, Guerrero grounded out sharply to first baseman Mark McGwire in the second inning. With the Cardinals ahead, 4-1, Guerrero batted again in the fourth. Ankiel, a left-hander, wanted to jam Guerrero with a fastball on the fists, but the pitch stayed over the plate and Guerrero lined it over the right-field wall. The home run was his 30th of the season and extended his hitting streak to 28 games.
“I didn’t get the fastball inside,” Ankiel told columnist Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I left it out there and he capitalized on it.”
Speaking through an interpreter, Guerrero told the Associated Press, “The only thing I do is try to swing. So far, so good. I’m going to keep swinging.”
In the sixth, after Jose Vidro singled, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa lifted Ankiel with Guerrero at the plate and St. Louis ahead, 4-2. “Guerrero already had centered two balls off him, so I thought it was time for the change,” La Russa said.
Heathcliff Slocumb relieved and got Guerrero to pop out to McGwire. After that, the game unraveled for the Cardinals. Vidro eventually scored and Slocumb and Rich Croushore gave up eight runs. The Expos won, 11-7, and Ankiel, who departed with the lead, didn’t get a decision. Boxscore
Hitting a hanger
A year later, on Aug. 1, 2000, at Montreal, Guerrero came to bat against Ankiel with runners on first and second, two outs, in the fifth inning of a scoreless game. Ankiel had walked Guerrero intentionally earlier in the game, but this time he decided to pitch to him.
“We weren’t going to give him anything to hit,” Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan told the Post-Dispatch.
Ankiel’s first pitch to Guerrero was a curve. He “tried to throw the best curveball he ever threw,” La Russa said. “Sometimes you try to do more and you end up doing less.”
The pitch floated over the middle of the plate. Guerrero hit it over the wall in left-center for a three-run home run. The Expos went on to win, 4-0.
Said Ankiel: “I hung it … With him up to bat, you can’t hang that pitch in that situation.” Boxscore
Pals with Pujols
Guerrero, 6 feet 3 and 235 pounds, hit 12 career home runs against the Cardinals. He hit three against Matt Morris, two apiece off Ankiel and Garrett Stephenson and one each against Cliff Politte, Larry Luebbers, Travis Smith, Jason Simontacchi and Woody Williams.
In 2001, when the Expos and Cardinals shared a spring training facility at Jupiter, Fla, Guerrero befriended Cardinals rookie Albert Pujols, who, like Guerrero, is a native of the Dominican Republic. Pujols, in a big-league camp for the first time, was looking to fit in. Guerrero included Pujols in friendly games of dominoes with other Dominican players and treated him to his mother’s home-cooked meals.
“Vladdy was one of the first guys I looked up to,” Pujols said to the Los Angeles Times in a 2016 interview. “People kind of misread Vladdy because he doesn’t like to talk too much, but he’s one of the best guys that I’ve ever been around. The way he treats people is really special. He’s always smiling. He played the game hard and had fun.”
Pujols was playing left field for the Cardinals in a game at Montreal when Guerrero hit a ball so hard it bent the top of the wall and carried over for a home run.
“On a line. He bent the wall,” Pujols said to Yahoo Sports in 2016. “He was unbelievable … He was a fearless hitter … You had to stop and watch him. If they were on TV and you were going out, you had to watch his at-bat first.”
Previously: How Cardinals gambled on Rick Ankiel in 1997 draft
Previously: Revisiting Rick Ankiel’s debut with Cardinals
Vlad reminded me a lot of Roberto Clemente. Sigh.
I can see the comparison.