In my Bobby Abreu comment I eliminated Guerrero’s penalty for steroids, and he moved up to the hall of fame level in my rankings. I remember when Guerrero started playing, which shows my age. A friend of mine told me about his great arm in right field. He said he made the greatest throw he had ever seen on the game he watched the day before. One show rated him one of the top 9 right field arms in history. I assume they meant on film. Anyway, Guerrero did have a great arm. Overall, he was an average right fielder but above average early and below average in his 30s. That is fairly typical.
Guerrero’s son (Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) has a chance to be a real good major league player. As with many son’s he has a chance to pass the Father. I am thinking of Bobby and Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr., Gus and Buddy Bell, Roy Smalley and Roy Smalley Jr. I even have Prince Fielder ahead of his Dad Cecil Fielder. In fact, I don’t have Gus Bell, Roy Smalley the elder or Cecil Fielder in my top 1,000.
Of course, Vladimir Jr. has a long way to go. He is only in his third season. Although he led the league in games played last year it was only a 60-game season. I see he is hurt right now. He is having a great season and he is only 22. He won’t be as good of a fielder as his Father. He played a lot of third base his rookie year and was switched to first. His statistics support that move. He appears to be at best and average first baseman. So, he will depend on his hitting to carry him to the hall of fame.
No cares if they beat the Bell’s, Smalley’s or Fielder’s. We care about the Bonds’ and the Griffey’s. One advantage that the Guerrero’s have is I have Vladimir ahead of both Bobby Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. I have Bobby in 200th place with 733 points and Ken Sr. in 478 place with 566 points. So, Dad has done his job. Of course, with Barry in 4th place and Ken Jr. in 61st place Vlad left his son with a much harder job.
By the way that was all the Dad and Son combinations I could think of but let me know about any more. I will not consider Pete Rose and his son in any of this. I don’t consider 18 plate appearances a real career.
