5 years ago today, on March 27, 2018, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made the fans at the Olympic Stadium explode with joy during a preseason game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the St. Louis Cardinals.
The game, which until then had not been hectic, had ended after two outs at the end of the ninth inning with a winning home run by Guerrero Jr.
This is how history remembers that day. Previously, the Jays had been limited to two hits in eight innings thanks to Kendrys Morales and Kevin Pillar. The Jays won 1-0.
The long ball of “Junior” awakened fond memories of nostalgic expos that had cheered on the father at the same place a few years earlier.
Guerrero Jr. was 19 at the time and had yet to play a regular season game in Major League Baseball. The Montreal native who grew up in the Dominican Republic had spent most of the 2018 season at the AA level with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He had batted .402 in 61 games with the Fisher Cats.
It wasn’t until April 26, 2019, that Guerrero Jr. made his official major league debut in Toronto. At 24, he now has more than 500 games experience when the Blue Jays’ new season kicks off Thursday against the Cardinals in St. Louis.