He was born in Nizao in the Dominican Republic, on February 9, 1975. He'll be 36 when pitchers and catchers report for 2011 spring training.
He's listed at 6' 3", and 235 lbs. He throws and bats right-handed.
He doesn't wear batting gloves, and claims he developed his strength bringing in uncooperative bulls every day on his father's farm.
He's one of nine kids (four full siblings, four half siblings). One of his older brothers is ex-major leaguer Wilton Guerrero, who played with the Dodgers, Expos, Reds, and Royals from 1996-2004. He's listed as only 3 months older than Vladimir, but there's some speculation that Wilton lied about his age before signing.
The Montreal Expos signed him out of the Dominican Republic as an amateur free agent in 1993. He was originally in the Dodgers Dominican camp, but left, and ultimately ended up with Montreal (for a $3,500 signing bonus).
When he signed with the team, he lied about his age, claiming to be born in 1976. He didn't come forward about with his real age until 2009, when he revealed that he was actually a year older, and was born in 1975.
Once he became a professional. he absolutely destroyed minor league pitching, posting a .345/.406/.585 line over 2 and a half seasons in the minors.
In 1998 he improved to .324/.371/.589 (with 38 homers), and the Expos signed him to a 5-year, $28 million contract.
From 1999 - 2003, Guerrero kicked the living hell out of National League pitching, posting a .326/.400/.602 line, and averaging 37 homers and 22 steals a year.
He joined the 30/30 club (Homers & Steals) in 2001, then again in 2002. He almost went 40/40 the 2nd year, but finished with 39 home runs.
Despite all that, he never finished higher than 6th in the NL MVP voting, as Montreal wasn't very good, and finished in 4th or 5th place almost every year.
He signed a big free-agent deal with Anaheim before the 2004 season, for 5 years and $70 million.At the time, he was quoted as saying: "I want to win when the whole world is watching, ... I want to win a World Series in an Angels uniform."
The investment paid off for the Angels, as Vlad won the MVP award in 2004, and was part of an Anaheim team that won five out of six AL West titles, between 2004 and 2009. The only exception was 2006, when the A's won it, and the Angels finished 2nd. Over that period, he hit .315/.379/.534.
After an off-year in 2009 (the only major league season that he hasn't hit at least .300), he signed a 1 year deal with Texas $5.5 million plus incentives), and hit over .300 with 29 HR. He wanted a 2 year deal, but Texas didn't want to go that route with a 36 year-old, and let him walk.
The Orioles signed him to a 1-year $8 million deal earlier this week. He'll DH and hit somewhere right in the middle of the Orioles' lineup.
Despite the fact that he's an extreme free-swinger, he's never once struck out more than 100 times in a season over his 13+ year career.
During the 2009 post-season, Cal Ripken Jr. commented during a TBS post-game report that Guerrero was "..the best bad-ball hitter I've ever seen.."
He's a 9-time All Star, and 8-time Silver Slugger award winner, and has earned somewhere around $120 million in salary during his career. His career average is .320, and he has 436 lifetime home runs.
According to Baseball Reference, he's most comparable in terms of similarity score to the following players (in order):
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