Vladimir Alvino Guererro was born February 9th, 1975, in Nizao, Dominican Republic as one of nine children. In his youth, Vladimir and his siblings would play make-shift baseball on bare feet, with a stick for a bat, and lemons wrapped in rags for baseballs. The Guerrero’s were not well-off financially, and Vlad often worked with his grandfather tending to cattle, rather than going to school. It was working with cattle and bulls that Vlad developed incredible grip and upper body strength. When Vlad was 16, he traded in his guava tree limb for an actual baseball bat, and went to the Dodgers academy in Campo Las Palmas, to refine his skills and launch his baseball career.
