November 24, 2025

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

What’s better than meeting Toronto Blue Jays 1B Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. for a private audience?

How about a 2-on-1 meeting with his Hall of Fame father, by the same name?

Mississauga North Tigers INF Ethan Leonard (Missisauga, Ont.) gets his shirt autographed by HOFer Vlad Guerrero.

A pair of Mississauga North Tigers spent eight days in the Dominican Republic and aside from playing four games for a Next Level team out of New York, practicing for four days at the Hasption Sports academy, the trip included meeting the Hall of Famer at his house in Palenque, a municipality of the San Cristóbal province in the Dominican.

Thanks to Tigers’ coach Sean Travers, Ethan Leonard and Khristhan Sarathkumar had the pleasure of visiting the Hall of Fame father of the Jays post-season hero.

Khristhan Sarathkumar (Mississauga, Ont.) gets his Toronto Blue Jays signed by Guerrero.

“I was pretty nervous meeting him,” said Sarathkumar, 14. “I asked Vlady’s father ‘what is the best advice you ever gave your son, so you can tell me the same?’ He said that since Vladdy Jr. was three-years old he was swinging his father’s 31-33 inch bat and that increased his bat speed.

“He also said Vlady, Jr.’s swing was similar to his.”

The father was elected to the National Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2018, carrying 92.9% of the electorate, his second year on the ballot. His Hall of Fame career numbers included 2,590 hits, 449 homers, 1,496 RBIs and 181 stolen bases, with a .931 OPS. He broke in with the Montreal Expos and played 16 years, moving on to play with the Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles.

His son, also named Vlady, born in Montreal in 1999, while his father played for the Expos, has logged seven seasons and his career numbers to date are 1,071 hits, 183 homers, 591 RBIs and an .861 OPS. After seven years, his father had 1,085 hits, 209 homers, 613 RBIs, 114 steals and a .973 OPS -- despite having only 27 at-bats as a September call up in 1996.

Is the son on his father’s Hall of Fame highway? Still too early to tell but the numbers are close.

Sarathkumar, whose father Babu runs The Bristol Bar and Grill, a sports bar in Mississauga (512 Bristol Road West), with wall-to-wall TVs, is a food supplier for roughly 10 OHL teams traveling through the GTA during hockey season.

Ethan, HOF Vlad Guerrero and Ethan’s father Dave Leonard.

Dave Leonard, the hardest-working man at the Meadowvale North diamond complex whether it be grounds keeping, manning the canteen or solving wet diamonds, explained the trip to Casa Guerrero.

“The guys at the complex had a contact and asked if two parents from Toronto could bring their sons around,” said Dave. “They let us in. It’s a big huge compound. They took us in the front door and into to the living room.”

Dave explained that there were guards with shotguns at the front door of the compound. It was the same when I would visit George Bell’s street in San Pedro de Macoris. Neighbors had private security guards with machine guns outside their gated community across the street. Not Bell, nor his two big-league neighbors: former Blue Jays INF Alfredo Griffin and RHP Joaquin Andujar.

“We missed Vlady Jr. by one day, someone said he went back to Toronto,” Dave said.

When the two Mississauga players arrived with their parents, the Hall of Famer was doing what Hall of Famers often do: watching cartoons in another room with his grandchildren.

Ethan and former Montreal Expos OF Vladimir Guerrero.

In the Dominican, Sarathkumar had two hits and six walks in the four games as Next Level went 3-0-1 against Dominican complex teams. Ethan Leonard, 13, who knocked in three runs, had the jersey he wore in the Dominican signed by the Hall of Famer.

“He was really big, really huge, but really nice,” said Ethan. “I introduced myself, told him ‘My name is Ethan, thanks for giving us some time.’ The house was awesome.”

Poppy Guerrero signed a Blue Jays shirt, a Blue Jays hat and his glove for Sarathkumar.

On a hillside approaching the house, the stones were painted red and signaled Poppa Guerrero’s No. 27.

Ethan summed up the visit as only an appreciative 13-year-old could: “It was crazy.”

Elliott: Tigers burn bright visiting HOFer Vlad Guerrero's house in the Dominican