ESPN goofs up birthplace of Canadian-born Blue Jays slugger Guerrero Jr.
Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had one of the biggest nights of his career last night, winning the 2023 Home Run Derby in epic fashion.
At T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Guerrero Jr. topped Tampa Bay’s Randy Arozarena in the final round of the derby, taking home the same crown his father did back in 2007.
And while he mostly grew up in the Dominican Republic, most Blue Jays fans know that Guerrero Jr. was born in Canada — Montreal, in fact — while his father was a member of the Expos in the late 1990s.
But ESPN appeared to have missed that part of his biography.
In a graphic shown on-screen while Guerrero Jr. was doing a post-derby interview, the ESPN broadcast stated that he was the second-ever Cuban-born champion of the event, following in the footsteps of Yoenis Cespedes, as shown here from this tweet by Awful Announcing.
ESPN graphic notes that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a "Cuban-born HR Derby champion."
He was born in Canada (Montreal) before living in the Dominican Republic. pic.twitter.com/0SvXxLod47
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 11, 2023
Of course, this is one pretty egregious error, though perhaps the explanation is a little more straightforward than someone assuming that Montreal is actually in Cuba.
The most logical conclusion is that the misinformed fun fact about Guerrero Jr. was actually meant for Arozarena, who was born in Mantua, Cuba.
Still, it’s clearly a case of someone at the network making a pretty silly goof, even if it’s one with no harm intended. At the very least, someone’s probably getting a talking-to at work today, and perhaps ESPN is wondering if it should up its budget for copy editors.
Despite the error, Guerrero Jr.’s victory was still one for the ages.
Before taking on Arozarena, Guerrero Jr. powered through Los Angeles Dodger Mookie Betts in the first round, then mowed down Seattle’s own Julio Rodriguez in the semifinal, putting up a total of 72 home runs.
Though it’s a far cry from the 91 homers he put up in 2019 — where he actually lost the event — it’s still nice to see the 24-year-old Montreal native showing up on one of the sport’s biggest stages.