VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR.

Montreal-born Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been named the winner of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s 2024 Tip O’Neill Award. 

Canada’s baseball shrine presents this honour annually to the Canadian player judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to baseball’s highest ideals. 

This represents the second time that Guerrero Jr.  has won the award. He was also the winner in 2021. This year he staved off strong competition from fellow major leaguers Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.), Cade Smith (Abbotsford, B.C.) and Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, B.C.) to secure the honour. 

“There were several outstanding candidates for this year’s Tip O’Neill Award, but we are proud to recognize Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for his All-Star and Silver Slugger award-winning season with the Toronto Blue Jays,” said Jeremy Diamond, chair of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s board of directors. “When you look at his overall numbers, he was not only the best Canadian-born hitter in 2024, but he was one of the elite players in all of Major League Baseball.” 

In 2024, Guerrero Jr. topped Canadian-born major leaguers in batting average (.323), OPS (.940), hits (199), runs (98), doubles (44), walks (72) and WAR (6.2). The 25-year-old slugger also had 30 home runs and 103 RBIs.  

Overall, his batting average was second-best in the majors, while he ranked third in hits and OBP (.396) and fourth in total bases (335). For his efforts, he was selected the American League Player of the Week twice (June 24 to June 30, July 29 to Aug. 4), chosen to participate in his fourth consecutive All-Star Game, was the Silver Slugger Award winner for American League first basemen and he was named the first baseman on the All-MLB First Team.  

Guerrero Jr. was also named The Sporting News American League Comeback Player of the Year, was the Blue Jays’ nominee for the Hank Aaron Award, as the league’s top hitter and he finished sixth in the American League MVP voting. 

The 2024 campaign was Guerrero’s sixth in the majors and his third 30-home run season and the second in which he has knocked in more than 100 runs. 

In the field, Guerrero posted a .990 fielding percentage and an 8.27 Range Factor/9 Innings at first base, which was the fourth-best for his position in the American League. His 873 putouts ranked fifth among AL first basemen. Guerrero also played 12 games at third base in 2024. 

Away from the field, Guerrero Jr. has been a devoted supporter of ExposFest, a fundraiser organized by Perry Giannias in memory of his niece Kat D who passed away from an aggressive form of brain cancer called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). Proceeds from ExposFest go to the Kat D DIPG Foundation and the Montreal Children’s Hospital. 

Details about the presentation of the 2024 Tip O’Neill Award will be announced in the coming months. 

The Hall’s Tip O’Neill Award is named after Woodstock, Ont., native James “Tip” O’Neill, who was one of Major League Baseball’s first legitimate stars. With the American Association’s St. Louis Browns in 1887, O’Neill set big league records in hits, doubles, slugging percentage and total bases, while compiling a major league record .492 batting average. Walks were counted as hits in 1887, but if O’Neill’s average was calculated by today’s standards, it would be .435. 

To determine the winner of the Tip O’Neill Award, the Hall takes into account a number of criteria, including each candidate’s on-the-field performance, contributions to their team, community and charitable endeavors and their support in fan voting. The Hall also has a Tip O’Neill Award committee, consisting of a panel of Canadian baseball experts, that votes on the honour.