During his early teenage years, he left school to support his family by working in the island's rum industry, earning less than US$3 a week from cutting cane.
In April 1974, the Indians, seeking pitching help, traded Guerrero to the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor league, left-handed pitcher Bruce Ellingsen.
Dodgers personnel director Al Campanis had recently hired Reggie Otero, who then recommended the acquisition of Guerrero.
Ellingsen pitched only 16 major league games; contrasted with Guerrero's all-star career, the trade ranks as one of the most lopsided straight-up swaps in baseball history.
Los Angeles won three pennants between 1974 and 1978, receiving a steady supply of pitching talent from Triple-A Albuquerque and gaining even more assets through trades and free agency.
In 1977, he was leading the Pacific Coast League at AAA Albuquerque with a .403 batting average when he fractured his left ankle in the field.
Exactly one year later, he hit his first major league home run off Padres pitcher Bob Owchinko, appearing in 25 games total in 1979.
He filled a valuable utility role over two stretches during the season, spelling an ailing Davey Lopes at second and a slumping Rudy Law in the center.
At the start of the 1981 season, incumbent right fielder Reggie Smith was rehabilitating from an arm injury, which opened a spot in right field for Guerrero.
The Dodgers were pushed to the brink in two consecutive playoff rounds against Houston and Montreal, but managed to overcome deficits in each series.
He reached base 14 consecutive times that year, two short of the record set by Ted Williams, and led the league in slugging, on-base, and home run percentage.
Guerrero was out of baseball until 2011 when his former teammate Mike Marshall, then Commissioner of the Arizona Winter League, hired him as a hitting instructor.
In 2014, he was named manager of the Rieleros de Frontera in the Liga del Norte in the city of Monclova in the Mexican minor leagues.
[6] Guerrero led the Rieleros to the Liga del Norte championship where they defeated the Palau Tuzos 4 games to 2 to win the league title.