The moment came before the ninth inning on the last day of the 2002 season.
Vladimir Guerrero was called out on a check swing in the bottom of the eighth, meaning his year would end one home run short of the illustrious 40-40 club for homers and stolen bases. Angered at the call and a similar controversy the night before — when Guerrero blasted a ball off the top of the wall that was ruled a double — fans of the Montreal Expos showered the Olympic Stadium field with plastic bottles, paper cups and beer cans. There was a six-minute delay.
Finally the field was cleared, and Guerrero jogged out to his position in right field.
At the time, no one knew what the Expos’ future held. Although they would not leave to become the Washington Nationals for two more years, some feared this game would mark the end of baseball in Montreal.
Geurerro’s son, little Vlad Jr., was all of 3 years old when he followed his father into the outfield, dressed in full uniform. Before the inning started, Vlad Sr. took off his cap and waved it toward a cheering crowd. Vlad Jr. removed a batting helmet and imitated his father’s wave.
Paul Chiasson, a Canadian Press photojournalist, was there to capture the moment.
Photographer Paul Chiasson’s original image of father and son from 2003. (AP Photo/Paul Chiasson)
The photo was picked up and ran in newspapers across Canada and the U.S.
“The day that happened, it was cool, it was nice, it was a beautiful picture,” Chiasson said via phone Tuesday afternoon. “It got a lot of play, and that was it.”
Twenty-three years later, though, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is leading the Toronto Blue Jays into the World Series. That photo and others have resurfaced and taken on a whole new meaning. Photographers who were merely trying to document the moment ended up capturing shots that, in a way, foretold the future.
Chiasson’s photo — one of several he took of the father and son that weekend — first re-entered his life in 2021. That’s when Guerrero Jr. wore a glove covered with small versions of the picture for his first MLB All-Star Game.
Like father, like son. (And on one glove!)
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s glove for the MLB #AllStarGame 🤩
📸 @MLB pic.twitter.com/5umcdQK4Hv
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 13, 2021
Chiasson was on vacation at his brother’s farm in southeastern Québec when a friend forwarded him a post featuring the glove. People asked if he was going to get any extra money for the shot. The answer was no, but the photograph was still meaningful.
In truth, Chiasson hardly remembers the day he took that photo. When he took the shot of Vlad Sr. and Vlad Jr., he was documenting the elder’s chase for 40-40 and an emotional day for baseball in Montreal. He never thought about what it might mean years later.
“Let’s face it,” he said. “At that age, you would have to be a really good scout to figure out that Jr. is going to be a top baseball player.”
Of course, some signs were already bubbling to the surface. There was the obvious pedigree and an upbringing in MLB parks. Then there was his size and natural aptitude. A Canadian newspaper once ran a note comparing 3-year-old Vlad Jr. to the son of another Expos player, Wil Cordero Jr.
Cordero Jr. was nearly a year older, but Guerrero Jr. was already bigger. He wore his father’s No. 27 and a uniform that read “Vladi Jr.” on the back. He taped his wrists and had “27” written on the tape. He stretched with the pitchers, shagged balls in the outfield and imitated his father’s bat waggle behind the cage.
On Sept. 1, 2002, Canadian Press photographer Ryan Remiorz took another photo of Guerrero Jr. that often resurfaces on social media. That photo showed an adorable boy standing in front of his father, holding his hat over his heart, while the national anthems played before a game.
“When I shot that, it was a cute kid with his dad,” Remiorz said. “His dad was a big star.”
Now these photos are part of this bigger story. They show the way a young star was raised. They reflect his close relationship with his father. They hint at the destiny ahead.
Only a few days ago, the official MLB account posted the photo with the caption: “This kid is heading to the World Series.”
This kid is heading to the World Series 🥹 pic.twitter.com/lfdcRc5uaL
— MLB (@MLB) October 21, 2025
Remiorz scrolled through the comments and could not help but shake his head.
“One actually said, ‘This is fake, it’s AI-generated,’” Remiorz said. “I’m sitting there thinking, ‘OK, I guess times change.’ Now you can’t believe anything. But I can attest to the fact that is a real photo, and I did take it.”
Chiasson and Remiorz were close colleagues at the Canadian Press for more than three decades. Both are now retired. Reminded of their Guerrero photos, one reached out to another this week, and they made plans to grab a beer. Both had plenty of memorable moments in their careers, but Chiasson said he could not think of another photograph that re-emerged so many years later in a whole different context.
“Some pictures had an impact right away,” Chiasson said. “But this is really special. … With the two events – the glove and now the World Series – it’s just taken on a whole new meaning.”
Remiorz could only think of one other photograph that compared. In 1995, he covered the Québec Referendum, a controversial vote that sought to give Québec independence from the rest of Canada. Remiorz captured an image at a protest, featuring a large Canadian flag. His son was young at the time. Years later, he came home from high school and said: “Hey Dad, your picture is in my history book.”
Remiorz joked that made him feel old. But seeing the Guerrero Jr. picture pop up all over social media — and even serve as part of a Fox pregame package — has stirred up some memories. Remiorz said it feels like yesterday when the Expos left Montreal. Just Tuesday night he watched the documentary “Who Killed the Montreal Expos?”
“Vlad Jr., born in Montreal, was meant to be a Toronto Blue Jay. Destined to extend his hall of fame father’s hitting legacy. Bound to remain a baseball hero in Canada for the entirety of his playing career.” @Ken_Rosenthal pic.twitter.com/TkRUDeF9Qi
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 5, 2025
“It’s kind of funny,” Remiorz said. “First off, it makes you realize how quickly time goes by, and how you have the opportunity to see something at a certain point in time, and then 20-some-odd years later it becomes something totally different.”
Now the young boy who once stood for the anthems in that oversized jersey is powering Canada’s only remaining major-league team to the World Series.
Guerrero Jr. has fulfilled so many of the prophecies made when he signed at age 16 for a $3.9 million bonus. He inked a $500 million extension in April, helping to stabilize the Blue Jays and expand their competitive window. He said at one point this postseason his father taught him to handle the pressure of playing for a whole country.
The closeness once captured in Chiasson’s photo endures to this day.
“Not just my dad, I also talk to my mom,” Guerrero Jr. said. “I do it every day. I talk to them before the game and after the game every single day, regardless of the outcome of the game, if I did good, if I did bad. I feel like I need their blessing every day.”
Thinking aloud, Chiasson said he’d like to eventually make a trip to Toronto. Maybe he would bring a few prints of his now-iconic photo. He could give one to Vlad Jr. and one to Vlad Sr. Now retired, maybe he’d even get one signed for himself.
In the meantime, Guerrero Jr. is chasing the one thing his father never accomplished, something that would spawn a whole new string of photographs and memories.
“My father, he never had the chance to win a World Series,” Guerrero Jr. said. “That’s one of my goals, always been one of my goals, to do that for me, for him.”
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