Omar Vizquel

Omar Vizquel
Chicago White Sox — No. 11
Shortstop / Third Baseman / Second Baseman
Born: April 24, 1967 (1967-04-24) (age 44) Caracas, Venezuela
Bats: Switch	Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 3, 1989 for the Seattle Mariners
Career statistics (through 2011)
Batting average	.272
Hits	2,841
Home Runs	80
Runs batted in	944
Stolen Bases	401
Teams
Seattle Mariners (1989–1993) Cleveland Indians (1994–2004) San Francisco Giants (2005–2008) Texas Rangers (2009) Chicago White Sox (2010–2011)
Career highlights and awards
3× MLB All-Star (1998, 1999, 2002) 11× Gold Glove (1993–2001, 2005–2006)

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Vizquel and the second or maternal family name is González.

Omar Enrique Vizquel González (Spanish pronunciation: [oˈmar βisˈkel]; born April 24, 1967 in Caracas, Venezuela), nicknamed "Little O", is a Venezuelan Major League Baseball shortstop and third baseman. Vizquel has played for the Seattle Mariners (1989–1993), the Cleveland Indians (1994–2004), the San Francisco Giants (2005–2008), the Texas Rangers (2009) and the Chicago White Sox (2010–2011). In Venezuela he played with the team Leones del Caracas.

Vizquel is considered one of baseball's all-time best fielding shortstops, winning nine consecutive Gold Gloves (1993–2001) and two more in 2005 and 2006. He tied Cal Ripken's AL record, since surpassed, for most consecutive games at shortstop without an error (95 between September 26, 1999 and July 21, 2000).^[1] Currently, his .985 career fielding percentage is the highest of all-time for a shortstop in Major League history. On May 25, 2008, Vizquel became the all-time leader in games played at shortstop, passing Luis Aparicio. Vizquel is the all-time leader in double plays made while playing shortstop. He has the most hits recorded by any player from Venezuela (2,841; 45th all-time, as of October 28, 2011), surpassing Aparicio's record of 2,677 on June 25, 2009. On May 24, 2010, Vizquel became the shortstop with the second most hits all time, behind Derek Jeep. Vizquel is the sacrifice hit leader of the live-ball era. Currently, Vizquel is the oldest position player in the Major Leagues, and the second-oldest active player overall behind pitcher Tim Wakefield (pitcher Jamie Moyer is currently a free agent, but he is not officially retired as of 2011). As of 2011, he is the only active player with service time in the 1980s. Vizquel is one of only 29 players in baseball history to date to play in Major League games in four decades.

Career

Vizquel started his career with the Leones del Caracas of the Venezuelan Winter League together with Tony Armas, Bo Díaz and Andrés Galarraga. Originally signed by the Mariners as a non-drafted free agent in 1984, Vizquel made his Major League debut on April 3, 1989.

At the end of the 1993 season, Vizquel was traded by the Mariners to the Indians for Félix Fermín, Reggie Jefferson, and cash.

After joining the Indians, Vizquel became a stronger, more competent hitter. On the field, Vizquel and second baseman Roberto Alomar were recognized as one of the top all time defensive duos.

During Vizquel's career in Cleveland, the Indians made it to the World Series twice, losing to the Atlanta Braves in 1995 and to the Florida Marlins in 1997. Vizquel is a lifetime .250 hitter in 57 postseason games.

Vizquel won nine consecutive Gold Gloves with the Mariners and Indians, starting with his first in 1993 with Seattle and continuing until 2001. Alex Rodriguez broke Vizquel's streak and won the award in 2002. Vizquel won an additional two Gold Gloves in 2005 and 2006 with the San Francisco Giants.

In 1999, Vizquel hit over .300 and scored 100 runs for the first time in his career, finishing the season with a .333 batting average and 112 runs scored for an Indians team that scored a league-leading 1,009 runs. Vizquel hit second in the line-up between lead-off man Kenny Lofton and third-place hitter Roberto Alomar in the most productive offensive line-up in Cleveland baseball history.

On August 5, 2001, Vizquel hit a 3-run triple in the ninth inning against the Seattle Mariners to tie the game 14-14, erasing an earlier 14-2 deficit midway through the seventh inning. The Indians went on to win 15-14 in 11 innings. It was tied for the largest comeback in history. Vizquel continued to reach career highs in 2002 hitting 14 homers and 72 RBI, but his success was interrupted by the need for surgery on his right knee. He tied the 2002 All-Star Game 7-7 with an RBI triple in the eighth inning. As a result of his knee injury in 2002 and a follow-up operation, he appeared in only 64 games in 2003, but in one of those games on May 27, 2003, Vizquel had a straight steal of home against the Detroit Tigers. This caught Tigers pitcher Steve Avery by so much surprise that Vizquel made it home without a throw, which is extremely rare. Vizquel returned in 2004 to hit .291 in 148 games. At the end of the season, Vizquel was signed by the Giants as a free agent. As of the end of the 2010 season, at the age of 43 in a 22-year Major League career, Vizquel has a .273 lifetime batting average with 2799 hits, 1012 walks, 400 stolen bases and 1414 runs.

Vizquel underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on February 27, 2008. He started the 2008 season on the disabled list and played in his first game on May 10. Vizquel again stole home against Oakland Athletics pitcher, Greg Smith, on June 13.

On June 23, 2007 the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame inducted Vizquel, along with former Giants outfielder Matty Alou, into its Hall of Fame during an on-field, pre-game ceremony.

Vizquel won the Hutch Award and the Willie Mac Award, and was a finalist for the Heart & Hustle Award. Only two other players, Dave Dravecky and Craig Biggio, have won more than one of these awards, although Willie McCovey himself won the Hutch Award before having the Willie Mac Award named for him.

On January 21, 2009, Vizquel signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers^[2] and made the team's major league roster. He served mainly as a backup middle infielder.

On November 23, 2009, Vizquel agreed to a one year contract with the Chicago White Sox worth $1.4 million.^[3] After making the deal official, former shortstop and White Sox legend Luis Aparicio asked that his number 11 be temporarily "unretired" for Vizquel during the 2010 season,^[4] mostly due to the fact that White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen - like Vizquel and Aparicio, a Venezulean shortstop - had rights to #13, the number Vizquel has worn through his career.

Vizquel with the White Sox in 2011.

On May 25, 2010, Vizquel became the shortstop with the second most hits all time, behind Derek Jeter. One month later on June 25, he hit his first home run of 2010 putting him on the short list of players who have hit home runs in four different decades (with Ted Williams, Willie McCovey, and Rickey Henderson). On November 2, 2010, Vizquel signed a 1 year deal to remain in Chicago.^[5] On April 3, 2011, Vizquel got a single for his 2,800th career hit. On April 10, 2011, the wind blew away a fan's Stetson hat and Vizquel caught it. He then tried it on before turning it over to event security. During his time with the White Sox, Vizquel has claimed to enjoy playing in Chicago very much.

Despite being well into his 40's, Vizquel is still regarded as one of the better defensive shortstops in the game and seen by his White Sox teammates as one of the most physically fit. ^[6]

Feud with Jose Mesa

A long-running and well-publicized feud erupted between Vizquel and former teammate and friend José Mesa. In 2002, following the publication of his autobiography, Omar! My Life On and Off the Field, Vizquel criticized Mesa's performance in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series:

"The eyes of the world were focused on every move we made. Unfortunately, Jose's own eyes were vacant. Completely empty. Nobody home. You could almost see right through him. Not long after I looked into his vacant eyes, he blew the save and the Marlins tied the game."

Mesa reacted furiously, pledging to hit Vizquel upon every subsequent opportunity:

"Even my little boy told me to get him. If I face him 10 more times, I'll hit him 10 times. I want to kill him."

On June 12, 2002, Mesa hit Vizquel with a pitch in the ninth inning. Mesa was not ejected and finished the game.^[7] They did not face each other again until 2006; by then, Vizquel was with the San Francisco Giants and Mesa was playing for the Colorado Rockies. When Vizquel came to bat against Mesa in Denver on April 22, Mesa hit him again. Meeting three more times in 2006, however, Vizquel escaped being hit by his former teammate, with two groundouts and an RBI single. Vizquel batted .333 (7-for-21) against Mesa before Mesa's retirement in 2007.^[8]

Personal

Vizquel during his tenure with the Indians in 1996.

Vizquel is active in community service, having served as an honorary spokesperson for "Young Audiences", an arts education organization in Cleveland, and "Schools Now", which raises funds through the sale of entertainment booklets. Following the 1999 Vargas mudslide disaster that killed 25,000 in his native Venezuela, Vizquel volunteered for the relief effort and helped raise over $500,000 for the cause. Vizquel has held various charitable events in downtown Cleveland such as Tribe Jam, where he and some other teammates get together with each other or with retired singers and sing some of their favorite songs.

His 2002 autobiography, Omar!: My Life on and Off the Field, which he co-wrote with Bob Dyer, spent four weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List. It was released in paperback in 2003.

Vizquel is referenced in an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Bart's Friend Falls in Love" (May 1992). In the episode, Bart takes a distracted Milhouse's Carl Yastrzemski baseball card in exchange for one of Vizquel with the head cut out. This is ironic, as, due to Vizquel's lack of success to that point, it is implied that Vizquel is a terrible player, and thus, the deal is equally terrible.

Vizquel is married to Nicole. The couple has a son, Nicholas Enrique, and an adopted daughter, Caylee Rae. He is currently seperated from his wife, due to him not being faithful. The seperation is not currently legal.

Baseball records and accomplishments

Defense

• All-time leader in double plays made while playing shortstop
• 11-time Gold Glove recipient
• Oldest shortstop recipient of the Gold Glove (age 38 in 2005, and again at age 39 in 2006)
• Highest career fielding percentage by a shortstop (0.9846) with at least 1,000 games played
• Lowest number of errors in a season by a shortstop (tie) (3 in the 2000 season)
• 6th in assists all-time, 3rd in assists at SS all-time

Offense

• All-time leader in hits by a player from Venezuela^[9]
• The 47th major league player to reach 2800 career hits (April 3, 2011)
• Third-most hits by an active (roster) player behind Derek Jeter and Ivan Rodriguez, was the category leader for the 2008 and a portion of the 2009 seasons, 47th all-time
• Most singles by an active (roster) player, 20th all-time
• Most at-bats by an active (roster) player, 19th all-time
• Fifth all-time in sacrifice hits plus sacrifice flies behind behind Eddie Collins, Jake Daubert, Stuffy McInnis & Willie Keeler (sacrifice flies were separated out into their own statistical category in 1954)
• All-time leader in sacrifice hits in the live-ball era (nearly twice the second active player), 4 time league leader (1997, 1999, 2004 & 2005)
• Likely 5th to 7th all-time in sacrifice hits after accounting for the 1954 statistical change (40th all-time without adjustment)
• Second-most sacrifice flies by an active (roster) player behind Alex Rodriguez, 50th all time (tie)
• Third most stolen bases by an active (roster) player behind Juan Pierre and Carl Crawford, 68th all-time
• American League record holder (tie) for most hits in a nine inning game: Vizquel hit six on August 31, 2004
• Second-most hits-while-playing-shortstop (behind Derek Jeter)
• Fourth-most runs-while-playing-shortstop all-time (behind Herman Long, Derek Jeter and Bill Dahlen)
• Seventh-most stolen-bases-while-playing-shortstop all-time (behind Bert Campaneris, Ozzie Smith, Herman Long, Luis Aparicio, Honus Wagner, and Bill Dahlen)
• Most seasons by active player as a batting title qualifier with isolated power (extra bases per at-bat) under .100, with 12.

Overall

• All-time leader in games played at shortstop
• Most games played by an active (roster) player, 14th all-time
• 3-time All-Star (1998, 1999 & 2002)
• Won 2 American League Championships (with Cleveland, 1995, 1997)
• Won 6 American League Central Division Championships (with Cleveland, 1995-99, 2001)
• Won the Hutch Award (1996), the only non-American player ever to do so
• Won the Willie Mac Award (2006) for spirit and leadership
• Finalist for the Heart & Hustle Award (2007) for embodying "the values, spirit and tradition of the game"
• Captain of Venezuelan World Baseball Classic team (2006)
• Member of the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame

See also

• List of NL Gold Glove winners at shortstop
• List of Gold Glove middle infield duos
• List of MLB players with 2,000 hits
• List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases

Notes

Sources

• "Vizquel an artist at work" by Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports, May 24, 2006
• "Older players make final bids for Hall of Fame" by Mel Antonen, USA TODAY, July 27, 2006
• "Last call for the Hall" by Gary Kaufman, Salon.com, July 26, 2000
• "ALL SYSTEMS O!" by Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer, September 26, 2004
• Omar Vizquel and Bob Dyer (2002). Omar!: My Life on and Off the Field. Gray & Company Publishers. ISBN 9781886228559
• Hits/runs/games-while-playing-shortstop calculated using statistics at BaseballReference.com

References

1. ^ Cooperstown Bound? - Omar Vizquel
2. ^ Vizquel signs with Rangers
3. ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jl1XX7vou7vc_5xsi8UBHw00z6IAD9C5INJ00
4. ^ Scott Merkin (February 8, 2010). "Vizquel to wear Aparicio's No. 11". MLB.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100208&content_id=8037480&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved February 8, 2010. 
5. ^ Scott Merkin (November 2, 2010). "Vizquel returning to White Sox on one-year deal". MLB.com. http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101102&content_id=15961648&vkey=news_cws&c_id=cws. Retrieved November 7, 2010. 
6. ^ http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/6989144/omar-vizquel-had-magical-career
7. ^ Deseret News | Rocky contest marred by plenty of ejections
8. ^ Omar Vizquel Batting Against Jose Mesa - Baseball-Reference PI
9. ^ Vizquel becomes Venezuelean Hits King

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Reaches 2500 hits
• Guitar Mania — Vizquel's painted guitar photos
• Article mentioning MLB record of the fewest errors by a shortstop in a season
• A sample chapter from the book Omar! by Omar Vizquel and Bob Dyer

Persondata
Name	Vizquel, Omar
Alternative names
Short description	Professional baseball player
Date of birth	April 4, 1967
Place of birth	Caracas, Venezuela
Date of death
Place of death