Omar Vizquel

San Francisco Giants — No. 13
Shortstop
Born: March 24 1967 (1967--) (age 40)
Bats: Switch	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
April 3, 1989 for the Seattle Mariners
Selected MLB statistics (through August 24, 2007)
Batting Average	.275
Hits	2,578
Stolen Bases	377
Fielding Percentage	.984
Awards
Gold Glove: (AL, 1993-2001), (NL, 2005-2006) All-Star (AL): (1998-1999, 2002)
Teams
Seattle Mariners (1989-1993) Cleveland Indians (1994-2004) San Francisco Giants (2005-present)

Omar Enrique Vizquel (born April 24, 1967 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Major League Baseball shortstop playing for the San Francisco Giants. Previously, Vizquel played for the Seattle Mariners (1989-93) and the Cleveland Indians (1994-2004). Vizquel is considered one of baseball's all-time best defensive shortstops, winning nine consecutive Gold Gloves (1993-2001) and two in 2005 and 2006. He also 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, 2001). In Cleveland he joined Kenny Lofton as the first pair of Indians to win Gold Gloves since Vic Power and Jimmy Piersall did in 1961. As of 2007, his .988 career fielding percentage is the highest of all-time for a shortstop in major league history. On April 20, 2007 he passed Cal Ripken Jr. with his 2479th hit to record the second most career hits while playing shortstop in the past 50 years, second only to Luis Aparicio. Omar is fifth all-time in career hits-while-playing-shortstop behind Honus Wagner, Luke Appling, Luis Aparicio, and Rabbit Maranville. On May 6, he collected his 2,500th hit against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Career

Originally signed by the Mariners as a non-drafted free agent in 1984, Vizquel made his major league debut on April 3, 1989. His exceptional defensive ability became evident early on in his professional career, but it took Vizquel several years to master the art of hitting. Strictly a singles hitter from the beginning, Vizquel batted .220, .247, and .230 with only 39 extra base hits in his first three seasons with Seattle. After hitting .294 in 1992, Vizquel was slated for a repeat performance the following year but despite having reached a batting average of .292 by the All-Star break in 1993, he batted only .202 for the rest of the season to finish at .252. Although Vizquel had never before appeared for 550 at-bats in a full season, he nonetheless contributed significantly to the Mariners' offense, mainly bunting to advance runners and drawing walks. However, by year's end, Vizquel was traded by the Mariners to the Indians for Félix Fermín, Reggie Jefferson, and cash (Fermin hit well for Seattle in 1994 but suffered an injury and retired in 1996).

After joining the Indians, Vizquel became a stronger, more competent hitter. In 1996, he batted .297 with nine home runs, 64 runs batted in, 98 runs, 36 doubles, and a .362 on base percentage. He continued to hit consistently well over the years with the team, reaching a career-high batting average of .333 in 1999 with 191 hits, thus helping the Indians to their fifth-straight AL Central Division title. That same year, Vizquel scored 112 runs, hit 36 doubles with 66 RBIs, and stole 42 bases while drawing more walks than strikeouts in his best offensive campaign to date. On the field, Vizquel and second baseman Roberto Alomar were recognized as one of the top defensive duos with both men joining a select list of eight shortstop-second baseman combinations to hold the honor of winning three consecutive Gold Gloves over the course of their three seasons together (1999-2001). During Vizquel's career in Cleveland, twice the Indians made it to the World Series but came up short in both, losing to the Atlanta Braves in 1995 and to the Florida Marlins in 1997.

Vizquel continued to reach career-highs in 2002 hitting 14 homers and 72 RBIs but his success was interrupted by the need for surgery in his right knee. As a result of the injury and a follow-up operation, he appeared in only 64 games in 2003. However, 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 2006 season in a 18-year major league career, Vizquel has a .276 lifetime batting average with nearly 2500 hits (he secured his 2500th hit early in the 2007 season) and 366 stolen bases. His exceptional defense, together with an increased offensive output over his career has inspired an ongoing debate among observers as to whether he will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame after he retires. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Vizquel is also known for often fielding balls with his bare hand, causing his teammates to joke that he should be winning Gold Barehands instead of Gold Gloves. This is evident in Vizquel's 1997 Fleer Ultra baseball card, showing him holding a bowling trophy with a mannequin's hand on top.

On Saturday, June 23, 2007 the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame inducted Omar Vizquel into their Hall of Fame during an on-field, pre-game ceremony before taking on the New York Yankees. He, along with former San Francisco Giants outfielder, Mateo Rojas "Matty" Alou were inducted in front of over 43,000 fans.

He is the only player to have won all three of the Hutch Award, the Willie Mac Award, and the Heart & Hustle Award. Only one other player, Dave Dravecky, has won more than one of these awards, although Willie McCovey himself won the Hutch Award before having the Willie Mac Award named for him.

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 Vizquel's autobiography, Omar! My Life On and Off the Field. In the book, 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 made good on his promise and hit Vizquel the first time he faced him, in the ninth inning. Oddly, Mesa was not ejected and finished the game, which featured five other ejections, including both managers. [5] 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. In his career, Vizquel is batting .333 (7-for-21) against Mesa.[6]

Personal

Although Vizquel has played shortstop almost exclusively on the field, he is known for being more well-rounded off the field. He is an avid painter and sculptor, and plays the guitar and drums. He has a son Nicholas Enrique (born September 12, 1995) with his wife Nicole.

He is also 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 not only donated his time to the relief effort but also helped to raise over $500,000 for the cause. Vizquel also has 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 also released in paperback in 2003.

Baseball records and accomplishments

Defense

• All-time leader for double plays as a shortstop
• 11-time Gold Glove recipient (1993-2001, 2005-6)
• Second-highest number of Gold Gloves received by a shortstop (behind Ozzie Smith)
• Oldest shortstop recipient of the Gold Glove (ages 38 & 39)
• Highest career fielding percentage by a shortstop (0.988)
• Lowest number of errors in a season by a shortstop (tie) (3 in the 2000 season)
• American League record holder (tie) for most consecutive games without an error (95 between September 26, 1999-July 21, 2001)

Offense

• Fifth-most hits-while-playing-shortstop all-time and second-most within the past 50 years
• Fifth-most runs-while-playing-shortstop all-time and second-most within the past 50 years
• The 83rd major league player to reach 2500 career hits (May 6, 2007)
• Third-most hits by an active player
• Third-most at-bats by an active player
• American League record holder (tie) for most hits in a nine inning game (6) - Went 6-7 on August 31, 2004 in the Indians 22-0 win over the Yankees, the worst shut-out loss in league history
• Recorded 350th stolen base (June 21, 2006)

Overall

• Third-most games played by an active player
• 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, 1995-9, 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
• Won 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

Trivia

• On May 27, 2003, 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.
• Tied the 2002 All-Star Game 7-7 with an RBI triple in the eighth inning. The game ended controversially after 11 innings tied 7-7.
• On August 5, 2001 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. Vizquel and the Indians went on to win 15-14 in 11 innings. It was tied for the largest comeback in history.
• Omar is referenced in an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Bart's Friend Falls in Love". In the episode, Bart takes a distracted Milhouse's Carl Yastrzemski baseball card in exchange for one of Vizquel with the head cut out.

See also

• List of AL Gold Glove winners at shortstop
• List of NL Gold Glove winners at shortstop
• List of Gold Glove middle infield duos
• List of MLB players with 2,000 hits
• Players from Venezuela in MLB
• List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs

References

1. "Vizquel an artist at work" by Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports, May 24, 2006
2. "Older players make final bids for Hall of Fame" by Mel Antonen, USA TODAY, July 27, 2006
3. "Last call for the Hall" by Gary Kaufman, Salon.com, July 26, 2000
4. "ALL SYSTEMS O!" by Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer, September 26, 2004
5. * Omar Vizquel and Bob Dyer (2002). Omar!: My Life on and Off the Field. Gray & Company Publishers. ISBN 9781886228559

External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• Official Website
• Unofficial Website
• Reaches 2500 hits
• MLB player profile
• Omar Vizquel at ESPN.com
• Guitar Mania — Vizquel's painted guitar photos
• Article mentioning MLB record of the fewest errors by a shortstop in a season
• Article about his passing Cal Ripken Jr. to become 2nd in career hits by a shortstop in the past 50 years
• All-time hits-while-playing-shortstop - the 3 other shortstops with more hits, Cal Ripken Jr., Robin Yount, and George Davis, spent years playing other positions
• All-time runs-while-playing-shortstop - behind Honus Wagner, Bill Dahlen, Herman Long, and Derek Jeter, the 6 other shortstops with more runs, Cal Ripken Jr., Robin Yount, George Davis, John Montgomery Ward, Alex Rodriguez, and Pee Wee Reese played other positions enough to have less runs-while-playing-shortstop per their listings on http://www.baseball-reference.com