With last week's home finale at Jacobs Field, Omar Vizquel probably appeared in his last game as an Indian. Erik Cassano remembers how Cleveland's littlest Indian made a big impact.
By Erik Cassano
210 west Writer [send email]
As far as early Christmas presents go, Omar Vizquel was "The Club." That gift that doesn't seem like all that much when you unwrap it at the office's "Secret Santa" party, but it turns out to be quite useful when your new job takes you and your car into a bad part of town.
Vizquel came to Cleveland in a Dec. 20, 1993 trade that sent Reggie Jefferson and Felix Fermin to Seattle. He was looked upon as an auxiliary piece when the Indians got him; the stereotypical all-glove, no-bat Latin middle infielder which would be general manager John Hart's lone offensive sacrifice on a team otherwise loaded with big boppers.
Vizquel arrived with some credentials: he was the reigning American League Gold Glove Award winner at shortstop, and he had sealed the final out of a no-hitter.
The 5' 9" man they now call "O" said he wasn't sure if he'd like it when he first arrived in Cleveland. At that point, Jacobs Field hadn't been unpacked and the Indians were still mired in 40 years of losing baseball.
At that point, nobody knew just how important Cleveland's littlest Indian would become.
Vizquel's first headlines with the Indians weren't positive: a three-error game in 1994. But he rallied and won the first Gold Glove ever by an Indian shortstop.
Cleveland really started to fall in love with their shortstop the next year, 1995. Vizquel, ever the performer, took the stage on Cleveland's Public Square during a celebration following the Tribe's World Series loss to the Braves.
Vizquel stole the show with a speech that was part stand-up comedy and part blowing verbal kisses to the crowd. Countless defensive gems on the diamond made him a star, but that brisk afternoon made him a municipal treasure seemingly overnight.
In 1996, Vizquel was hampered by a shoulder injury that threw a wrench into his trademark defensive prowess. His .971 fielding percentage and 20 errors were the lowest and highest of his Cleveland career to date, respectively, though he still won yet another Gold Glove. He compensated at the plate, hitting a then-career best .297 with a .417 slugging percentage.
Like any true showman, Vizquel shone the brighest when the spotlight was at the zenith of its wilting heat.
The 1997 World Series was arguably Vizquel's finest hour in an Indians uniform. In Game 6, with the Indians leading 4-1 and facing elimination, Florida's Charles Johnson hit a hot grounder into the hole between short and third.
With runners on second and third, the two-out grounder seemed destined to force the Indians bullpen to protect a one-run lead (or worse) as the game went to the seventh inning.
But Vizquel laid out horizontally in short left field to snare the ball. With slow-footed catcher Johnson running, Vizquel popped up and fired a strike to first, ending the inning and preserving a lead that would hold up as the final score.
Jose Mesa can thank Vizquel the series ever got to a seventh game.
In 1998, Vizquel followed up his World Series heroics by leading all AL shortstops with a .993 fielding percentage as he played alongside double-play partners like David Bell, Enrique Wilson, Torey Lovullo and Joey Cora. Tony Fernandez had been a stopgap solution at second base the previous year, and the Indians were still searching for a permanent replacement to Carlos Baerga, who had partied and eaten himself into a second-rate Met in 1996.
In 1999, Vizquel was paired with Roberto Alomar. Billed as arguably the greatest defensive middle infield of all time, they won the Gold Glove Awards for their respective positions each of the three years they played together.
On two occasions, once in a 1999 game at Yankee Stadium, and once in an interleague game against Houston at Jacobs Field, Alomar dove to his right to grab a grounder up the middle, flipped the ball backhanded out of his glove to Vizquel, who picked it barehanded over second base, hurdled the runner bearing down on him, and threw to first to complete the double play.
Against Houston, the crowd called for an encore appearance after the duo had retreated to the dugout. It might be the only time in Cleveland two players made a curtain call for their glovework.
While Vizquel and Alomar performed poetry in motion on the diamond, there were underlying tensions off it. The mercurial Alomar was quietly jealous of the fan and media-darling status of Vizquel, and it helped quickly fizzle the fire with which Alomar arrived in Cleveland.
By 2001, Robbie Alomar was gone from Cleveland, and Cleveland's dominance in the American League Central Division ebbed. Alomar, like Baerga, was traded to the Mets in December 2001. The Indians sprinted out of the 2002 gates 11-1, but quickly faded. Manny Ramirez had left for Boston following the 2000 season, and Jim Thome would bolt for Philadelphia in December 2002.
The Indians began an arduous rebuilding process. The team Vizquel had stood atop baseball with was now being torn down around him.
Bartolo Colon, Chuck Finley and Paul Shuey were traded in the summer of 2002. Travis Fryman retired. Jim Thome moved on to Philadelphia. The Phillies remain no closer to a championship. A limp-armed Charles Nagy was turned away after the season.
When Nagy left Cleveland, Vizquel was the only remaining player from the 1997 World Series on Cleveland's roster.
Vizquel himself looked like he was starting to fade. At 35, he had lost a step in the field. The 2003 season brought a .244 batting average and a mere 64 games played due to two knee operations. After the season, general manager Mark Shapiro was set to remove the last brick from the Tribe's 1990s glory days, signing off on a trade that would have sent Vizquel back to Seattle, where he still makes his off-season home.
His knee, however, hadn't fully healed, and he failed the Mariners' team physical. The trade was nixed.
The Indians' front office probably bemoaned the money they now wouldn't be able to save, forced to pay Vizquel his $6 million salary in the last guaranteed year of a contract extension signed in 2000. But the Indians got back far more than they would have saved.
In 2004, Vizquel has been a club leader. He has rebounded at the plate, batting in the .290s and above .300. He rallied from a slow start defensively and now has an outside chance at his first Gold Glove since 2001. It would be his 10th.
But Seattle's trade denial probably has prolonged the inevitable. Vizquel will become a free agent when the Indians most likely buy out his 2005 contract option. He has said he wants to come back to Cleveland, and many Cleveland fans want him back. But it would probably have to be at a vastly reduced salary. If Vizquel and the Indians can't see eye-to-eye at the negotiating table, Vizquel will be gone.
The emergence of 22-year-old Jhonny Peralta, the Class AAA International League MVP, as the Indians leading shortstop-of-the-future candidate, isn't helping Vizquel's cause. Peralta, who hit .323 this year at Buffalo, could take the field for less than $1 million next year.
When Vizquel does leave, Cleveland will lose much more than a shortstop. It will lose a clown prince, a supporter of the community, a great interview subject, and one of the best smiles in the world.
Cleveland will lose one of the most significant players in franchise history, and someone who will wear their team's hat if he is ever enshrined at Cooperstown.
(And he should be. His .983 career fielding percentage is tops among shortstops with 1,000 games played, and his nine Gold Gloves are eclipsed only by Ozzie Smith's 13.)
If Vizquel isn't honored by baseball, he will certainly be in Cleveland someday. The Indians have retired six numbers in franchise history, none honoring a player who suited up for the club after 1960. Of all the great players the Indians fielded in the 1990s, all the potential Hall of Famers, all the Ramirezes and Thomes and Alomars and Belles, Vizquel is the one sure bet to have his number 13 retired.
Stars come and go, the team contends and rebuilds, and the fans wait and wait for that elusive championship. Through it all, for every year Jacobs Field has been Cleveland's summer stage, "O" has been there.
The littlest Indian is the truest of them all.
Looking at career statistics, Omar and Ozzie are almost identical players. Their numbers are eerily similar across the board, when you look at each player's average season. Omar was a slightly better hitter, while Ozzie was a slightly better baserunner. Other than that, it's pretty much a wash.
Defensive numbers are much harder to gauge, but over the course of an average season, Ozzie got more action at short and also made a couple more errors per year.
Of course, there is the one number that's easy to look at -- number of Gold Gloves. That Ozzie has four more is rather inmaterial. The simple fact is that each player, for more than half of his career, was regarded as the premier defensive shortstop in his league.
I don't think Omar will be hurt by the fact that he's unappreciated outside of Cleveland. He did play in two World Series (one less than Ozzie), so he got the national stage. Also, remember that for the first half of Ozzie's career, most baseball writers only saw him when the Cardinals came to town (if the scribes even went to the games) or if they were the game of the week on network TV. Omar's had much more exposure, with so many games and highlights on cable now.
What will hurt him, however, is the evolution of the position. For years, Ozzie was considered the best shortstop in the league. Omar never really was. For his first few years, there was Cal Ripken, and then came the A-Rod, Jeter, Nomar, Tejada era. A slick-fielding shortstop who didn't slug wasn't en vogue anymore.
This, I believe, is what will keep him out of the Hall. It is what has kept Ryne Sandberg out, which is far less forgiving. Sandberg was not only the best-fielding second baseman of his era, he owns the best fielding percentage of any second sacker in history. He also won nine Gold Gloves, second only to Roberto Alomar's 10. Sandberg also hit more home runs than any second baseman ever (a record that was eclipsed this season by Jeff Kent), and he hit .285 for his career. Yet he has not garnered enough support to make the Hall -- less than 50 percent of the vote in his first year of eligibility, though his numbers did jump in his second year.
If Sandberg cannot make it in, it shows two things: No. 1, the majority writers who vote simply do not have as much of an appreciation for baseball history as someone entrusted with a Hall ballot should. And No. 2, things don't look good for Omar.
Perhaps he should have done a few backflips along the way.
Here's some stats compared to Ozzy Smith:
Ozzie Smith
GP 2,511
ERRORS 281
FLD PCT. .978
AVG. .262
2B 25
RS 79
RBI 50
SB 37
OBP .337
Omar Vizquel
GP 1,978
ERRORS 149
FLD PCT. .983
AVG. .275
2B 27
RS 85
RBI 54
SB 24
OBP .341
**Stats as of 9/17/04
I have been having a heated debate with some non-Clevelanders who believe Omar will never be a Hall of Famer b/c he's not known well enough outside of Cleveland, and don't think his stats compare to other Hall of Fame shortstops. As a Clevelander and Indians fan, of course I think Omar should be in. But I need backup - can anybody out there help me make my case that Omar is comparable to Ozzie Smith or other greats?
He'll go down as one of Cleveland's most beloved
athletes EVER and he's pretty high on my list, too.
I've come to like him more and more every year w/ the Tribe and it's been really great to have him this year as the team begins its return to power. He was the guy I watched out in the field every time I went to the Jake as he horsed around during warm-ups and then made sensational plays when the ball was hit near him. I loved being part of the standing ovations we would give him after he made a great play to end the inning.
Unfortunately, he'll probably be gone after this
season and may end up w/ the hated White Sox next
season.
He was taken out of the game the other day at the
start of the ninth inning and rec'd a huge, standing ovation from the crowd...sort of a goodbye and thank you.
It was a good article and a solid summary of how he rose to become the icon in Cleveland he is today.
Man, I would love to be there when the Indians retire his jersey.