Omar Vizquel

Full Name: Omar Enrique (Gonzalez) Vizquel	Current Team: Chicago White Sox
Height/Weight: 5'9"/175	Uniform Number:
Birthdate: April 24, 1967	Entry Draft: N/A (1984 Free Agent)
Birthplace: Caracas, Distrito Federal (Venezuela)	First Acquired By: Seattle Mariners
Primary Position: SS	College: N/A

Biography[]

Omar Vizquel (Omar Enrique (Gonzalez) Vizquel) was born on April 24, 1967 in Caracas, Distrito Federal (Venezuela). He made his Major League debut on April 3, 1989 for the Seattle Mariners. In 1989, his rookie year, he hit .220 with 1 home run and 20 RBI. Vizquel played for the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians and San Francisco Giants over the course of his 18 year career.

Most people believe that Omar Vizquel's best season was 1999, when he stole 42 bases, hit for a .333 average and knocked in 66 runs.

Scouting Report[]

Statistics[]

Batting Stats[]

Year	Team		G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	2B	3B	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SB	IBB	GDP
1989	SEA	A	143	387	45	85	1	20	.220	.273	.261	7	3	28	40	1	13	1	0	6
1990	SEA	A	81	255	19	63	2	18	.247	.295	.298	3	2	18	22	0	10	4	0	7
1991	SEA	A	142	426	42	98	1	41	.230	.302	.293	16	4	45	37	0	8	7	0	8
1992	SEA	A	136	483	49	142	0	21	.294	.340	.352	20	4	32	38	2	9	15	0	14
1993	SEA	A	158	560	68	143	2	31	.255	.319	.298	14	2	50	71	4	13	12	2	7
1994	CLE	A	69	286	39	78	1	33	.273	.325	.325	10	1	23	23	0	11	13	0	4
1995	CLE	A	136	542	87	144	6	56	.266	.333	.351	28	0	59	59	1	10	29	0	4
1996	CLE	A	151	542	98	161	9	64	.297	.362	.417	36	1	56	42	4	12	35	0	10
1997	CLE	A	153	565	89	158	5	49	.280	.347	.368	23	6	57	58	2	16	43	1	16
1998	CLE	A	151	576	86	166	2	50	.288	.358	.372	30	6	62	64	4	12	37	1	10
1999	CLE	A	144	574	112	191	5	66	.333	.397	.436	36	4	65	50	1	17	42	0	8
2000	CLE	A	156	613	101	176	7	66	.287	.377	.375	27	3	87	72	5	7	22	0	13
2001	CLE	A	155	611	84	156	2	50	.255	.323	.334	26	8	61	72	2	15	13	0	14
2002	CLE	A	151	582	85	160	14	72	.275	.341	.418	31	5	56	64	8	7	18	3	7
2003	CLE	A	64	250	43	61	2	19	.244	.321	.336	13	2	29	20	0	5	8	0	11
2004	CLE	A	148	567	82	165	7	59	.291	.353	.388	28	3	57	62	1	20	19	0	12
2005	SFG	N	152	568	66	154	3	45	.271	.341	.350	28	4	56	58	5	20	24	0	10
2006	SFG	N	153	579	88	171	4	58	.295	.361	.389	22	10	56	51	6	13	24	3	13
2007	SFG	N	145	513	54	126	4	51	.246	.305	.316	18	3	44	48	1	14	14	6	14
2008	SFG	N	92	266	24	59	0	23	.222	.283	.267	10	1	24	29	0	7	5	9	4
2009	TEX	A	62	177	17	47	1	14	.266	.316	.345	7	2	13	27	0	5	4	0	0
Total	NL		542	1926	232	510	11	177	.265	.329	.341	78	18	180	186	12	54	67	18	41
Total	AL		2200	7996	1146	2194	67	729	.274	.340	.358	355	56	798	821	35	190	322	7	151
Total			2742	9922	1378	2704	78	906	.273	.338	.355	433	74	978	1007	47	244	389	25	192

Fielding Stats[]

Year	Team		POS	G	GS	INN	PO	A	ERR	DP	TP	AVG
1989	SEA	A	SS	143	131	1124	208	388	18	102	0	.971
1990	SEA	A	SS	81	78	680	103	239	7	48	0	.980
1991	SEA	A	2B	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1991	SEA	A	SS	138	123	1134.1	224	422	13	105	0	.980
1992	SEA	A	SS	136	128	1152	223	403	7	92	1	.989
1993	SEA	A	DH	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1993	SEA	A	SS	155	150	1330.2	245	475	15	108	0	.980
1994	CLE	A	SS	69	68	612.2	113	204	6	54	0	.981
1995	CLE	A	SS	136	135	1187	210	405	9	84	0	.986
1996	CLE	A	SS	150	149	1312.1	226	447	20	91	0	.971
1997	CLE	A	SS	152	149	1307.1	245	429	10	98	0	.985
1998	CLE	A	SS	151	149	1316	273	442	5	94	0	.993
1999	CLE	A	OF	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1999	CLE	A	SS	143	140	1214.1	221	396	15	88	0	.976
1999	CLE	A	RF	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
2000	CLE	A	SS	156	154	1328.2	231	416	3	99	0	.995
2001	CLE	A	SS	154	152	1320.2	219	414	7	88	0	.989
2002	CLE	A	SS	150	148	1291	239	431	7	98	0	.990
2003	CLE	A	SS	64	63	551.1	114	204	7	59	0	.978
2004	CLE	A	SS	147	141	1245	200	396	11	91	0	.982
2005	SFG	N	SS	150	144	1292.1	234	426	8	81	0	.988
2006	SFG	N	SS	152	148	1281.1	205	390	4	87	0	.993
2007	SFG	N	SS	143	136	1219.1	198	444	9	90	0	.986
2008	SFG	N	SS	84	76	657.2	108	179	2	43	0	.993
2009	TEX	A	SS	27	22	196.2	32	76	0	22	0	1.000
2009	TEX	A	3B	20	9	101	5	22	0	2	0	1.000
2009	TEX	A	2B	16	14	126	23	49	0	12	0	1.000
Total			SS	2681	2584	22754.2	4071	7623	183	1722	1	.985
Total			3B	20	9	101	5	22	0	2	0	1.000
Total			2B	17	14	127	23	49	0	12	0	1.000
Total			DH	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Total			RF	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Transactions[]

Signed as a non-drafted free agent by Seattle Mariners (April 1, 1984).
Traded by Seattle Mariners to Cleveland Indians in exchange for Felix Fermin, Reggie Jefferson, and cash (December 20, 1993).
Granted free agency (October 29, 2004).
Signed by San Francisco Giants (November 16, 2004).

Trivia[]

Vizquel is an avid painter and sculptor.
- Along with his artistic pursuits, Omar also is a collector of fine art and owns several modern art pieces. Included in his collection is a glass chandelier for his home made by Seattle artist Dale Chihuly worth over $100,000.
Vizquel plays the guitar, drums, and sings. He is a fan of salsa music and loves to dance.
Omar is known as a "Reniassance Man" as he is very talented in many areas. He is also a lover of fashion and has a unique fashion style.
Omar 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. The accounts in the book about the Mesa scenario continue to fuel angst and misunderstandings between Jose Mesa and Vizquel.
He is the only non-American to win the Hutch Award.
- He won the award in 1996 with the Cleveland Indians.
He is the all-time leader in double plays as a shortstop (1655 going into the 2008 season).
He is the oldest shortstop recipient of the Gold Glove award.
- He won one when he was 38 and one when he was 39; no shortstop has ever won won at the age of 38 or above.
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, 2001).
He holds the record for the lowest number of errors in a season by a shortstop (tie) (3 in the 2000 season).
- That year, he was able to hold a .995 career fielding percentage, which is the highest of all-time for a shortstop in Major League history.
He is the American League record holder (tie) for most hits in a nine inning game (6).
- He went 6-7 on August 31, 2004 in the Cleveland Indians' 22-0 win over the New York Yankees, the worst shut-out loss in league history.
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.