3773
by J.R.
Omar Vizquel won Cleveland's heart, on and off field: Terry Pluto
on July 07, 2013 at 7:35 PM, updated July 08, 2013 at 2:24 AM
When I was growing up, Rocky Colavito was my favorite player.
Now that I’m growing old, the Tribe player who will always be special is Omar.
That’s right . . . one word . . . Omar.
Omar Vizquel will always be just Omar to Tribe fans, just as Colavito was Rocky to fans of a different Wahoo generation.
Omar was in town this weekend, his artwork being featured around town. The Tribe is handing out Omar bobbleheads to the first 10,000 fans at tonight’s game against the Tigers.
“Bobbleheads are strange,” said Omar. “This is my fifth bobblehead, and none of them look like me.”
Omar said it with a smile, a laugh, a sign that the man is savoring every moment of his few days in Cleveland.
On my Facebook page, I asked fans for stories about Omar. So many people had met him.
Justin Cassady remembered seeing Omar buying an ice cream cone, then signing autographs one afternoon at Edgewater Park.
Mark Lindhurst was working for Audio Craft and went to Omar’s home to install some equipment. He left with an autograph, a $100 tip and a new favorite player.
Jennifer Pignolet threw her cap to Omar, who signed it and threw it back.
Lynn Maslinski was an usher at Tribe games in the late 1990s.
“Omar was one player who would consistently and genuinely treat the workers with a friendly attitude and with respect when passing them in the lower level on his way from the parking lot to the locker room.
“During a rain delay, I ran into Omar just sitting outside of the locker room on a folding chair. I was on the way for a lunch break. I stopped to talk to him and spent my entire break talking with him about teaching, music, art, and his favorite cities to visit. From that point on, whenever I saw Omar at work or outside of work at an area restaurant, he would always come up to me and greet me by name.”
The point is not to put Omar on a church window. Nor is it to insist that he never had a bad day where he treated people with disrespect.
Omar did more than play Hall of Fame caliber shortstop during his 11 years with the Tribe. He made friends.
Chris Kasick wrote: “Omar pulled up to the diner in his yellow Porsche. As he was walking to his table, we asked for his autograph — he then sat down at OUR table and chatted with us for about an hour as he ate his meal. He picked up the tab and thanked us for being Indians fans. I couldn’t believe his generosity.”
He made thousands and thousands.
And thousands more who never met him, but just loved how he played with such joy — and how this man who grew up in Venezuela embraced Cleveland.
The best ever?
“When I came here, I sensed my career was about to take off,” Omar said. “We had such great players.”
He then went through the list: Belle, Baerga, Lofton, Thome, Ramirez . . . and many more.
Omar Vizquel doffs his baseball cap to Tribe fans after a video highlight film was shown before the baseball game between the Indians and the San Francisco Giants, on June 24, 2008 at Progressive Field.
Chuck Crow, The Plain Dealer
That was before the 1994 season as the team was moving into what was then called Jacobs Field. The Tribe traded Felix Fermin and Reggie Jefferson to Seattle for a supposedly good-field, no-hit shortstop.
He became a very good hitter because he could bunt, slap singles to the opposite field and steal bases. In 11 years with the Tribe, he batted .283 (.731 OPS) and averaged 25 stolen bases a season.
And at shortstop . . .
I once asked former Plain Dealer columnist Hal Lebovitz how Omar compared to the best he had ever seen. Remember that Lebovitz once sold a hot dog to Babe Ruth at old League Park. He went WAY . , , WAY . . . BACK with baseball.
A long conversation ensued, and it came down to the final three: Marty Marion, Ozzie Smith and Omar.
Lebovitz said Marion had the same soft, steady hands as Omar. He said Smith may have been a better athlete with a little more range.
But he gave the edge to Omar, because Smith played on artificial turf (more true hops) and Marion didn’t cover as much ground as Omar.
Omar played on grass in a cold climate and seemingly played forever.
At the age of 39, he won a Gold Glove as a shortstop with the Giants. You can debate the merits of Gold Glove winners, because sometimes the votes go to players who are popular or whose careers are in decline, but they have a reputation as terrific defenders.
But the fact is Vizquel made four errors in 152 games at shortstop at the age of 39! And he started again at 40. I don’t believe any player ever played shortstop that well for so long.
The memories!
“You know what I remember about coming to Cleveland?” he said. “When I made the three errors in a game. Then I heard them say on talk radio, ‘Why the hell did we get this guy?’”
What I remember about that is how Omar stood up and took the blame for “messing up the whole game” after that April 16, 1994, loss to Kansas City. And I remember how he made only three more errors for the rest of the season. And I also remember a conversation a few years later with former manager Mike Hargrove about that game, and how he said Omar had the flu that day — but he never mentioned it.
In 2000, Omar made only three errors in 156 games all season. His gift wasn’t just the flashy great plays, it was that he made all the routine plays. And seemed to do it with a sense of boyish fun.
“When I come back [to Cleveland], it feels like I just left yesterday,” he said. “People loved the Indians of the 1990s. Those teams, they were amazing. We felt like we were unbeatable. We had swagger, there was a certain intimidation [for other teams] when we took the field.”
Omar talked about a game in which Manny Ramirez was on first base. He ran on the pitch, and a line drive was hit to right field.
“It looked like a hit, but someone caught it,” he said. “Manny was all the way around second, heading for third. Everyone was yelling at him to go back to first base.”
Ramirez did as told — he ran directly across the diamond, over the pitcher’s mound “and dove into first base,” laughed Vizquel. “He was out.”
Now a minor-league infield coach with the Angels, Vizquel filled in for four games as a Class AA manager, “and we won three.” He wants to eventually manage in the majors.
But in Cleveland this weekend, he found himself looking back at some of the greatest teams in Tribe history, two trips to the World Series (1995 and 1997) and six seasons in the playoffs.
“We were like the Bad Bears,” he said.
You mean the Bad News Bears?
“Yeah, the Bad News Bears,” he said. “Only we won a lot of games.”
And made marvelous memories.