Part 2 in this year’s collection of articles analyzing former Indians players who should be in the Hall of Fame looks at the greatest defensive player in Cleveland history, and one of the best fielding short stops in baseball history, Omar Vizquel. Vizquel played an amazing 24 seasons in Major League Baseball, 11 of them right here in the Forest City. For the vast majority of those 24 seasons, Vizquel played nearly every inning he was on the field at short stop, arguably the toughest position to defend on the entire baseball diamond. While he wasn’t the greatest hitter, in fact, he was a below average hitter at a time when it seemed like everyone was able to hit well over .300, what he lacked at the plate he more than made up for in the field, to the tune of 11 Gold Glove awards. But is this enough to get him into the Hall of Fame?
Vizquel got his start at the age of 22 as a member of the Seattle Mariners. He would play 5 seasons with the Mariners before being traded to Cleveland before the start of the 1994 season in a deal that sent Felix Fermin, Reggie Jefferson, and cash to the Pacific Northwest. He had already collected one Gold Glove in his time with Seattle and had already established himself as the premier defensive short stop in the American League by the time he had reached Cleveland.
After winning the Gold Glove award in his final season in Seattle, Vizquel began a streak of 9 straight seasons in which he would take home the coveted defensive achievement. Indians fans became intimately familiar with Vizquel’s defensive exploits and began to appreciate his astonishing plays as much if not more than the towering home runs from beloved sluggers like Albert Belle, Jim Thome, and Manny Ramirez. Some of my fondest memories from those mid-90’s teams are undoubtedly the walk-off home runs that those teams seemed to pull off on a weekly basis, but along with these exciting slams, Omar’s bare-handed grabs and putouts sit in my mind as some of the most exciting plays. It became a trademark of his and Indians fans were given first row seats to pure defensive artistry for 11 great years.
While Vizquel certainly had some decent offensive seasons throughout his career, it’s not enough to get him into the Hall. His entry into the Hall will have to be paved by his defensive greatness, a greatness which is unquestionable. As I mentioned earlier, Vizquel secured 11 Gold Glove awards over his career. Only one other short stop won more awards, that being “The Wizard of Oz,” Ozzie Smith. When taking all position players as a whole into account, only 5 players have taken home the most prestigious defensive award in all of baseball more times than Vizquel, Ivan Rodriguez (13), Keith Hernandez (11), Brooks Robinson (16), Roberto Clemente (12), and Willie Mays (12) are those five. That’s pretty solid company to be in.
Vizquel’s 11 gold glove awards surpasses his idol and fellow countryman, Luis Aparicio. In Aparicio, we have perhaps the most accurate comparison to examine Vizquel’s Hall of Fame worthiness against. Both were light hitting, defensive-minded short stops who enjoyed lengthy careers because of their defensive abilities. While it’s rarely helpful to compare players across generations, particularly when one played in the offense-heavy Steroid Era, but we will anyway merely to show that neither of them were particularly great with the bat. For his career, Aparicio carried a triple slash of .262/.311/.343, Vizquel’s slash line was similar at .272/.336/.353. In just about any era of baseball these are considered average to below average slash lines. For Aparicio to be elected into the Hall of Fame with a similar profile, there is some precedent for electing a defensive minded short stop like Vizquel.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Vizquel will be elected to Cooperstown when he’s finally eligible in 2017. By that time, there will still be a logjam of epic proportions that has been created by the BBWAA’s nonsensical insistence on not electing players simply because they played in the Steroid Era. There are already too many players deserving of entry who will not make it in, I highly doubt Vizquel will ever be able to rise to the top of that list based on his glove alone. Though he was the era’s greatest defender, he played at a time when defense wasn’t sexy and teams tried to simply out slug the opposition. While I certainly think he’s deserving of baseball’s ultimate honor, sadly I fear it is an achievement he will never attain.
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