Cleveland Indians: The 1995 Powerhouse Lineup
Omar Vizquel played in the major leagues for 23 years before retiring at the age of 45 in 2012. Over that span, he amassed 2,877 hits, and for that alone he has a list of supporters who believe that he should be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Maybe, maybe not. To be sure though, he definitely had a remarkable career and any talk of that kind cannot be easily dismissed.
A product of Venezuela, Vizquel was signed by the Seattle Mariners as an amateur free agent in 1984. He bounced around in the Mariners minor league system earning a reputation as a wonder at shortstop, but a little light with the bat. In December of 1993, Seattle traded their sharp-fielding shortstop, to the Cleveland Indians for shortstop Felix Fermin, infielder Reggie Jefferson and cash. To this day, the deal is ranked among the worst trades ever in Mariners history.
Vizquel would remain with the Indians for eleven years, including the 1995 pennant-winning season. He would hit for an average of only .266 but in more than 600 plate appearances, he would manage to get on base one out every three times, which was exactly what the Indians needed from him with all that power coming up behind him. A contact hitter, he would strike out only 59 times. More importantly, he would handle more than 600 chances at shortstop and make only nine errors.
In the postseasons, it was pretty much all or nothing for Vizquel. In the 1995 ALCS against Seattle, he hit .087 and then turned around the following year to go 6-for-14 against the Orioles.
In their rally for Vizquel’s election to the HOF, Cleveland.com came up with these facts:
*Vizquel turned 144 more double plays than any shortstop in baseball history.
*His 2,709 games at shortstop are the most of all-time
*His 404 stolen bases rank 71st all-time
*His 1,445 runs scored rank 80th all-time
*On 10 occasions, he ranked in the top 10 in his league for being the toughest to strike out
*Baseball-Reference lists the 10 players with the most similar credentials. Six of the 10 (Luis Aparicio, Rabbit Maranville, Ozzie Smith, Luke Appling, Pee Wee Reese and Nellie Fox) are in the Hall of Fame.
Today, Omar Vizquel remains involved with baseball as the first base coach for the Toronto Blue Jays. And he’ll also be the manager for the team Venezuela will field for the World Baseball Classic this spring.