4 Cleveland athletes who deserve their jerseys retired
By Chad Porto
#13 – Omar Vizquel
From his arrival in the spring of 1994 to his departure 11 seasons later in 2004, no other player was as dominant a defensive player in the league as Omar Vizquel. For nine straight seasons (eight in Cleveland), Vizquel was a Gold Glover winner and was by far the best defensive player since Ozzie Smith. To be honest, Vizquel was better.
He would win another two Gold Gloves in San Francisco in 2005 and 2006 at the ages of 38 and 39 leaving him with 11 total Gold Glove awards. The sad thing is, it should’ve been 14. For three years from 2002 to 2004, Vizquel was punished for playing on a rebuilding club as less talented defensive players in Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez took home three total Gold Gloves. Now, Jeter maybe would’ve deserved his, yet Rodriguez was an average defender at best. He only won those awards because of his production at the plate and his MVP-caliber performances during his Texas Rangers days.
Had Vizquel been given a fair shake, and those with say over such things hadn’t favored super-star players instead of deserving players, then maybe Vizquel gets his 14 straight Gold Glove awards like he earned.
As far as club records go, Vizquel is 10th in games played (1478), seventh in hits (1616), eighth in doubles (288), and sixth in runs scored (906). So he wasn’t just really good on defense, he also was a better hitter than people remember. He wasn’t always, but as he crept into his 30’s, he started to improve at the plate to the point he was a viable second hitter in the lineup.
Vizquel and Jim Thome were the two most era-defining Indians of the ’90s. They’re both Mr. Indian as far as I’m concerned.