Vizquel has fun playing the game

Vizquel has fun playing the game
Sunday, April 22, 2007

I've tried not to be a homer in pick ing the best players I've seen while writing about the Indians and Major League Baseball since 1983. Two of my first three choices, Eddie Murray and Robbie Alomar, made stops in Cleveland but spent the majority of their careers elsewhere.

When it came to shortstop, however, I plead guilty. I picked Omar Vizquel, who spent 11 years with the Indians.

The shortstop position has been redefined during Vizquel's career. It started with Cal Ripken Jr., long before Vizquel became an Indian in 1994.

Then came three Ripken clones in Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra between 1994 and 1997. Like Ripken, they are tall, strong and hit home runs.

Vizquel is short, 5-9 at best, and has never hit more than 14 homers in a season. But I've never enjoyed watching a player more. Game after game, Vizquel did it better, and smoother, than anyone else.

It is interesting to look back on the standard-bearers for the shortstop revolution. Ripken, who retired in 2001, will enter the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in July. Garciaparra, old and battered before his time, is playing first base for the Dodgers. Rodriguez, who started this season with 464 homers - Ripken hit 431 - is still trying to get the hang of third base for the Yankees.

Jeter and Vizquel are the only ones still playing short. If I hadn't picked Vizquel, I would have chosen Jeter. Born into the lap of Yankees luxury as a rookie in 1996, few play harder or better when there's a game to be won.

The thing I like most about Vizquel is that he never looks like he's working during a game. He's serious when he needs to be, but most of the time he's smiling like a kid playing ball in the back yard with his buddies.

One night in Kansas City four or five years ago, a limbo contest was being held in the stands between innings. The scoreboard cameras would pick out a fan, who would then try to bend under a digitally enhanced limbo stick. Then the camera found Vizquel fielding grounders at short. Vizquel, laughing, limboed under the stick as the fans cheered.

It was Vizquel's sense of fun that started his long-standing feud with former teammate Jose Mesa. One spring training, during an intrasquad game, Vizquel homered off Mesa and did a cartwheel across home plate. The fans at Chain of Lakes Park laughed and applauded, not knowing that a slow-burning fuse had been lit inside Mesa.

Former General Manager John Hart knew before anyone else what Vizquel would mean to the Indians teams that dominated the American League Central from 1995 through 2001. When he acquired Vizquel from Seattle after the 1993 season, Hart was so excited he made a special trip to Venezuela just to watch Vizquel play winter ball. It was as if Hart had to see Vizquel with his own eyes to confirm that he'd really been able to get him from Seattle for Felix Fermin and Reggie Jefferson.

Vizquel, who won a Gold Glove in Seattle in 1993, won eight more in Cleveland. After signing a three-year deal with San Francisco because the Indians wouldn't pick up his option, he became the oldest shortstop in history to win a Gold Glove in 2005. He topped himself in 2006 by going gold again.

In Cleveland, Vizquel made catching a baseball look easy.

Sometimes, when he was trying to catch a pop-up and the sun was in his eyes, he'd turn his back to the sun and the ball. With the sun blocked, he would catch the ball as it came over his shoulder.

Yankees scout Gene Michael watched Vizquel do that against the Yankees at Jacobs Field and marveled at his creativity.

The best thing I ever saw Vizquel do was in 1994 after he made three errors in a game. The defensive magician had failed in front of his new fans at Jacobs Field.

Vizquel answered every question from a mob of reporters after the game. Jim Thome, just getting started on being the Indians all-time home run leader, had the locker next to Vizquel's. He watched with his eyes and mouth wide open.

To this day Thome will tell you it's the reason he never ducks a question, good or bad, from the media. Thome figured that if a gold-plated shortstop can do it, so can he.