Omar Vizquel

Profile Overview

Omar Enrique Vizquel González (Spanish pronunciation: [oˈmaɾ βisˈkel]; born April 24, 1967), nicknamed "Little O", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball shortstop and coach. During his 24-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, Vizquel played for the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, and Toronto Blue Jays. In Venezuela, he played for Leones del Caracas.
Widely considered one of baseball's all-time best fielding shortstops, Vizquel won 11 Gold Glove Awards, including nine consecutive from 1993 to 2001. Among shortstops, his .9847 fielding percentage is the highest all-time and he is the all-time leader in games played and double plays turned. Vizquel tied Cal Ripken Jr.'s American League record for most consecutive games at shortstop without an error (95, between September 26, 1999, and July 21, 2000), since surpassed. Vizquel had the most hits leader among players from Venezuela (2,877; 44th all-time) until May 12, 2021, when he was surpassed by Miguel Cabrera. Vizquel has third-most hits all time among shortstops, behind Derek Jeter and Honus Wagner. Vizquel is also the career sacrifice hits leader of the live-ball era.
At the time of his retirement, Vizquel was the oldest position player in the major leagues, and the only active position player with service time in the 1980s. He is one of only 31 players in baseball history to play in Major League games in four decades, and the only one who played shortstop. On May 7, 2012, Vizquel became the oldest player to play at shortstop in Major League history, surpassing Bobby Wallace, who played 12 games with the 1918 St. Louis Cardinals at the age of 44. Vizquel was the last active player in any of the major North American professional sports leagues to have played in the 1980s.
From 2014 to 2017, he was the Detroit Tigers' first-base, infield, and baserunning coach. He was also manager for the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League, and for the Venezuela national baseball team at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Starting in 2020, various allegations of domestic abuse and sexual harassment emerged against him.