![]() ![]() Through 1966, nine Venezuela-born players had reached the majors, but in ’67 alone, the year of Vizquel’s birth, five more did - the start of a steady stream that continues to this day. He won nine Gold Gloves and was eventually elected to the Hall of Fame. The White Sox replaced him with another Venezuelan, Luis Aparicio, who immediately validated the deal by winning AL Rookie of the Year and leading the league in stolen bases for the first of nine straight years. The younger Carrasquel became the first Venezuela-born All-Star in ’51 and made three more All-Star squads before being traded to Cleveland for Larry Doby in October 1955. The third was his nephew, Chico Carrasquel, who spent 1950–59 in the majors, including six years with the White Sox alongside Nellie Fox as one the era’s great double play combos. The first Venezuela-born major leaguer was pitcher Alex Carrasquel, who spent 1939–45 with the Senators, with a brief cameo with the White Sox in ’49. When Vizquel cut his teeth on those sandlots, the presence of his countrymen in the major leagues had begun to ramp up significantly. While many voters had already cast their ballots by the time The Athletic published its findings on December 16, his share of the vote slipped to 49.1%. Via an in-depth investigation by The Athletic’s Katie Strang and Ken Rosenthal, her allegations were backed by the unearthing of records pertaining to Vizquel’s January 2016 arrest on charges of fourth-degree domestic assault, as well as her description of another incident of violence from five years earlier. Shortly after last year’s edition of his profile was published at FanGraphs, it came to light that in October 2020, Vizquel’s second wife, Blanca García, accused him of domestic violence in an Instagram live post. For the first three years of his candidacy, it appeared as though he was well on his way to Cooperstown nonetheless, with showings of 37.0% in 2018, 42.8% in ’19, and 52.6% in ’20. Even before he reached the ballot, his candidacy had become a point of friction between old-school and new-school thinkers, as though he were this generation’s Jack Morris. To some, that has made Vizquel an easy call for the Hall of Fame, but by WAR and JAWS, his case isn’t nearly as strong as it is on the traditional merits. During his 11-year run in Cleveland (1994–2004), Vizquel helped his team to six playoff appearances and two pennants. Vizquel is second only to Jeter using the strict as-shortstop splits, which we don’t have for Wagner (though we do know the Flying Dutchman spent 31% of his defensive innings at other positions). While he lacked power, he dealt in volume, piling up more hits (2,877) than all but four players who spent the majority of their careers at shortstop and are now in the Hall of Fame: Derek Jeter (3,465), Honus Wagner (3,420), Cal Ripken Jr. His ability to move the runner over with a sacrifice bunt or a productive out delighted purists, and he could steal a base, too. Vizquel’s offense was at least superficially akin to Smith’s: He was a singles-slapping switch-hitter in lineups full of bigger bats and, at his best, a capable table-setter who got on base often enough to score 80, 90, or even 100 runs in some seasons. Such was the perception of his prowess at the position that he took home 11 Gold Gloves, more than any shortstop this side of Smith, who won 13. Vizquel made up for having a less-than-prototypically-strong arm with incredibly soft hands and a knack for advantageous positioning. Thanks to the increased prevalence of highlight footage on the internet and on cable shows such as ESPN’s SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight, the diminutive Venezuelan shortstop’s barehanded grabs, diving stops, and daily acrobatics were seen by far more viewers than Smith’s ever were. In the eyes of many, Omar Vizquel was the successor to Ozzie Smith when it came to dazzling defense. The content may be difficult to read and emotionally upsetting. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.Ĭontent warning: This piece contains details about alleged domestic violence and sexual harassment. For a tentative schedule and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. ![]() For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot and other candidates in the series, use the tool above an introduction to JAWS can be found here. Originally written for the 2018 election at SI.com, it has been updated to reflect recent voting results as well as additional research. The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2022 Hall of Fame ballot.
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