Fans identify with great players, but even more so with great players who take great joy in the game. Every Indians fan who saw Omar Vizquel play would say he qualifies both ways.
Omar Vizquel saw the field only in the ninth inning on Wednesday as a defensive replacement for the White Sox in Chicago' 5-4 victory over the Indians. But that didn't mean he wasn't recognized and cheered by fans who will long remember his exploits with the Tribe.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Omar Vizquel took the last bus Wednesday morning to the field where so many dreams came true.
He was one of the last Chicago White Sox players to enter the visitors' clubhouse at Progressive Field. Out shaking hands, kissing babies, and threatening to become mayor by acclamation, probably.
"Actually, it was just like when I am in any city on the road," said the most popular Indians player on the great teams of the 1990s and one of the most beloved men ever to wear the Tribe uniform. "Ate at my favorite restaurants, saw some good friends."
Vizquel turned 43 in April. He is a part-time player with the White Sox in his 22nd big-league season. He wears No. 11 now. All the previous years, he disproved the superstitions about 13.
How could there be bad luck for the Little O, when he never let himself have a bad day? But White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen wears 13, and the team had retired No. 11 in honor of Vizquel's idol and fellow Venezuelan, Luis Aparicio. Then Aparicio said who better to unretire it for than Vizquel?
His unquestioned flair for the athletically dramatic wasn't just for effect, said Omar Vizquel. “I played the game the right way. Sometimes, it was just the way to make the play.”Almost anybody would do well to be associated with Omar Vizquel.
Monday against the Tribe, in a rare start, Vizquel equaled Aparicio's record for the second-most career hits as a shortstop, behind only the New York Yankees' Derek Jeter.
When former Houston and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jose Lima died over the weekend, all the testimonials mentioned the joy he brought to the mound and the smiles he brought to fans. That was Vizquel, too. He made infield practice a don't-miss experience, fielding grounders with his feet as a former soccer player and making hocus-pocus out of glove-to-hand transfers.
In the game itself, he played with what can only be termed inventive efficiency. "You don't have to be a flashy player to have fun," said Vizquel. "I played the game the right way. Sometimes, it was just the way to make the play."
Veteran Vizquel watchers remember pop-ups during day games that he gloved with his back to the plate so his cap's bill would shield the sun. And there was his bare-handed putout on a grounder in the American League Championship Series in Seattle, when he knew the bounce would be true on artificial turf.
It is tougher, he said, to keep his same enthusiasm as a part-time player. A ninth-inning defensive replacement at third base Wednesday, Vizquel appeared in only his 15th game of the season.
"I don't feel the same happiness, but that is natural," he said. "If I was playing every day, I would be the same as I always was."
Vizquel won eight of his 11 Gold Gloves with the Indians. The two he won with the Giants provided enough National League exposure that his eventual election to the Hall of Fame should be a foregone conclusion. With Vizquel, however, even great numbers characterize only a part of what he did.
He so clearly and unapologetically was having fun playing the game, even in the presence of stormy Albert Belle, that the fans had fun too.
Too often, "Just win, baby" is the watchword. (How did that work out for the man who coined the phrase, Al Davis? Just asking.) It was as if fun were only incidental to the grim process of grinding out another victory.
Opposed to such drudges were several unforgettable players -- Brett Favre, before he became a diva; Pele, taking the Beautiful Game to the world; back-flipping Ozzie Smith, the only shortstop with more Gold Gloves than Vizquel; Chi Chi Rodriguez, doing the sword dance; Magic Johnson and "Pistol" Pete Maravich, mesmerizing us; and Ernie Banks, wanting to play two.
Fans might name others. But the point is, in Cleveland, almost everybody would name Omar.
"Growing up, I remember watching Dave Concepcion," said Vizquel of the fellow Venezuelan who won five Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers in Cincinnati. "He always had a smile on his face and seemed to be enjoying the game. It just always seemed to be a way to play better if you're having fun."
Just like Concepcion, Vizquel could make all the plays. When it came to fans' hearts, it was touch 'em all time.