Omar Vizquel

Omar Vizquel

Omar Enrique Vizquel González (born April 24, 1967), nicknamed "Little O", is a Venezuelan former Major League Baseball infielder. Vizquel played for the Seattle Mariners (1989–1993), Cleveland Indians (1994–2004), San Francisco Giants (2005–2008), Texas Rangers (2009) Chicago White Sox (2010–2011), and Toronto Blue Jays (2012). In Venezuela he played for Leones del Caracas.

Vizquel is considered one of baseball's all-time best fielding shortstops, winning nine consecutive Gold Gloves (1993–2001) and two more in 2005 and 2006. He tied Cal Ripken, Jr.'s American League record, since surpassed, for most consecutive games at shortstop without an error (95, between September 26, 1999 and July 21, 2000). Currently, his .985 career fielding percentage is the highest of all-time for a shortstop in Major League history. On May 25, 2008, Vizquel became the all-time leader in games played at shortstop, passing Luis Aparicio. Vizquel is the all-time leader in double plays made while playing shortstop. He has the most hits recorded by any player from Venezuela (2,877; 40th all-time), surpassing Aparicio's record of 2,677 on June 25, 2009. On May 24, 2010, Vizquel became the shortstop with the third most hits all time, behind second place Derek Jeter and Honus Wagner. Vizquel is the sacrifice hit leader of the live-ball era.

At the time of his retirement, Vizquel was the oldest player in the Major Leagues, and the only active player with service time in the 1980s. He is one of only 29 players in baseball history to play in Major League games in four decades. On May 7, 2012, Vizquel became the oldest player to play at shortstop in the Major League history, surpassing Bobby Wallace, who played 12 games with the St. Louis Cardinals at the age of 44 in 1918.