All About Omar
In general, you should know that Omar Vizquel is one of the best fielding shortstops in baseball history. His career fielding percentage is at the top of the charts for major league shortstops. His specialty is the barehanded catch and immediate fire to turn a quick double play. He has good speed on the bases and a consistently high batting average, although he is not a power hitter. In 1998 and 1999 Omar was named to the American League All-Star Team. He is a 9-time Gold Glove winner, and Cleveland's first Gold Glove shortstop.
Omar takes his job very seriously and has a strong work ethic. He has said that when he takes the field, he feels he is representing his entire home country, Venezuela. He won the Hutch award for his dedication to the team in 1996. He also does incredible amounts of charity work in Cleveland, including hosting a Saturday home-game program for kids, Omar y Amigos.
Here is a news clip I caught that explains a little bit about why I like this guy...
CLASS ACT: Cleveland shortstop Omar Vizquel showed he's an All-Star off the field, too. On his flight to Denver for his first All-Star appearance, Vizquel gave up his seat in first class to a local 15-year-old girl who had hurt her knee while playing in a softball tournament in Kansas City. Stretched ligaments in her knee had forced Rachel Dando to wear a large brace during the trip home, and because of discomfort, she had to stand in the plane's aisle in coach. That's when Vizquel came to her rescue. "There was a girl with a brace on her knee," he said. "She was sitting way in back and it was hard for her to move around. She looked uncomfortable. I know the pain. I know how it feels. I had a first-class seat and I asked her if she wanted to sit there. She seemed to enjoy that."
Copyright 1998 InfoBeat Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright 1998 The Associated Press All Rights Reserved
Visit the Official Omar Vizquel Website if you would like to contact Omar himself. There's also a multimedia section under development, a fan forum to join, and--of course--a store to buy Omar stuff.
There are few basic bios of Omar posted:
Omar Vizquel-Major League Baseball
Omar Vizquel-ESPN (very comprehensive stats in an easy to read format--my favorite!)
Other pages I've located so far:
Sarah's Shrine -- Omar and the Cleveland Indians (has a neat poem...)
13omar's page -- Find out what kind of car he drives!