Baseball Hall of Immortals – Inductee #97: Omar Vizquel

The man who played more games at shortstop than anyone in history is the 97th inductee into the Baseball Hall of Immortals.

Omar Vizquel began his major league career as the starting shortstop with the 1989 Mariners,  For the next 24 years Vizquel would cement his reputation as the best defensive shortstop in the game.

Over the course of his career, Vizquel won 11 Gold Gloves (9 of them consecutive).  Only Ozzie Smith won more at the position.  His career fielding percentage of .9847 is the best for all major league shortstops (minimum 1,000 games). Plus he turned more double-plays as a shortstop (1,744) than anyone in history.

At the plate, Vizquel was not a slouch.  A .272 career hitter, he had 2,877 career hits, the fifth most among shortstops (behind Jeter, Wagner, Ripken, and Yount). On the basepaths he swiped 404 bases, including four consecutive years of 30 or more.

The anchor up the middle for the Indians, Omar Vizquel is an Immortal.

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For some background on what this is, check out the introduction post here.