Omar Vizquel admirers appear alternately cheered and chapped when reminded of ex-St. Louis Cardinals player Ozzie Smith’s first-ballot entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002.
Columnist Bill Madden of the New York Daily News wrote in December that Vizquel, the former Mariner, Indian, Giant, Ranger, White Sock and Blue Jay “was the greatest defensive shortstop I ever saw, better than Ozzie Smith …” Writing for Forbes in January, John Perrotto said Vizquel was “Ozzie Smith without the backflips and hype.” That same month Jay Greeson of the Chattanooga Times Free Press called it “hypocrisy” that “we say no to Vizquel and think that Ozzie Smith was a no-doubt first ballot entry.