Anyone not very knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the game might think that someone who won 11 “Golden Gloves” in the major leagues – precisely because of the safety of their hands when trying to catch a batted or thrown ball towards their place in the game. field – could well perform with solvency in any of the nine positions on the field.
That was just what manager Oswaldo Guillén thought on a day like today, May 28, 2011.
And who is not exactly “just anyone” when evaluating the defensive capacity of a player. Especially if it is a major league player, as was still the case with Omar Vizquel at that time.
That afternoon in Toronto against the Blue Jays, Guillén placed Vizquel in the White Sox starting lineup as a defender from second base, despite his 44 years and in the middle of his 23rd season in the majors. An exceptional and rare moment for someone his age. But if it was an exceptional move, what came next might seem outlandish.
It was an emergency move by Guillen in the unexpected absence of Gordon Beckham, the usual defender of the second pad, who had been injured since the previous meeting. Vizquel did not leave his manager badly off. He shared two playoffs in decisive moments with shortstop Alexei Ramírez. However in the ninth tranche, Chicago tied at 8 with a double from Paul Konerko and the challenge went to an extra inning.
In the middle of the rebellion of the ninth, Guillén replaced Konerko with a pinch-runner, who was guarding the initial.
Dallas McPherson entered, who also had to exit down a corridor. So Guillén had no choice but to move Vizquel from second to first base starting from the bottom of the eleventh. Since his debut in the majors in 1989, Vizquel had never defended first base. In that eleventh act, he had his only intervention when he picked up a rolling ball from Corey Patterson before giving the ball to pitcher Sergio Santos.
In the end Toronto won 9-8 with a home run by Patterson in the bottom of the 14th inning.
Vizquel had two more appearances as a first baseman, both with the Blue Jays in 2012, in what would be the last of his 24 major league seasons. He was already 45 years old.
For his life he participated in 2,968 games in the big tent, but three were enough to show them, first to Guillén and then to John Farrell, Toronto pilot, that he could also help them at first base if necessary, even with 40 years and something more, on their backs.
