Retire Omar Now!

Tonight the San Francisco Giants come to town to play the Tribe. It's the first time in history the San Francisco Giants have come to Cleveland to play. And it's also the first time that former Indian Omar Visquel will play at Jacobs/Progressive Field and NOT be wearing Chief Wahoo on his uniform.

The Tribe did what they had to do 3 years ago. Omar was 37, and Jhonny Peralta was ready in the minor leagues. It was time and we had to say goodbye to Omar. The Big O is still going strong, and still playing at a high level today.

Good crowds expected this week downtown, and that's good to see. The Indians are planning a nice tribute to Omar and that's great too. I am asking them to go further. I am suggesting that the Cleveland Indians should retire Omar Visquels number and let it hang out there with the greats in Indians history. Next to Bob Feller, and Bob Lemon, and the rest. Omar darn well earned it in every single regard.

Acquiring Omar from Seattle was one of the best trades ANY team EVER made. We gave up virtually nothing to get O. We sent ss Felix Fermin to the Mariners for OV. The rap was he couldn't hit. Great glove/no hit. And at first that was right. The bat could be knocked out of his hands. But that changed, he eventually ended up hitting second in that awesome lineup in the 90's. A switch-hitter with speed - nice mix. Then like a zillion gold gloves and 2,500 hits later, Omar is destined to go to Cooperstown when HE decides to call it quits.

But there's much more to O than that. He loved being an Indian and being part of Cleveland. When other hot shots left the Tribe for gigantic pay days, Omar stayed. Never complained, and did his job better than anyone in the history of the game in the field. He guided us in the playoffs, the World Series, all star games, and made us all swallow our gum every time he did something in the field that you never saw before. What a treat to have him here as long as we did.

Don't wait for his hall of fame nomination. the Indians should retire his number NOW. Teams are usually very careful about this type of thing, and they should be. But in Omars case, they're safe. In my lifetime, there has been no Indian player near as deserving as Omar Visquel period. When Albert Belle, and Manny Ramirez decided that about 80 million of the Indians dollars wasn't as good as 85 million of Chicago's or Boston's, Omar stayed. We had to trade Bartolo Colon because we didn't have enough cash for his fat ego, and we're staring down CC Sabathia's bank account barrel this season. CC too could endear himself forever with Indian fans and sign and stay. Then he too could one day put the 52 on the wall as well. Jim Thome could have stayed and possibly got a statue next to Fellers at the ball park, but 85 million wasn't enough for him either-he blew it, and now knows it. Through all of this - Omar stayed and played!

I have been a huge baseball fan my whole life and have seen a ton of great players. In the field, Omar Visquel is the greatest shortstop of my lifetime and maybe of all time including Ozzie Smith. And in the end his offensive numbers will be there. And the intangibles? Infinite! It's going to be tough the next three nights watching Omar make great plays that will save his team runs and cost the Indians theirs. It won't take long. I'll bet you by the 5th inning of tonight's game, he'll make some unreal play that he used to make for us.

Retire Omars number. What are they waiting for? If not Omar, then who?