ANAHEIM, Calif. – Omar Vizquel’s first start of the season at shortstop put him into the record books as the oldest man to ever play the position in the major-leagues.
The 45-year-old Toronto Blue Jays infielder took a lot of pride in the distinction earned during a 1-for-4 afternoon in Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, an appearance that moved him past Bobby Wallace, who was 44 when he played 12 games at short for the 1918 St. Louis Cardinals.
“When you go back a hundred years to look for records, it’s pretty amazing actually,” said Vizquel. “I couldn’t believe that I’m still jumping around and playing shortstop at this age. But I feel pretty good about myself, I feel pretty good about my physical condition.
“It hasn’t been a year of work, it’s been constantly working out every year, trying to improve your speed or flexibility. It’s been really hard work.”
Vizquel’s last start at shortstop came Aug. 10 for the Chicago White Sox at Baltimore, one of nine games covering 72 innings at the position in 2011.
One of the greatest defenders up the middle of all time, he’s in recent years had to adjust to less and less work. Sunday was just his seventh appearance in total with the Blue Jays.
“It’s been hard,” he said. “I’m used to this situation where you can just come from the bench and play once a week, try to give somebody a day off. It is tough, but that’s what guys with backup roles have to concentrate on and have to do. Sometimes your timing is a little off, fastballs that are 95 you see at 98, sometimes the breaking balls look very tough, so it’s tough to keep the timing. You just have to keep working in batting practice and try to slow down the game a little bit.”
Vizquel didn’t look out of place with a single in the fifth, a hot smash to first in the seventh that Albert Pujols ended up throwing away, and a liner to the mound that LaTroy Hawkins turned into a double play to end things in the ninth.
The combined age of the participants in that matchup was 84, with the 39-year-old Hawkins catching a break by being in the right spot.
“In the beginning I thought it had a chance because it was right up the middle,” said Vizquel. “But he had a big glove.”
