Ozzie Guillén

Oswaldo José "Ozzie" Guillén Barrios (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡiˈʎen]; born January 20, 1964) is a Venezuelan former Major League Baseball player and current manager of the Miami Marlins.^[1] He managed the Chicago White Sox from 2004 to 2011 before asking for his release at the end of the 2011 season.

Born in Ocumare Del Tuy, Venezuela, he played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for the White Sox (1985–97), Baltimore Orioles (1998), Atlanta Braves (1998–1999) and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2000).^[2] He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. As a player, Guillén was regarded for his passion, speed, hustle, intensity and defensive abilities and his ebullient love for the game.^[3][4] In 2005, Guillen became the first Latino manager in major league history to win a World Series.

Baseball career

Player

Guillén was a light-hitting, quick-handed shortstop, emerging from a line of Venezuelan shortstops that included; Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio (both White Sox players), Dave Concepción, and Omar Vizquel (who played for Guillen as a utility player for the White Sox).^[5] He was originally signed as a free agent by the San Diego Padres in 1980.^[6] In December 1984, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox as part of an eight-player trade, with Tim Lollar, Bill Long and Luis Salazar in exchange for LaMarr Hoyt.^[6]

In 1985, Guillén received both the American League Rookie of the Year and The Sporting News Rookie of the Year awards, becoming only the third rookie shortstop in major league history to win a fielding title.^[7][8] He became known for his daring, aggressive style of play, as was demonstrated on August 2, 1985 in a game against the New York Yankees.^[9] With the game tied 5–5 in the 11th inning, Guillén hit a two-out single and, then proceeded to steal second base.^[9] When the next batter hit an infield single, Guillén never hesitated as he rounded third base, catching the Yankees defense off guard and scored the game-winning run.^[10]

On April 21, 1992, Guillén suffered a severe knee injury in a collision with outfielder Tim Raines.^[11] The injury caused him to miss almost the entire season, and subsequently diminished his defensive range as well as his stolen base output for the remainder of his career.^[2][12] Guillén recovered in 1993 with his most productive season offensively, posting a .280 batting average, and career highs with 4 home runs and 50 runs batted in, as the White Sox won the American League Western Division title.^[2][13] He hit .273 and scored 4 runs in a losing effort, as the White Sox were defeated by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1993 American League Championship Series.^[14]

In October 1997, after 13 seasons with the White Sox, Guillén was granted free agency status and signed a contract to play for the Baltimore Orioles.^[6] In May 1998, the Orioles released him and he signed with the Atlanta Braves as a utility infielder.^[6] He helped the Braves win the 1999 National League Championship Series against the New York Mets with a 10th inning, pinch hit single in Game 6 of the series that tied the score at nine runs apiece, as the Braves went on to win the game and the series.^[15][16] The Braves would eventually lose to the New York Yankees in Guillén's only World Series appearance as a player.^[17] After playing one year with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2000, he retired as a player at the end of the season.

Playing career statistics

In a sixteen-year major league career, Guillén played in 1,993 games, accumulating 1,764 hits in 6,686 at bats for a .264 career batting average along with 28 home runs, 619 runs batted in and an on base percentage of .287.^[2] Guillén was an All-Star in 1988, 1990–1991, and won the Gold Glove Award in 1990.^[2][18] He led American League shortstops twice in range factor, once in assists and once in fielding percentage.^[2] Guillén's .974 career fielding percentage ranks him 40th overall among major league shortstops, ahead of both Luis Aparicio and Dave Concepcion.^[19] While he was considered one of the best fielding shortstops in the American League, Guillén was often overlooked in post-season awards because his playing career coincided with that of Cal Ripken, Jr.^[4] Guillén ranks among the White Sox all-time leaders in games played, hits, and at-bats.^[20] As a hitter, he was known as a free swinger, posting one of the highest at bats per walk ratios in major league history.^[21] Guillén played his entire Venezuelan Winter League career with Tiburones de La Guaira.

Manager

Following his playing career, Guillén coached for the Montreal Expos in 2001 and 2002 and the World Champion Florida Marlins in 2003 before he was hired in the offseason to replace Jerry Manuel as the White Sox manager.^[22] He received a standing ovation from the crowd of 37,706 Chicagoans when introduced before his first game as a manager at U.S. Cellular Field on April 13, 2004. On May 30, 2005, the White Sox extended Guillén's contract, making the move while the team had the best record in the majors (33–17).

In 2005, he led the White Sox to their first American League pennant since 1959, and their first World Series win since 1917 with a 4-game sweep of the Houston Astros. Guillén claimed that he might retire after the 2005 season should the White Sox win the World Series, but at the parade celebrating the World Champions he received cheers from the fans when he announced he would indeed return to manage the next season. The White Sox picked up the 2006 option on his contract, added two more years and included an option for the 2009 season. In November, Guillén was voted the 2005 American League Manager of the Year Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America.^[23]

On September 4, 2009, Guillén won his 500th game as manager of the Chicago White Sox as the White Sox defeated the Boston Red Sox by a score of 12–2.^[24][25] Guillen has publicly stated that he feels the 2003 steroids list should be released to the public.^[26]

Personal difficulties with White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams led to speculation dating back to October 2010 that the White Sox would allow Guillén out of his contract to manage the Marlins.^[27] On September 26, 2011, an inability to get a contract extension worked out with the White Sox eventually led to his being released from his position, with the White Sox retaining the right to receive compensation should Guillén manage in the 2012 season.^[28][29]

On September 28, 2011, the Marlins introduced Guillén as their new manager.^[1]. Robin Ventura replaced Guillén as manager of the White Sox.

Personal life

Guillén married Ibis Cardenas in 1983. They have three sons: Ozwaldo "Ozzie" Jr. (born 1985), Oney (born 1986), and Ozney (born 1992).^{[30][31][32][33]} Ozzie Jr. was born in Las Vegas, Nevada; his two younger brothers were born in Venezuela. When Ozzie Guillen turned 42 in January 2006, he, his wife, and son Oney became naturalized as U.S. citizens.^[34] Ozzie Jr. is the lead Spanish-language broadcaster on the White Sox radio network.^[30][31]

Guillen is known for being somewhat eccentric and outspoken, which sometimes lands him in the middle of controversy.^[35] In June 2006 he was quoted as calling Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti a "fag."^[36] He later apologized for offending any homosexuals, but did not back down in his criticism of Mariotti.^[37]

In early 2010, Guillen set up a Twitter account, and he tweets in both English and his native Spanish.

In 2010 he spoke against Arizona's new law to deal with illegal immigration. Guillen described illegal immigrants as "workaholics." "And this country can't survive without them," he said. "There are a lot of people from this country who are lazy. We're not. Prove me wrong. A lot of people in this country want to be on the computer and send e-mails to people. We do the hard work. We're the ones who go out and work in the sun to make this country better."^[38] In August, Guillen said that Asian players were treated better than Latino players.^[39]

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Ozzie Guillén managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• MLB Web Page – biography
• Baseball Library – profile
• Ozzie Guillén on Twitter
• Interview in The Heckler
• Ozzie Guillen: The Wit and Wisdom – slideshow by Life magazine
• Ozzie Guillen: He's Another Concepcion in the Making, Baseball Digest, August 1988
• Ozzie Guillen Still Retains Defensive Edge at Short, Baseball Digest, July 1996