Omar Vizquel has spoken out for the first time since being accused of sexual harassment by an autistic batboy.
The 56-year-old Vizquel, an 11-time Gold Glove winner and three-time All-Star, was initially accused of harassing a batboy with autism in 2021, as well as domestic abuse in late 2020, and recently spoke to USA Today baseball writer Bob Nightengale.
“I’m glad I’m able to talk now because a lot of things people were saying weren’t accurate,” he told USA Today in what is his first public interview amid the 2021 allegations. “My conscience is clean and clear that I’m not the kind of person that they are saying about Omar. I can look at everybody in the eye and said, ‘Man, do you really think that is accurate?’ Come on now.
“I wish I could have spoken earlier but my lawyer told me, ‘Do not say anything about it. Let the legal process play out. Your time to talk is going to come,'” Vizquel recalled, as he continued. “You see what happened. Justice spoke. There wasn’t something they could charge against me. There was nothing there. They took a look at everything. It was huge misunderstanding. I’m a big believer of God, and God spoke.”
Vizquel can’t address the charges directly but told USA Today that, by speaking publicly, he hopes to clear his name, or at least look better in the eyes of the people.
“I think it is time now to talk because everybody heard the version that came out,” Vizquel said to USA Today. “Nobody had really listened to my side of the story or what really happened. It was hard to hear your name bouncing around and reading stuff that wasn’t accurate. It was really painful. At the end of the day, I knew I wasn’t that kind of guy they were talking about in there.”
He continued, noting that he’s limited on what he could actually say, “I will say I said some words that I regret saying, but unfortunately, I cannot give details because of the agreement that I signed with this guy. But I can tell you this: the Omar Vizquel that was portrayed in the press is not the Omar Vizquel that believes in integrity and the values. Those are the facts.”
As a result of the incident, Major League Baseball has quietly distanced itself from Vizquel.
Vizquel’s most notable years came with Cleveland Guardians, whose Hall of Fame he is a member of, from 1994-2004.
He won eight of his Gold Gloves with Cleveland and was an All-Star in 1998, ’99 and 2002.
Vizquel began his career with the Mariners from 1989-93 and also spent four seasons with the Giants, one with the Rangers, two with the White Sox and a final season with the Blue Jays in 2012.
USA Today notes that Vizquel wasn’t invited by the Mariners to be celebrated with other former players during the 2023 All-Star Week, which they hosted.
He was invited by the Guardians to celebrate Manny Ramirez, a former teammate and friend, but wasn’t allowed to be on the field.
He was reportedly also invited to make an appearance at a youth camp in Philadelphia in November, but the invitation has since been pulled.
Vizquel is also not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and has had the greatest decline in voting history, according to USA Today
He received 52.6 percent of the vote to be enshrined three years ago, which has since dropped to 12.6 percent of the first 88 public votes by the Baseball Writers Association of America, per Ryan Thibodeaux’s Hall of Fame tracker.
He is only eligible to be in the Hall for three more years.