Ozzie Guillén

Template:Infobox MLB retired Oswaldo José Guillén Barrios (born January 20, 1964 in Ocumare del Tuy, Miranda State, Venezuela), well known as Ozzie Guillén /giˈʎen/, is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball and the current manager of the 2005 World Series champion Chicago White Sox. He is the first Latin-born manager in the history of the game to have won a World Series. His career stretched from 1985 through 2000, playing for the White Sox (1985-97), Baltimore Orioles (1998), Atlanta Braves (1998-1999) and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2000). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Following his playing career, Guillén coached for the Montreal Expos in 2002 and Florida Marlins, where he won his first World Series ring in 2003 before accepting his current position with the White Sox. Guillén wears number 13, the same number he wore when he played shortstop for the White Sox.

Career

Player

Guillén is a member of the select group of light-hitting, quick-handed shortstops that emerged from Venezuela, a group that includes Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio (both White Sox players), Dave Concepción, and Omar Vizquel. As a player, he was regarded for his passion, speed, hustle, and defensive abilities and his ebullient love for the game.

In 1985, Guillén received both the AL Rookie of the Year and The Sporting News Rookie of the Year awards. He was an All-Star in 1988, 1990-91, and won the Gold Glove Award in 1990. Guillén ranks among the White Sox all-time leaders in games played, hits, and at-bats.

Manager

After serving as a coach for the Montreal Expos in 2002 and third base coach for the 2003 World Champion Florida Marlins, Guillén was hired in the offseason to replace Jerry Manuel as White Sox manager. He received a rousing ovation from the crowd of 37,706 Chicagoans when introduced before his first game as a skipper 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). Chicago picked up the 2006 option on his contract, added two more years and included an option for the 2009 season. In October, he led the White Sox to their first AL pennant since 1959, and their first World Series win since 1917 with a 4-game sweep of the Houston Astros. Guillén announced that he was going to 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. In November, Guillén was voted the 2005 AL Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America. In 2006, Guillén managed the American League All-Star Team. The AL won 3-2.

On September 11, 2007, Guillén's contract was extended until 2012, despite the White Sox's poor season at the time of the extension.

Controversy

Guillen has often come under fire in the media for comments he has made to and about managers, players, and journalists alike. He has earned a reputation as being a very animated and sometimes eccentric manager who is not afraid to speak his mind. Although when asked about the allegations of raising Nick Swisher with other pigs on his farm, Guillen responded with "no comment."

Magglio Ordóñez

One of his most infamous moments was at the beginning of the 2005 season, when he told beat reporters in response to a question about former White Sox player Magglio Ordóñez, who had signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers the previous offseason:

"He's playing with fire. I'm not afraid of him. I have nothing to apologize to him for. I have nothing to do with Magglio wearing the Detroit Tigers uniform. Every time he played for me, he played good, but if he thinks I'm his enemy or I have something against him, that's up to him.

Magglio is full of shit. Apologize to who? I don't have to apologize to anybody because, first of all, he's the first one to name me. He said I was pushing him to play [last season], and I was responsible. Don't make me feel like I was the bad guy in this.

He never was my friend because I don't know him. If he thinks what I said hurt him, I don't give a shit. I didn't come here to make friends, I came here to win games. I've got a lot of friends. If Magglio doesn't want to be my friend, I'm not going to lose sleep at night.

He's a piece of shit. He's another Venezuelan motherfucker. Fuck him. He thinks he's got an enemy? No, he's got a big one. He knows I can fuck him over in a lot of different ways.

He better shut the fuck up and just play for the Detroit Tigers. Why do I have to go over and even apologize to him? Who the fuck is Magglio Ordóñez? What did he ever do for me? He didn't do shit for me. But he said I'm his enemy -- he knows me. Tell him he knows me, and he can take it how he wants to take it.

Did he play good for me? Yes, he did. Did he play hard for me? Yes, he did. He might like me. He might be sensitive of me. He might be jealous of me, I don't know why. But saying I'm his enemy, he hates me, I could care less what that shit thinks. I don't give a shit what he does with the rest of his life. He fucked with the wrong guy, and he knows that, too. He knows for a fact that he fucked with the wrong people."

Jay Mariotti

In June 2006, a long-simmering feud with Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti boiled over. Mariotti, who continues to refer to the White Sox manager as "The Blizzard of Oz", wrote a column criticizing Guillen, calling him "senseless and immature," for ordering rookie relief pitcher Sean Tracey to hit Texas Rangers batter Hank Blalock after the White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski was twice hit by pitches from the Rangers' Vicente Padilla. Tracey failed to retaliate and Guillen pulled him from the game and berated him in the dugout, yelling in his face, and spiking a water bottle. Tracey was sent back to AAA the day after.

Guillen, upset that Mariotti hadn't interviewed him for the column said: "What a piece of shit he is, a fucking fag." After he called Mariotti a fag, Guillen said that he didn't know what it meant in the US, and that in Venezuela it has to do with someone's courage. Guillen was fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball and ordered to attend sensitivity training. He at first said he wouldn't attend any classes, but later relented and attended them. Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig's office issued a statement that said "Baseball is a social institution with responsibility to set appropriate tone and example. Conduct or language that reflects otherwise will not be tolerated. The use of slurs embarrasses the individual, the club, and the game."

Guillen's teammate with the Braves, John Rocker inserted himself into the controversy by defending his former teammate's right to say offensive things. "This is a free country. If he wants to use a lewd term, he should be able to use a lewd term," Rocker told the Chicago Tribune. "Can't you use a lewd term in America if you want?" Referring to sensitivity training, he was quoted as saying "It was a farce, a way for the scared little man, Bud Selig, to get people off his ass." He claimed that when he attended mandatory sensitivity training, that he only stayed for 15 minutes. He also claimed he never paid the $500 fine that was levied against him.

Guillen accepted his punishment, saying "I put Bud Selig in a spot he's not supposed to be." Guillen also said, "If I hurt anybody with what I called him, I apologize, but I wasn't talking about those people. I was talking strictly about [Mariotti]. I will apologize to the people I offended because I should have used another word. Besides that, I'm still waiting for Jay. Why he's so afraid to show up to the ballpark? When you're afraid to do something, you feel guilty about something. Then tell him we'll pay his cab. Tell him to tell us where he lives, and we'll bring him to the ballpark and we'll have a conversation. But that's the way he is. He's garbage, still garbage, going to die as garbage. Period"

Mariotti responded the following day on the ESPN television show Around the Horn, saying the issue was Guillen and not him.

Parts of Chicago's gay community declined to take offense at Guillen's remarks. Guillen's gay hairdresser publicly defended him in comments in the column of Chicago Sun-Times sportswriter Rick Telander. A gay bar, The Kit Kat Lounge and Supper Club, began offering the "Effen Ozzie GuillénTini"[1]. Guillen also made an appearance (which he claimed was scheduled prior to the remarks he made about Mariotti) at the Gay Games in Chicago.

St. Louis Cardinals

In a game vs. the Cardinals on June 20, 2006, in the middle of a 20-6 blowout in favor of the White Sox, White Sox reliever David Riske hit Cardinals batter Chris Duncan with a pitch. This was an apparent retaliation to actions of the Cardinals' pitcher Sidney Ponson, who hit two White Sox batters earlier in the game.[2] Duncan's father, St. Louis pitching coach Dave Duncan, felt it was intentional. Ozzie claimed he didn't know it was Duncan's son. He was suspended one game for it, and Riske was suspended 3 games for it.

Tampa Bay Rays

In a game on August 29, 2006 White Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia hit Tampa Bay Rays batter Delmon Young in his 1st MLB plate appearance. Young had thrown a bat at a minor league umpire and was suspended 50 games for it earlier in the year. After the game, Ozzie claimed he didn't order it, saying, "Even when I order my guys to hit batters, they don't."

Miguel Cabrera

When asked about the recent controversy surrounding the weight of Then-Florida Marlins Third Baseman Miguel Cabrera.

Guillen responded "I'm a little upset with him. You're still young. You're going to keep getting bigger.' He knows he's got a problem. We talked about it." ... "When you're young and you're good, you can get away with a lot of stuff," Guillen said. "When you're getting older and you go down, they say you're fat. Right now it's, 'Oh, he's a little chubby. He likes to eat.' When you're not hitting .340 with 40 home runs, they're going to call you a fat boy from Venezuela. You'd better lose some weight."

Cabrera responded "If he says I have to lose weight, then maybe I do."

Phil Cuzzi

On April 7, 2008, Guillen was ejected by umpire Phil Cuzzi in a game against the Minnesota Twins. Two days later, Guillen said the following regarding Cuzzi:

"He doesn't like me, I don't like him. One reason is, if you don't like me as a man and what I do, I can respect that. But, if you don't like me and you're going to take it out on my players, you're wrong. That's unprofessional. I just let him know I don't like him the first day I see him, and I think he feels the same way about me. And we have to move on."

Managerial record

(updated through June 21st, 2008)

Team	Year	Regular Season					Postseason
		Games	Won	Lost	Win %	Position	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
Chicago White Sox	2004	162	83	79	.512	2nd in AL Central	-	-	-
	2005	162	99	63	.611	1st in AL Central	11	1	.917	Win World Series
	2006	162	90	72	.556	3rd in AL Central	-	-	-
	2007	162	72	90	.444	4th in AL Central	-	-	-
	2008	73	41	32	.562	1st in AL Central
Total		721	385	336	.534	1 Division Championhip	11	1	.917	1 World Series Championship

Personal

Guillen is married to Ibis Cardenas and has three children. On Friday January 20, 2006, Guillén and his wife passed the citizenship test in Chicago to become naturalized U.S. citizens on the day of his 42nd birthday. Guillen is a practitioner of Santería. In 2006, Guillén appeared on an episode of TNA iMPACT!, shooting an angle in which he hit Simon Diamond with a chair shot after Diamond squared up to A.J. Pierzynski during a practice session. Guillén enjoys playing golf in Izcaragua Country Club when he visits Caracas. He also is a frequent columnist for the Venezuelan newspaper, El Universal.

See also

• Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award
• TSN Rookie of the Year Award
• List of AL Gold Glove winners at shortstop
• Players from Venezuela in MLB
• Manager of the Year Award
• Chicago White Sox all-time roster
• Tampa Bay Rays all-time roster
• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2006
• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2007
• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2008

Sources

• MLB Web Page - biography
• Baseball Library - profile
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference
• Interview in The Heckler