Everyone knows about Ozzie Guillen’s mouth. Turns out he is just as blunt with his pen and keyboard.
On the day the World Series began, the Sox manager tongue-lashed Venezuela’s media in his weekly newspaper column, criticizing local journalists for not coming to Chicago to cover previous Sox games. He said that was one reason he wasn’t taking phone calls this week from the Venezuelan media.
“I am not afraid to say that I have felt shame every time that [Sox public relations officials] remind me that no Venezuelan media have applied for credentials,” Guillen wrote in the column he has published every Saturday for five years in El Universal newspaper. “Who has interviewed [Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia] from Venezuela? Nobody.”
Scoldings like this sometimes evoke grimaces from his countrymen. While Venezuelans adore Guillen for his saucy personality and for carrying the national flag to such heights, they also recall spats with teammates and other tongue slips they wish would be more private.
Domingo “Turtle” Fuentes, a friend who helps organize charitable programs for the Ozzie Guillen Foundation, said Guillen’s habit of sounding off goes back to his youth.
“He talks a lot, but he always comes through,” Fuentes said. “People say, `Oh, that’s just Ozzie being Ozzie.'”
Fuentes recalls a story about Guillen watching Luis Aparicio’s induction into the Hall of Fame in 1984, the year before Guillen made it to the major leagues. Standing beside Aparicio were Alfonso “Chico” Carrasquel and former Reds star Dave Concepcion, two other famous Venezuelan shortstops.
“Ozzie said, `The one who is missing there is me. I’m going to be the next one,'” Fuentes said.
“The word for him is audacious.”
The criticism of the Venezuelan media wasn’t the first time Guillen had clashed with reporters. One writer recalled a time when Guillen told him that his kids knew more about baseball than Venezuelan sportswriters.
Some Venezuelans thought it unfortunate that Guillen publicly criticized former Sox star Magglio Ordonez last year, using swear words to describe him. They also remember tensions between Guillen and former Sox pitcher Wilson Alvarez over a personal matter in Venezuela.
“Those kinds of things need to be dealt with indoors,” said Angel Vargas, president of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball Players Association. “Even Ozzie says it. He says, `I talk too much.'”
Another recent Guillen comment that gave fellow Venezuelans the shivers was in response to his appearance on the weekly radio program of President Hugo Chavez. Afterward, Guillen talked about how he admired Chavez but that “not too many people like the president” and that his mother was going to be mad at him for expressing his support.
Chavez, a leftist ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has frequently clashed verbally with the Bush administration, which he claims is planning to invade his oil-rich nation.
Recently, television evangelist Pat Robertson suggested on air that the U.S. assassinate Chavez. Robertson later issued an apology.
Chavez is a big baseball fan and once pitched batting practice to Sammy Sosa during an exhibition in Venezuela.
Other Venezuelans see Guillen’s loose tongue as merely another part of his genius. They say it’s part of his attempt to take the spotlight away from his players so they can relax and shine on the field.
“One thing I love is his outspoken, confrontational style,” said Antonio Jose Herrera, co-owner of the La Guaira Sharks, Guillen’s former team in Venezuela, who travels to Chicago to consult with the Sox manager on team and player development.
“He attracts all the press and leaves his players free of stress,” Herrera said. “If only for that, [Guillen’s talking] is already an advantage.”
Another possible result? For the first time, a Venezuelan television station sent a crew to Chicago to cover the Series games, but as Guillen wrote, the station only decided to pay for the trip “at the last minute.”
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hdellios@tribune.com
