Dave Concepción

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Dave Concepción (b. June 17, 1948), born David Ismael Concepción Benitez, is a former star shortstop in Major League Baseball. He was born in Maracay, Aragua State, Venezuela.

Concepción was signed by the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free agent in 1967. Following the steps of his chilhood heroes Chico Carrasquel and Luis Aparicio, Jr., Concepción, originally drafted as a pitcher, came out of Venezuela to become one of baseball's greatest shortstops. A scrawny kid wearing the number 13 on his uniform, he debuted on April 6, 1970. In his first three seasons, Reds manager Sparky Anderson played him part-time, sharing duties with Woody Woodward and Darrel Chaney.

In 1973 Concepción blossomed, both with the bat and in the field, being named the starting shortstop and the team captain for his fearless attitude and leadership qualities. On May 9, in a Reds 9-7 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Johnny Bench hit three home runs and drove in seven runs against pitcher Steve Carlton. It was the second time that Bench smashed three homers against Carlton in a game. However, a Concepción two-run tie-breaker homer in the ninth, off Barry Lersch, was the game-winner. Concepción had been named to the NL All-Star team, but two days before the game he broke his ankle and missed the second half of the year. At this time he was batting .287, with 8 HRs, 46 RBI, 39 runs, 18 doubles, three triples and 22 stolen bases.

Concepción returned in 1974 and played 160 games, proving wrong those critics who felt he was fragile. He enjoyed his best overall season, batting .281, 14 HR, 82 RBI. Later he would top all of those totals, but his Total Average in '74 (.755), compared to the league, was his best. That season Concepción would win his first Gold Glove Award. It was impressive that he won five Gold Gloves in the 1970s when the outstanding Larry Bowa was in the same league, but Concepción garnered the respect from those who saw them both in their prime, not only in the NL, but throughout baseball.

By 1975 Concepción joined Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Ken Griffey, Sr., George Foster and César Gerónimo in the famous "Great Eight" starting lineup of The Big Red Machine that would help the Reds win the next two World Series titles. Even after Concepción had established himself in the major leagues as a star shortstop, he continued to play winter ball in Venezuela, helping to improve his batting. After his .274, 5, 49 totals in the 1975 season, Concepción posted marks of : .281, 9, 69 (1976) - .271, 8, 64 (1977) - .301, 6, 67 (1978) - .281, 16, 84 (1979) - .260, 5, 77 (1980) - .306, 5, 67 (1981) - .287, 5, 53 (1982).

On July 13, 1982, the first All-Star Game outside of the United States was held at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Concepción hit a two-run homer to help the National League to a 4-1 win (the NL's 11th straight victory and 19th in the last 20 contests). Concepción was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

Hampered by an elbow injury and shoulder surgery in 1982, Concepción had consecutive sub-par seasons (1983-84). Grooming Barry Larkin as his successor, he became a dependable handyman at all four infield positions; but it was unrewarding to be the last remnant, and an unheralded member, from the Big Red Machine. Replaced by Larkin in 1986, Concepción was only 44 games away from Larry Bowa's NL record for shortstops.

Dave Concepción retired in 1988.

Contents 1 Regular season statistics 1.1 Batting 1.2 Fielding as a shortstop 1.3 Other positions 2 Post season batting 2.1 Four NL championship series 2.2 Five World Series 3 Achievements 4 Quotation 5 Books sections 6 Articles 7 Milestone 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] Regular season statistics

[edit] Batting

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	TB	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GIDP
2488	8723	993	2326	389	48	101	950	321	109	736	1186	.267	.322	.357	3114	74	86	93	21	266

[edit] Fielding as a shortstop

G	PO	A	E	DP	TC	FP
2178	3670	6594	311	1290	10575	.971

[edit] Other positions

Playing first base, second base, third base, outfield and pitching, he had marks of

• 321 (G), 575 (PO), 430 (A), 15 (E), 100 (DP), 1020 (TC), and .985 (FP)

for an overall total of

• 2499 (G), 4245 (PO), 7024 (A), 326 (E), 1390 (DP), 11595 (TC), and .972 (FP)

[edit] Post season batting

[edit] Four NL championship series

• .351 (AVE), 1 (HR), 1 (RBI), with one double and two stolen bases

[edit] Five World Series

• .266 (AVE), 1 (HR), 12 (RBI), with 2 doubles, 3 triples and 7 stolen bases

[edit] Achievements

• 9-time All-Star: 1973, 1975 - 1982 (his NL teams never lost an All-Star game)
• 5-time Gold Glove: 1974 - 1977, 1979
• Played over 100 games at shortstop 12 straight years (1974-85) and in 14 of 15 seasons
• Scored the 1,000,001st run in baseball history: 1975
• Winner of the Roberto Clemente Award [1] as the top Latin American ballplayer in MLB: 1977
• Became the first Reds shortstop to hit .300 (1978) since Joe Tinker [2] (1913)
• Led league in 14 game-winning RBI: 1981
• MVP All-Star game: 1982
• Twice Top 10 MVP (1979, 9 - 1981, 4)
• In four World Series hit better than .300 three times and topped .400 in the 1975 and 1979 NL Championship Series
• Developed trademark one-hop throw to first base on artificial turf: 1981
• 19 seasons with the same team: 1970 - 1988 (team's captain from 1973 until his retirement)
• MVP team: 1981
• Member of Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame (inducted in 2000)

[edit] Quotation

"The best shortstop in baseball during the 1970s, Concepcion was a graceful fielder who made himself into a fine hitter and used his speed well on the base paths. He and Joe Morgan formed one of the finest all-around double play combinations in history. In nineteen seasons -all with the Reds- Concepcion played more than 2,100 games at the shortstop position. He was one of the last of the "Big Red Machine" everyday players to retire." – The Baseball Page

[edit] Books sections

• The Greatest Shortstops Of All Time, by Donald Honig - p. 80, 6 page(s). Dubuque, Ia: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1992
• Baseball's Dream Team., by John Thorn - Dave Concepcion: "Senor Slick" - p. 40, 10 page(s). New York: Ace Tempo Books, 1982

[edit] Articles

• Reds' Brass Excited Over Concepcion, Fast-Rising Infield Whiz. The Sporting News, by Earl Lawson - November 8, 1969 (Vol. 168, Issue 17) -- p. 39
• The Making of Dave Concepcion. Baseball Digest, by Si Burick - August, 1974 (Vol. 33, Issue 8) -- p. 40, 3 page(s)
• Friday the 13th. Sports Illustrated, by Robert H. Boyle - June 23, 1980 (Vol. 52, Issue 26) -- p. 13, 14
• Dave Concepcion Best in the Business. Boys' Life, by Jim Brosnan - September, 1975 (Vol. 65, Issue 9) -- p. 20, 4 page(s)

[edit] Milestone

• Gold Glove awards for defensive excellence were introduced in 1957. Since that time, only nine shortstop-second base duos have won the honor in the same year while playing together.

[edit] See also

• List of NL Gold Glove Winners at Shortstop
• List of Gold Glove middle infield duos
• List of MLB players with 2,000 hits
• Players from Venezuela in MLB

[edit] External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• Cincinnati Reds All-Time Team, article at Baseball Page
• 1975 Reds - Baseball Greatest Teams, article at Baseball Library

Preceded by: Gary Carter	National League Player of the Month April, 1981	Succeeded by: Art Howe
Preceded by: Gary Carter	Major League Baseball All-Star Game Most Valuable Player 1982	Succeeded by: Fred Lynn