Dave Concepción

David Concepción
Shortstop
Born: (1948-06-17) June 17, 1948 Ocumare de la Costa, Venezuela
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 6, 1970 for the Cincinnati Reds
Last MLB appearance
September 15, 1988 for the Cincinnati Reds
Career statistics
Batting average	.267
Hits	2,326
Home runs	101
Runs batted in	950
Teams
Cincinnati Reds (1970–1988)
Career highlights and awards
9× All-Star selection (1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982) 2× World Series champion (1975, 1976) 5× Gold Glove Award winner (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979) 2× Silver Slugger Award winner (1981, 1982) 1982 MLB All-Star Game MVP Cincinnati Reds #13 retired Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum induction (2003) Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame induction (2006)

David Ismael Concepción Benitez (born June 17, 1948), better known as Dave Concepción, is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball. He was born in Ocumare de la Costa, Aragua State, Venezuela. On August 25, 2007 the Cincinnati Reds retired jersey number 13 in honor of Concepción's contributions to the team.^[1]

Career

Concepción was signed by the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free agent in 1967. Following the steps of his childhood heroes Chico Carrasquel and Luis Aparicio, Jr., Concepción, originally drafted as a pitcher, came out of Venezuela to become one of Cincinnati baseball's more popular shortstops, making his debut 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 at bat and in the field, being named the starting shortstop. 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 on July 22, two days before the game he broke his ankle (sliding into 3rd base after moving from first base with Dennis Menke base hit against the Expos in the bottom of the 7th inning at Riverfront, fracturing the fibula of left leg) 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. He enjoyed his best overall season, batting .281, with 14 HR, 82 RBI, as well as winning his first Gold Glove Award.

By 1975 Concepción joined Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Pérez, 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.

Later in his career, Concepción worked with Tony Pérez and perfected the one-bounce throw to first base. Concepción was the first shortstop to use this method to take advantage of the speedy artificial turf at Riverfront Stadium and other parks in the National League.

Hampered by age, an elbow injury and shoulder surgery in 1982, Concepción had consecutive sub-par seasons from 1983–84. Grooming Barry Larkin as his successor, he became a dependable handyman at all four infield positions. He was replaced by Larkin in 1986, only 44 games away from Larry Bowa's NL record for shortstops.

Concepción retired from baseball in 1988. During his last season, manager Pete Rose sent Concepción in to pitch 1⅓ innings in Dodger Stadium late in a blow-out game. He gave up two hits, no runs, and struck out one batter.

Dave Concepción's number 13 was retired by the Cincinnati Reds in 2007.

On August 25, 2007, Concepción's number 13 was retired by the Reds before their game against the Florida Marlins. It was the first occasion in MLB history that the number 13 had been retired by a team.

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 Concepción. 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 Concepción Best in the Business. Boys' Life, by Jim Brosnan - September, 1975 (Vol. 65, Issue 9) -- p. 20, 4 page(s)

Further reading

• 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 Concepción: "Senor Slick" - p. 40, 10 page(s). New York: Ace Tempo Books, 1982

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
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
• Players from Venezuela in MLB
• Tigres de Aragua

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Davidconcepcion - Official web site

Preceded by Gary Carter	National League Player of the Month April, 1981	Succeeded by Art Howe

v t e Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVP Award 1962: Wills 1962: Wagner 1963: Mays 1964: Callison 1965: Marichal 1966: B. Robinson 1967: Pérez 1968: Mays 1969: McCovey 1970: Yastrzemski 1971: F. Robinson 1972: Morgan 1973: Bonds 1974: Garvey 1975: Madlock, Matlack 1976: Foster 1977: Sutton 1978: Garvey 1979: Parker 1980: Griffey, Sr. 1981: Carter 1982: Concepción 1983: Lynn 1984: Carter 1985: Hoyt 1986: Clemens 1987: Raines 1988: Steinbach 1989: Jackson 1990: Franco 1991: Ripken Jr. 1992: Griffey, Jr. 1993: Puckett 1994: McGriff 1995: Conine 1996: Piazza 1997: Alomar, Jr. 1998: Alomar 1999: Martínez 2000: Jeter 2001: Ripken, Jr. 2003: Anderson 2004: Soriano 2005: Tejada 2006: Young 2007: Suzuki 2008: Drew 2009: Crawford 2010: McCann 2011: Fielder 2012: Cabrera 2013: Rivera

v t e National League Shortstop Silver Slugger Award 1980: Templeton 1981: Concepción 1982: Concepción 1983: Thon 1984: Templeton 1985: Brooks 1986: Brooks 1987: Smith 1988: Larkin 1989: Larkin 1990: Larkin 1991: Larkin 1992: Larkin 1993: Bell 1994: Cordero 1995: Larkin 1996: Larkin 1997: Blauser 1998: Larkin 1999: Larkin 2000: Rentería 2001: Aurilia 2002: Rentería 2003: Rentería 2004: Wilson 2005: López 2006: Reyes 2007: Rollins 2008: Ramírez 2009: Ramírez 2010: Tulowitzki 2011: Tulowitzki 2012: Desmond 2013: Desmond

v t e National League Shortstop Gold Glove Award 1958: McMillan 1959: McMillan 1960: Banks 1961: Wills 1962: Wills 1963: Wine 1964: Amaro 1965: Cárdenas 1966: Alley 1967: Alley 1968: Maxvill 1969: Kessinger 1970: Kessinger 1971: Harrelson 1972: Bowa 1973: Metzger 1974: Concepción 1975: Concepción 1976: Concepción 1977: Concepción 1978: Bowa 1979: Concepción 1980: Smith 1981: Smith 1982: Smith 1983: Smith 1984: Smith 1985: Smith 1986: Smith 1987: Smith 1988: Smith 1989: Smith 1990: Smith 1991: Smith 1992: Smith 1993: Bell 1994: Larkin 1995: Larkin 1996: Larkin 1997: Ordóñez 1998: Ordóñez 1999: Ordóñez 2000: Pérez 2001: Cabrera 2002: Rentería 2003: Rentería 2004: Izturis 2005: Vizquel 2006: Vizquel 2007: Rollins 2008: Rollins 2009: Rollins 2010: Tulowitzki 2011: Tulowitzki 2012: Rollins 2013: Simmons

v t e Cincinnati Reds 1975 World Series Champions 5 Johnny Bench 8 Joe Morgan 9 Bill Plummer 12 Darrel Chaney 13 Dave Concepción 14 Pete Rose (World Series MVP) 15 George Foster 17 Terry Crowley 20 César Gerónimo 22 Dan Driessen 23 Doug Flynn 24 Tony Pérez 26 Merv Rettenmund 30 Ken Griffey 32 Fred Norman 33 Ed Armbrister 34 Pedro Borbón 35 Don Gullett 36 Clay Carroll 37 Will McEnaney 38 Gary Nolan 43 Jack Billingham 44 Pat Darcy 45 Clay Kirby 49 Rawly Eastwick Manager 10 Sparky Anderson Coaches 2 Alex Grammas 3 George Scherger 4 Larry Shepard 18 Ted Kluszewski Regular season National League Championship Series

v t e Cincinnati Reds 1976 World Series Champions 5 Johnny Bench (World Series MVP) 8 Joe Morgan 9 Bill Plummer 10 Mike Lum 12 Bob Bailey 13 Dave Concepción 14 Pete Rose 15 George Foster 20 César Gerónimo 22 Dan Driessen 23 Doug Flynn 24 Tony Pérez 25 Joel Youngblood 30 Ken Griffey 32 Fred Norman 33 Ed Armbrister 34 Pedro Borbón 35 Don Gullett 37 Will McEnaney 38 Gary Nolan 40 Pat Zachry 43 Jack Billingham 49 Rawly Eastwick 53 Santo Alcala 55 Manny Sarmiento Manager 10 Sparky Anderson Coaches 2 Russ Nixon 3 George Scherger 4 Larry Shepard 18 Ted Kluszewski Regular season National League Championship Series

v t e Cincinnati Reds retired numbers #1 Fred Hutchinson #5 Johnny Bench #5 Willard Hershberger* #8 Joe Morgan #10 Sparky Anderson #11 Barry Larkin #13 Dave Concepción #18 Ted Kluszewski #20 Frank Robinson #24 Tony Pérez (*) denotes number was unretired

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Persondata
Name	Concepción, Dave
Alternative names	Concepción, David
Short description	Venezuelan baseball player
Date of birth	June 17, 1948
Place of birth	Ocumare de la Costa, Aragua, Venezuela
Date of death
Place of death