Luis Aparicio

aparicio.jpg

1956 Topps

Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel (born April 29, 1934 in Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela) is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. From 1956 through 1973, Aparicio played for the Chicago White Sox (1956-62, 1968-70), Baltimore Orioles (1963-67) and Boston Red Sox (1971-73). He batted and threw right handed.

Playing career

Template:MLB HoF Aparicio came from a baseball family. His father, Luis Sr. was a notable shortstop in Venezuela and owned a Winter League team with Aparicio's uncle, Ernesto.

Aparicio was heavily scouted by the Cleveland Indians, but Chicago White Sox GM Frank Lane, on the recommendation of fellow Venezuelan shortstop Chico Carrasquel, signed Aparicio for $5,000 down and $5,000 in first year salary. He played well in the minors and then led the American League in stolen bases in his debut year of 1956, winning both the MLB Rookie of the Year and The Sporting News Rookie of the Year awards.

Over the next decade, Aparicio set the standard for the spray-hitting, slick-fielding, speedy shortstop. He led the AL in stolen bases in nine consecutive seasons (1956-64) and won the Gold Glove Award nine times (1958-62, 1964, 1966, 1970). He was also a ten-time All-Star (1958-64, 1970-72) and a key player on the 1959 "Go-Go" White Sox that won the American League pennant that year. The White Sox were generally successful during his tenure, but when he showed up overweight and had an off year in 1962, the White Sox dealt him to the Baltimore Orioles the following season.

Aparicio regained his form in Baltimore and was ninth in the MVP balloting in 1966 when he helped the Orioles reach the World Series, which they won. He returned to the White Sox for the 1968 season after being traded for Don Buford and had his best overall offensive season in 1970, hitting .312 and scoring 86 runs. He put in three more seasons with the Boston Red Sox before retiring for good.

File:001-VE-MLB-Aparicio Sox2.jpg

At his retirement, Aparicio was the all-time leader for most games played, assists and double plays by a MLB shortstop and the all-time leader for putouts and total chances by an AL baseball shortstop. Through the 2005 season, Aparicio holds the major league record of 2581 games played in the position. Amazingly, he never played in another position than shortstop.

Luis Aparicio was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984, the first native of South America so honored. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. In 1999, The Sporting News did not include him on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, but Major League Baseball did list him as one of their 100 nominees for their All-Century Team.

He was given the honor of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Game One of the 2005 World Series, the first World Series game to be played in Chicago by the Chicago White Sox since the 1959 World Series, when Aparicio had been the starting shortstop for the Sox.

Landmarks bearing his family name

There is a stadium in Maracaibo, Venezuela bearing his father's name. The full name of the stadium is "Estadio Luis Aparicio El Grande" (Stadium Luis Aparicio the Great) in honor to Luis Aparicio Montiel.

There are also several streets and avenues bearing his name throughout Venezuela.

YEAR TEAM         AGE   G    AB    R    H   2B   3B  HR   HR%  RBI   BB   SO   SB   CS  AVG   SLG   OBA   OPS
1956 White Sox     22  152   533   69  142  19   6   3   0.56   56   34   63   21   4 .266 .341 .311 .653 
1957 White Sox     23  143   575   82  148  22   6   3   0.52   41   52   55   28   8 .257 .332 .317 .649 
1958 White Sox     24  145   557   76  148  20   9   2   0.36   40   35   38   29   6 .266 .345 .309 .653 
1959 White Sox     25  152   612   98  157  18   5   6   0.98   51   53   40   56  13 .257 .332 .316 .647 
1960 White Sox     26  153   600   86  166  20   7   2   0.33   61   43   39   51   8 .277 .343 .323 .666 
1961 White Sox     27  156   625   90  170  24   4   6   0.96   45   38   33   53  13 .272 .352 .313 .665 
1962 White Sox     28  153   581   72  140  23   5   7   1.20   40   32   36   31  12 .241 .334 .280 .614 
1963 Orioles       29  146   601   73  150  18   8   5   0.83   45   36   35   40   6 .250 .331 .291 .623 
1964 Orioles       30  146   578   93  154  20   3  10   1.73   37   49   51   57  17 .266 .363 .324 .688 
1965 Orioles       31  144   564   67  127  20  10   8   1.42   40   46   56   26   7 .225 .339 .286 .625 
1966 Orioles       32  151   659   97  182  25   8   6   0.91   41   33   42   25  11 .276 .366 .311 .676 
1967 Orioles       33  134   546   55  127  22   5   4   0.73   31   29   44   18   5 .233 .313 .270 .583 
1968 White Sox     34  155   622   55  164  24   4   4   0.64   36   33   43   17  11 .264 .334 .302 .636 
1969 White Sox     35  156   599   77  168  24   5   5   0.83   51   66   29   24   4 .280 .362 .352 .714 
1970 White Sox     36  146   552   86  173  29   3   5   0.91   43   53   34    8   3 .313 .404 .372 .776 
1971 Red Sox       37  125   491   56  114  23   0   4   0.81   45   35   43    6   4 .232 .303 .284 .587 
1972 Red Sox       38  110   436   47  112  26   3   3   0.69   39   26   28    3   3 .257 .351 .299 .649 
1973 Red Sox       39  132   499   56  135  17   1   0   0.00   49   43   33   13   1 .271 .309 .324 .633 
     TOTALS            2599 10230 1335 2677 394  92  83  0.81  791  736  742  506 136 .262 .343 .311 .653 
     LG AVERAGE             10250 1287 2624 410  71 271  2.64 1205 1059 1492  128  77 .256 .389 .327 .717 
     POS AVERAGE            10057 1189 2465 377  75 152  1.51  893  915 1404  186  87 .245 .343 .309 .652  

YEAR TEAM           RC RCAA RCAP   OWP   RC/G   TB  EBH   ISO   SEC   BPA IBB HBP SAC  SF GIDP OUTS    PA POS
1956 White Sox      59  -21   -4 .357   3.80  182   28 .075 .171 .395   2   1  14   1   9   419   583  SS
1957 White Sox      65   -9    3 .433   3.86  191   31 .075 .200 .406   1   0   9   4   7   455   640  SS
1958 White Sox      63   -7   17 .447   3.92  192   31 .079 .183 .408   2   1   8   3   8   434   604  SS
1959 White Sox      71   -8    8 .444   3.86  203   29 .075 .232 .431   2   3  11   7  11   497   686  SS
1960 White Sox      74   -9    7 .440   4.16  206   29 .067 .210 .432   3   1  20   6  12   480   670  SS
1961 White Sox      73  -14    0 .413   4.04  220   34 .080 .205 .430   0   1   4   4  12   488   672  SS
1962 White Sox      54  -24  -13 .331   3.09  194   35 .093 .181 .380   1   1   4   4  11   472   622  SS
1963 Orioles        63   -8    0 .437   3.55  199   31 .082 .198 .405   2   2   6   6  10   479   651  SS
1964 Orioles        72   -8   -9 .448   4.17  210   33 .097 .251 .455   0   3   7   5  13   466   642  SS
1965 Orioles        57  -15   -9 .387   3.27  191   38 .113 .229 .403   0   3  14   2  11   471   629  SS
1966 Orioles        74   -3    6 .473   3.90  241   39 .090 .161 .401   2   1  12   2  10   512   707  SS
1967 Orioles        47  -13   -1 .385   2.86  171   31 .081 .158 .355   2   1   6   5   8   443   587  SS
1968 White Sox      61   -6    9 .453   3.39  208   32 .071 .133 .363   3   2   5   2  10   486   664  SS
1969 White Sox      81   -3    5 .477   4.72  217   34 .082 .225 .434   1   2  10   4  14   463   681  SS
1970 White Sox      85   12   24 .560   5.69  223   37 .091 .196 .444   1   1   5   5  11   403   616  SS
1971 Red Sox        43  -24   -6 .302   2.90  149   27 .071 .147 .340   0   2   9   4   7   401   541  SS
1972 Red Sox        45   -7    6 .428   3.52  153   32 .094 .154 .369   0   2   5   5   8   345   474  SS
1973 Red Sox        53  -13    8 .392   3.61  154   18 .038 .148 .359   1   0  12   7  12   396   561  SS
     TOTALS       1140 -180   51 .425   3.80 3504  569 .081 .189 .402  23  27 161  76 184  8110 11230 
     LG AVERAGE   1323    0    0 .500   4.40 3989  752 .133 .241 .430  90  68  90  79 238  8110 11546 
     POS AVERAGE  1090 -233    0 .406   3.63 3447  604 .098 .199 .387  59  53 144  68 219  8110 11237 

League leadership rankings

1956 AL

games 4th(tied) 152; singles 9th 114; bases stolen 1st 21; worst ops 6th .653; worst rcaa 8th -21; sacrifices 1st(tied) 14.

1957 AL

at bats 8th 575; runs 10th(tied) 82; singles 7th 117; triples 6th(tied) 6; bases stolen 1st 28; caught stealing 5th(tied) 8; worst ops 4th .649; sacrifices 8th(tied) 9; plate appearances 9th 640; outs 6th 455.

1958 AL

singles 8th(tied) 117; triples 2nd(tied) 9; bases stolen 1st 29; caught stealing 9th(tied) 6; worst ops 5th .653; rcap 9th(tied) 17; sacrifices 10th(tied) 8; outs 7th(tied) 434.

1959 AL

games 5th 152; at bats 2nd 612; runs 6th(tied) 98; hits 8th 157; singles 4th 128; bases stolen 1st 56; caught stealing 1st(tied) 13; worst ops 3rd .647; sacrifices 5th(tied) 11; sacrifice flies 5th(tied) 7; plate appearances 2nd 686; outs 1st 497.

1960 AL

games 2nd(tied) 153; at bats 2nd 600; runs 6th 86; hits 7th(tied) 166; singles 2nd 137; triples 3rd(tied) 7; bases stolen 1st 51; caught stealing 3rd(tied) 8; worst ops 6th .666; sacrifices 1st 20; sacrifice flies 9th(tied) 6; plate appearances 2nd(tied) 670; outs 1st 480.

1961 AL at bats 5th 625; hits 9th(tied) 170; singles 3rd 136; bases stolen 1st 53; caught stealing 1st 13; worst ops 5th .665; outs 6th 488.

1962 AL bases stolen 1st 31; caught stealing 1st 12; worst ops 1st .614; worst rcaa 4th(tied) -24; outs 9th(tied) 472.

1963 AL at bats 6th 601; singles 10th(tied) 119; triples 5th(tied) 8; bases stolen 1st 40; caught stealing 7th(tied) 6; worst ops 6th .623; outs 4th 479.

1964 AL runs 6th 93; singles 10th 121; bases stolen 1st 57; caught stealing 1st 17; outs 8th 466.

1965 AL triples 3rd 10; bases stolen 4th(tied) 26; caught stealing 8th(tied) 7; worst ops 5th .625; sacrifices 2nd 14; outs 7th 471.

1966 AL

at bats 1st 659; runs 5th(tied) 97; hits 2nd(tied) 182; singles 1st 143; triples 4th(tied) 8; bases stolen 4th 25; caught stealing 4th(tied) 11; sacrifices 2nd 12; plate appearances 1st 707; outs 1st 512.

1967 AL

bases stolen 7th 18; worst ops 2nd .583; outs 8th 443.

1968 AL

at bats 3rd 622; hits 3rd(tied) 164; singles 2nd 132; caught stealing 7th(tied) 11; plate appearances 7th(tied) 664; outs 4th 486.

1969 AL

at bats 8th 599; hits 7th(tied) 168; singles 3rd 134; triples 9th(tied) 5; bases stolen 9th 24; sacrifices 5th(tied) 10; plate appearances 9th 681.

1970 AL

hits 10th 173; singles 7th(tied) 136; average 4th .313.

1971 AL

worst ops 3rd .587; worst rcaa 1st(tied) -24.

1973 AL

worst ops 9th .633; sacrifices 4th(tied) 12; sacrifice flies 2nd(tied) 7.

See also

• List of Gold Glove middle infield duos
• List of players from Venezuela in Major League Baseball

External links

• Baseball Hall of Fame
• Career statistics from Baseball Reference