Luis Aparicio

For his father, see Luis Aparicio Ortega.

Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel (Maracaibo, April 29, 1934) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player who played shortstop in Major League Baseball for 18 seasons between 1956 and 1973. Son Luis Aparicio Ortega, also a player, known as El Grande. For now, he is the only Venezuelan exalted to the Baseball Hall of Fame and is considered by the American sports press as one of the best and fastest shortstops of all time. His career served as an inspiration to several of his compatriots, such as David Concepción and Omar Vizquel.

Sports career

His first steps in professional baseball were with Gavilanes BBC, a team from Maracaibo belonging to the now-defunct Western League, a team owned by his uncle. On the day of his debut, November 18, 1953, in a game between Gavilanes and Pastora, Aparicio received the bat from his father, and when he entered the field to cover the offense, he received his glove, as a tribute where the father He gives the legacy to the son. Aparicio played in Venezuela for 13 seasons, in which he had 393 hits. In Venezuela, in addition to playing with Gavilanes, he also performed with Leones del Caracas, Tiburones de La Guaira, Águilas del Zulia, Tigres de Aragua and Cardenales de Lara, acting in a final as a reinforcement for Industriales de Valencia.

His major league debut was on April 17, 1956, with the Chicago White Sox, a season in which he received the American League Rookie of the Year award. He played with Chicago until 1963, when he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles, where he played until 1967. At the end of that season, Aparicio returned to the White Sox where he played between 1968 and 1970. He was then traded to the Boston Red Sox, where he played from 1971 until his retirement in 1973.

Among his greatest accomplishments are leading the American League in stolen bases nine years in a row, with a career total of 506 stolen bases, and winning the World Series with the Orioles in 1966.

At the time of his retirement, Aparicio was the all-time leader in games played, assists, and double plays for a major league shortstop as well as other records.

He received numerous awards during his career, including participating in 10 All-Star games (three of them doubleheaders) and nine Gold Gloves. Luis Aparicio was inducted into the Hall of Baseball fame in 1984, being so far the only Venezuelan to achieve this achievement.

In Maracaibo, November 11 is celebrated as the day of Luis Aparicio, in reference to the number 11 of his uniform, being particularly significant the tribute offered by the community of that city on November 11, 2011 (11-11- eleven).

Batting Statistics

Sports coach

After his retirement as an active baseball player, Aparicio remained linked to baseball in Venezuela having led several LVBP teams, such as Cardenales de Lara, Águilas del Zulia, Navegantes del Magallanes, Petroleros de Cabimas and Tiburones de La Guaira. He has also briefly dabbled in sports journalism and is frequently the subject of tributes and recognition in his native country.

Aparicio was the guest of honor at baseball's 2005 World Series to throw out the opening pitch in the first game of the series, the first the White Sox had participated in since 1959 - when he played shortstop himself - and that they would later win under the guidance of one of his compatriots, Ozzie Guillén.

Hall of Fame induction (1984)

In 1979, five years after his retirement, he was nominated for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In that first year he did not receive much support from journalists, coming in at number 13 in the polls, losing to Willie Mays, who was also in his first year of candidacy. In the following years he rose in popularity (with the exception of 1981 where he finished in position 19, this being the lowest vote he obtained). Finally, in 1984, in his sixth year of candidacy, he won first place in the voting with 341 votes, 84.62% of the total. He was joined that year by Harmon Killebrew and Don Drysdale as new members of the select Cooperstown club.