Number 13 Baby
Congratulations to Davey Concepcion, a player that I always admired, from an era that is forever etched in my mind, one that seems further away each passing year, as the game changes and the memory of Davey’s flashing plays on the washed out green carpet of the Coliseum. He was the one that never left, nor was fully appreciated for that feat, he and Barry Larkin combined to play short for the Reds for most of my life, an amazing task that is befuddling to me even as I type this. So with life and work pulling me in other directions I’ll leave you with this:
Five things and some other junk about Davey Concepcion.
1. Davey was neither the first Red to wear number 13 (Eddie Miller 1946) nor the last (Alex Gonzales) Shortstop Eddie Pellagrini wore it in 1952 and 1953 and coach Ray Shore wore it in 1966 and 1967. All the players who wore the number for the Reds were shortstops, and only Davey wore the number for longer then two seasons.
2. Among players at least 6 ‘2” only Cal Ripkin (6’4”) has played more games at short then the 6’2” Concepcion.
HEIGHT >= 74 AT BATS AB HT G 1 Cal Ripken 9217 6'4" 2381 2 Dave Concepcion 8247 6'2" 2300 3 Derek Jeter 6790 6'3" 1679 4 Tony Fernandez 6042 6'2" 1578 5 Marty Marion 5499 6'2" 1569 6 Alex Rodriguez 4989 6'2" 1275 7 Tony Kubek 4167 6'3" 1092 8 Ron Hansen 3894 6'3" 1198 9 Buddy Kerr 3631 6'2" 1067 10 Harvey Kuenn 3250 6'2" 771
3. When looking at the players who have appeared in the most games at shortstop it’s hard not to notice that Venezuela is well represented with 3 of the top 7 including Davey (7), Omar Visquel (2) and Luis Aparicio (1)
BIRTHPLACE: VENEZUELA AT BATS AB 1 Luis Aparicio 10230 2 Omar Vizquel 8966 3 Dave Concepcion 8247 4 Ozzie Guillen 6686 5 Chico Carrasquel 4484 6 Alex Gonzalez 3609 7 Carlos Guillen 2737 8 Enzo Hernandez 2327 9 Cesar Izturis 2184 10 Alvaro Espinoza 1550
Enzo Hernadez has the distinction of having the most at bats in a season with the fewest RBI’s
RBI <= 15 AT BATS YEAR AB RBI 1 Enzo Hernandez 1971 549 12 2 Bobby Byrne 1908 439 14 3 Eddie Yost 1947 428 14 4 Charlie Jamieson 1918 416 11 5 Goat Anderson 1907 413 12 6 Jack Smith 1919 408 15 7 Ivan DeJesus 1981 403 13 8 Bud Harrelson 1968 402 14 9 Clyde Milan 1909 400 15 10 Bill Werber 1942 370 13
4. Next to Pete Rose, Davey is the Red with the most games and at bats, and seasons in uniform as a player.
AT BATS AB G 1 Pete Rose 10934 2722 2 Dave Concepcion 8723 2488 3 Barry Larkin 7937 2180 4 Johnny Bench 7658 2158 5 Tony Perez 6846 1948 6 Vada Pinson 6335 1565 7 Frank Robinson 5527 1502 8 Edd Roush 5384 1399 9 Ted Kluszewski 4961 1339 10 Frank McCormick 4787 1228
5. Between 1972 and 1985 only 3 NL shortstops averaged over 4 runs created per every 27 outs… Concepcion was one of them.
RUNS CREATED/GAME RC/G OBA SLG RC/G 1 Dickie Thon 4.88 .329 .417 4.88 2 Garry Templeton 4.16 .317 .389 4.16 3 Dave Concepcion 4.04 .325 .366 4.04 4 Chris Speier 3.86 .328 .348 3.86 5 Ivan DeJesus 3.77 .325 .328 3.77 6 Don Kessinger 3.59 .329 .317 3.59 7 Ozzie Smith 3.51 .317 .306 3.51 8 Bill Russell 3.51 .312 .338 3.51 9 Larry Bowa 3.46 .302 .324 3.46 10 Rafael Ramirez 3.46 .302 .347 3.46