Luis Aparicio

Luis Aparicio (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 1956-73, he played for the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox.

Missing image
001-VE-MLB-Aparicio_Sox1.jpg

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. He was heavily scouted by the Cleveland Indians, but Frank Lane, on the recommendation of White Sox 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 league in stolen bases every year from 1956 to 1964 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 next year. He 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 and had his best overall offensive season in 1970, hitting .312 and scoring 86 runs. He put in three more seasons with Boston before retiring.

Missing image
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. Amazingly, he never played in another position than shortstop.

Luis Aparicio was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984.

See also

• List of Gold Glove middle infield duos
• List of Venezuelan players in the MLB

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 Whitesox       59  -21   -4  .357   3.80  182   28  .075  .171  .395   2   1  14   1   9   419   583  SS
1957 Whitesox       65   -9    3  .433   3.86  191   31  .075  .200  .406   1   0   9   4   7   455   640  SS
1958 Whitesox       63   -7   17  .447   3.92  192   31  .079  .183  .408   2   1   8   3   8   434   604  SS
1959 Whitesox       71   -8    8  .444   3.86  203   29  .075  .232  .431   2   3  11   7  11   497   686  SS
1960 Whitesox       74   -9    7  .440   4.16  206   29  .067  .210  .432   3   1  20   6  12   480   670  SS
1961 Whitesox       73  -14    0  .413   4.04  220   34  .080  .205  .430   0   1   4   4  12   488   672  SS
1962 Whitesox       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 Whitesox       61   -6    9  .453   3.39  208   32  .071  .133  .363   3   2   5   2  10   486   664  SS
1969 Whitesox       81   -3    5  .477   4.72  217   34  .082  .225  .434   1   2  10   4  14   463   681  SS
1970 Whitesox       85   12   24  .560   5.69  223   37  .091  .196  .444   1   1   5   5  11   403   616  SS
1971 Redsox         43  -24   -6  .302   2.90  149   27  .071  .147  .340   0   2   9   4   7   401   541  SS
1972 Redsox         45   -7    6  .428   3.52  153   32  .094  .154  .369   0   2   5   5   8   345   474  SS
1973 Redsox         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 

LUIS APARICIO LEAGUE LEADERSHIP RANKINGS

1956 AL GAMES T4TH 152; SINGLES 9TH 114; STOLEN BASES 1ST 21; WORST OPS 6TH .653; WORST RCAA 8TH -21; SACRIFICES T1ST 14

1957 AL AT BATS 8TH 575; RUNS T10TH 82; SINGLES 7TH 117; TRIPLES T6TH 6; STOLEN BASES 1ST 28; CAUGHT STEALING T5TH 8; WORST OPS 4TH .649; SACRIFICES T8TH 9; PLATE APPEARANCES 9TH 640; OUTS 6TH 455

1958 AL SINGLES T8TH 117; TRIPLES T2ND 9; STOLEN BASES 1ST 29; CAUGHT STEALING T9TH 6; WORST OPS 5TH .653; RCAP T9TH 17; SACRIFICES T10TH 8; OUTS T7TH 434

1959 AL GAMES 5TH 152; AT BATS 2ND 612; RUNS T6TH 98; HITS 8TH 157; SINGLES 4TH 128; STOLEN BASES 1ST 56; CAUGHT STEALING T1ST 13; WORST OPS 3RD .647; SACRIFICES T5TH 11; SACRIFICE FLIES T5TH 7; PLATE APPEARANCES 2ND 686; OUTS 1ST 497

1960 AL GAMES T2ND 153; AT BATS 2ND 600; RUNS 6TH 86; HITS T7TH 166; SINGLES 2ND 137; TRIPLES T3RD 7; STOLEN BASES 1ST 51; CAUGHT STEALING T3RD 8; WORST OPS 6TH .666; SACRIFICES 1ST 20; SACRIFICE FLIES T9TH 6; PLATE APPEARANCES T2ND 670; OUTS 1ST 480

1961 AL AT BATS 5TH 625; HITS T9TH 170; SINGLES 3RD 136; STOLEN BASES 1ST 53; CAUGHT STEALING 1ST 13; WORST OPS 5TH .665; OUTS 6TH 488

1962 AL STOLEN BASES 1ST 31; CAUGHT STEALING 1ST 12; WORST OPS 1ST .614; WORST RCAA T4TH -24; OUTS T9TH 472

1963 AL AT BATS 6TH 601; SINGLES T10TH 119; TRIPLES T5TH 8; STOLEN BASES 1ST 40; CAUGHT STEALING T7TH 6; WORST OPS 6TH .623; OUTS 4TH 479

1964 AL RUNS 6TH 93; SINGLES 10TH 121; STOLEN BASES 1ST 57; CAUGHT STEALING 1ST 17; OUTS 8TH 466

1965 AL TRIPLES 3RD 10; STOLEN BASES T4TH 26; CAUGHT STEALING T8TH 7; WORST OPS 5TH .625; SACRIFICES 2ND 14; OUTS 7TH 471

1966 AL AT BATS 1ST 659; RUNS T5TH 97; HITS T2ND 182; SINGLES 1ST 143; TRIPLES T4TH 8; STOLEN BASES 4TH 25; CAUGHT STEALING T4TH 11; SACRIFICES 2ND 12; PLATE APPEARANCES 1ST 707; OUTS 1ST 512

1967 AL STOLEN BASES 7TH 18; WORST OPS 2ND .583; OUTS 8TH 443

1968 AL AT BATS 3RD 622; HITS T3RD 164; SINGLES 2ND 132; CAUGHT STEALING T7TH 11; PLATE APPEARANCES T7TH 664; OUTS 4TH 486

1969 AL AT BATS 8TH 599; HITS T7TH 168; SINGLES 3RD 134; TRIPLES T9TH 5; STOLEN BASES 9TH 24; SACRIFICES T5TH 10; PLATE APPEARANCES 9TH 681

1970 AL HITS 10TH 173; SINGLES T7TH 136; AVERAGE 4TH .313

1971 AL WORST OPS 3RD .587; WORST RCAA T1ST -24

1973 AL WORST OPS 9TH .633; SACRIFICES T4TH 12; SACRIFICE FLIES T2ND 7

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.

External links

• Baseball Hall of Fame (http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/aparicio_luis.htm)
• Template:Baseball-reference

es:Luis Aparicio