Luis Aparicio (born
April 29,
1934,
Maracaibo,
Venezuela) was a
Venezuelan baseball
shortstop for the
Chicago White Sox,
Baltimore Orioles, and
Boston Red Sox.
Aparicio came from a baseball family. His father, Luis Sr. was a notable shorstop 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 shorstop. 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.
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
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 name
There is a stadium in Maracaibo, Venezuela bearing his name. The full name of the stadium is "Estadio Luis Aparicio El Grande" (Stadium Luis Aparicio the Great).
There are also several streets and avenues bearing his name throughout Venezuela
External links
Last updated: 08-18-2005 18:14:35
