Why this card is awesome: Because Concepcion sure looks like a coach in this photo, hitting infield grounders. He wasn't retired as a player quite yet, though.
I like that this set has both the Reds' SS of the past (Concepcion) and the Reds' SS of the future (Barry Larkin.)
Cool stat: Here's an awesome trivia question. Name the only 6 players to homer every season from 1970 to 1987. Concepcion is the really hard one. The easiest one is Reggie Jackson. The others are somewhere in between.
Concepcion is not in the HOF but I hope he is one day. It would have to come from the Veterans Committee at this point.
6 comments:
For me, Dave Concepcion is the essence of the Hall of the Pretty Dang Good. He was solid for a long time, but never had the dominance demanded of a Hall of Famer. Ted Simmons and Ron Santo are a couple of other stalwart HOTPDG guys.
It looks so weird to see Concepcion listed on the card back as a 2B/1B...he played most of his games there in '87 but you can't help but associate him with being a shortstop (especially since the labels for this post are reds, ss).
No Hall for Davey, he played with a lot of HOFers but that doesn't make you one. He did make a ton of all star games and was a very good player.
Keep in mind that the labels are done by me. Sometimes I might go by what the back of the card says but often I don't. Sometimes I put just the one most-played position and sometimes I put multiple positions.
Ron Santo should be in the Hall. I'm also glad this blog is posting the back of cards as well, most blogs only show the front of the card.
Concepcion was the model for shortstop until Ozzie came along. Back then it wasn't about offense; it was defense that was emphasized. Davey was a defensive genius. I can't wait for the VC to call him and say, "Congratulations, Mr. Concepcion. You are now a Hall of Famer!"
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