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Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
Much like the the Jim Rice VS. Dave Parker question, if you were a GM and had the opportunity to choose only one of these guys to play for your team in their prime, which one would you choose? This may be closer and tougher than you think.
Concepcion's Stats: Code:
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP Smith's Stats: Code:
Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP FWIW, I noticed that as a shortstop, Concepcion's career fielding percentage is better than Smith's. |
Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
Davey.
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Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
Ozzie by a long shot.
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Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
Concepcion is not a hall of famer. Ozzie is.
I hate Ozzie Smith, but the truth is the truth. |
Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
I always thought that Concepcion was a marginal HOF candidate in the same vien as Tony Perez.
Perez has gotten in, and Davey hasn't even been close. It's clear that, according to the voters, I overvalued Concepcion. I'm still a little surprised with how badly he has fared in HOF voting. He alway hit very well for a SS (for his time), and was a perennial gold glove winner. He played in the WS three times, and invented the "hop" throw from the hole in SS for use on artificial turf. |
Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
Davey!
I'm old school... :D |
Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
If I had to take one in my prime to build around its Ozzie. I like Davey better as a fan but the decision is pretty simple imo.
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Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
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BTW, that's no slight on Concepcion. Ozzie's one of the top 10 shortstops in baseball history. |
Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
Having never seen Davey play in person, I think the problem with Concepcion wasn't the public face of the franchise and his reputation as an all-time great fielder isn't there -- fair or not.
I think there's some feeling that he was a fielding first SS on some really good teams and that his fieldling, while good, wasn't superlative in the way that Ozzie's was. While they did have a WS appearance, the Cards were usually a mediocre team through his tenure. He was able to shine, to stand out on a team that didn't have many other stars. He was speed and defense on teams that won with pitching, speed, and defense. Meanwhile, Davey was simply part of the crew with other household names like Morgan, Perez, Bench, Rose, Foster, etc. In my mind, the question becomes, how much better defensively was Ozzie than Davey? How does Davey stack up historically. Frankly, unless he can be considered one of the all-time great SS defensively, I'm not sure he has a great case for the hall of fame (though I know that's not the question at hand). I think Omar Vizquel is going to find himself in the same boat. Personally, I'd take Ozzie. |
Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
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Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
Fair enough Randy. But I would make the argument that people who watched Davey play every day and cheered for his team are more likely to be biased regarding his relative standing in history than someone who never saw him play a game.
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Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
I don't think I am biased in saying that Concepcion was the best shortstop in baseball during the time he played. When you compare him to the players that are in the Hall of Fame at that position, he stacks up pretty well.
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Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
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Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
Exactly.
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Re: Dave Concepcion VS. Ozzie Smith
Not to mention, he played in 5 League Championship Series and 4 World Series, was the MVP of the 1982 All Star Game and won 2 Silver Slugger awards.
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