Who Was The Better Reds Shortstop

[savafan]

EDIT: I also think he was the pioneer of the ASTRO TURF BOUNCE to first base.

You're correct. Many announcers still call it "The Davey Concepcion"

[NJReds]

My heart says Davey...My brain says Larkin.

I hate my brain...

I hate your brain too... Um, I mean ditto.

I feel the same way. Davey is one of my favorite all-time players, but Larkin was a better all-around player. I'm glad that I got to root for both of them.

[Yachtzee]

Davey was one of my favorites as a kid, but Barry is far and away the better shortstop. As I mentioned in the Larkin - HOF thread, Bill James noted in the New Historical Baseball Abstract that Larkin was one of the most complete baseball players (hitting, defense, speed, etc.) of all time. He's certainly in the top 10 for all-time great shortstops, even if you factor in the likes of Jeter, A-Rod, Garciaparra, and Tejada.

[terminator]

Frankly, Concepcion was twice as good as Larkin in the only category that really counts -- number of World Series titles won while playing for the Reds!

[Krusty]

Let me ask you this....

Is the double play combination of Davey Concepcion and Joe Morgan the best in Reds history?

[RedsBaron]

Let me ask you this....

Is the double play combination of Davey Concepcion and Joe Morgan the best in Reds history?

Without doing any research, yes.

[RedsBaron]

Interesting question that I heard the other day and thought I would pass it on.

Who was the better Reds shortstop.....Barry Larkin or Dave Concepcion?

Larkin, easily.

[RedsBaron]

Good question, but it's like asking "who's prettier? Catherine Zeta Jones or Keira Knightley"

Catherine Zeta Jones (This would be a much more enjoyable question to research )

[BuckWoody]

Head - Larkin
Heart - Concepcion

Head wins.

The both deserve to be in the HoF in my completely biased opinion.

[Tony Cloninger]

Were is Chico Ruiz? "Bench me or trade me"....ranks right up there with "Give me liberty or give me death"

[goreds2]

Let me ask you this....

Is the double play combination of Davey Concepcion and Joe Morgan the best in Reds history?

I think Concepcion and Oester was the better combo. Oester had the better turn on the double play due to his SHORTSTOP arm.

[westofyou]

Mcmillian and Temple weren't shabby.

[RedsBaron]

For a brief period of time, Larkin and Pokey Reese were quite good as I recall.

[redsmetz]

Larkin solely based on his offense (as many have said already). Davey wrote the book on shortstop in his era and Larkin, while better offensively, was in the transition phase from the light hitting, slick fielding times of Concepcion and Smith to the heavy hitters that now occupy the slot.

[2001MUgrad]

As an overall player I'm going to have to say Larkin. Larkin had a good stick and its not like he was a Hazard defensively. Larkin should have had about 3-4 more gold gloves, he was far superior defensively when Ozzie was getting the last few he got. I did not see Davey play, but from what I gather he was the prototypical SS for the era, great defensively, but was lucky to hit .280 and had very little power. And, I don't mean this to discredit Davey. There are many that think he is HOF caliber and would probably be a shoe-in if he didn't play along side Morgan, Bench, Rose, Perez, etc.

I just hope that when its Larkin's turn on the HOF ballot that he gets judged by his contemporaries and not by the offensive standards of ARod, Tajeda, etc.