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The Cincinnati Reds were the National League’s winningest teams of the 1970s. Known as the Big Red Machine, they won six division titles, four pennants, and two World Series titles. From 1970-1979 the averaged more than 95 wins per season.

Built by GM Bob Howsam, the Reds boasted future Hall of Famers at multiple positions and Cooperstown manager Sparky Anderson. Their zenith came in 1975 and ’76 when the won back-to-back titles.

Davey Concepcion held down the shortstop position for Cincy throughout the run. The Venezuelan took home five Gold Gloves from 1975 through 1979 and later two Silver Sluggers.

His ’75 squad won 108 games and finished 20 games ahead of the second-place Dodgers. Cincinnati swept Pittsburgh in the NLCS then defeated Boston in a thrilling seven-game Fall Classic.

A month after their triumph, Cunard Cruise Lines put together a promotional tour for the world champs. They offered an all-expenses-paid luxury cruise for Howsam, Anderson, players Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Tony Perez, and announcer Marty Brennaman. To earn their keep, each man did a presentation and fielded questions from those who attended.

Shown here is the baseball itinerary from that cruise. It is signed by all seven Reds and authenticated by Beckett. The on-board presentations included four topics in which the Reds representatives held court.

The following season in ’76 it was more of the same. Concepcion repeated as an All Star and Gold Glover while the Reds won 102 games then swept their way through the NLCS and the World Series.

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This agreement was signed on May 6, 1988 just one month shy of Dave Concepcion’s 40th birthday. Here the shortstop agrees to extend his endorsement of Topps baseball cards for another three years. Four months after signing this, Concepcion played his last game in September of 1988. A nine-time All Star, Concepcion won 5 Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers during his 19-year career.

The chronological middleman of the Venezuelan shortstop trio that includes Luis Aparicio and Omar Vizquel, Concepcion remains closely tied to his country. Click here to see a short video of Vizquel speaking on the subject.

After breaking in with Cincinnati in 1970 at age 21, Dave Concepcion quickly established himself as one of the National League’s top shortstops. During the decade of the 1970s, Concepcion played in the post season five different seasons, winning the World Series title in both 1975 and 1976.

Though the Reds championship run was finished, the shortstop’s reign as an All Star was not. His first appearance in the Mid Summer Classic was in 1973 before he ran off eight straight All Star campaigns from 1975-1982.

In ’83 Concepcion’s batting average dipped to .233, down from 1982’s .287 mark. He retired in 1988. A main cog in the Big Red Machine, Concepcion’s #13 was retired by the Cincinnati franchise.

Concepcion completed his career with 2,326 hits, and nearly 1,000 runs batted in.

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An advance scout stays one step ahead of his team scouting the team they’ll play next. This scouting report on Dave Concepcion was written just after he celebrated his 39th birthday.

Among the observations are, “Arm: Average/Accurate”, and notes that the former All Star is playing only occasionally.

Though those musings certainly do not reflect the entirety of his outstanding career, they were likely an accurate snapshot concerning that day in July, 1987.

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CooperstownExpert.com asked Omar Vizquel about his Venezuela homeland’s ability to produce great shortstops. Click here to see what the 11-time Gold Glover has to say.

Vizquel specifically mentions two of his countrymen specifically, Hall of Famer Luis Aparacio and the Big Red Machine’s Davey Concepcion. Venezuela is a hotbed for big league talent, producing 428 major leaguers as of the start of the 2021 season.

The trio of shortstops combined for 25 Gold Glove Awards and 7,880 base hits. Vizquel was more than happy to offer his opinions and add to the website.