WINTER HAVEN, FLORIDA, MARCH 26, 1974. All good things must come to an end, and on this date in 1974 it was the 18-year Hall of Fame career of shortstop Luis Aparicio. “Little Louie” – 5’9″, 160 lb. – was given his walking papers by Boston Red Sox manager Darrell Johnson right after they beat the Montreal Expos in an exhibition game. Aparicio was still in uniform.
Aparicio would be 40 in a few weeks and be able to spend his birthday at home in Maracaibo, Venezuela for the first time in 21 years.
Being let go was a disappointment, but Aparicio took it in stride, “The first thing I thought about when I walked out of the office was about my five kids.” Aparicio would be 40 in a few weeks and be able to spend his birthday at home in Maracaibo, Venezuela for the first time in 21 years.
Aparicio had been with the Boston Red Sox for three years, but played most of his career for the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles. He was an 11-time all-star with 9 Gold Gloves and a prototype lead-off man with 506 career stolen bases.
Aparicio was on two World Series teams. He put the “go” in the 1959 “go-go” White Sox, which lost the Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He got some revenge playing for the Orioles in 1966 when they swept the Dodgers in 4 straight. But on this date in 1974, Aparicio’s HOF career ended.
Contributing sources:
United Press International (UPI), by Milton Richman, March 27, 1974
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