Omar Vizquel Can Celebrate Tying Venezuelan Hit Record And His Hero’s Birthday All On Same Day

Although the deity of all Venezuelan players was Luis Aparicio, Texas Rangers shortstop Omar Vizquel grew up idolizing Dave Concepcion.

And now the three of them have June 17 in common.

On Wednesday against Houston, Concepcion’s 61st birthday, Vizquel lined a single up the middle in the fifth inning for the 2,677th hit of his career. It ties Vizquel with Aparicio for the all-time hits lead for a player born in Venezuela.

“It’s incredible to have as many hits as Aparicio,” said Vizquel, who is hitting .323 as a 42-year-old reserve. “It was always something that was unreachable and untouchable. I’m just glad I got to play such a long time to do it.”

Vizquel, who needs another 38 hits to break into the top 50 all-time regardless of country of birth, also stole second base after the hit. It was his 389th stolen base of all time, leaving him 11 shy of 400. Another 11 steals would make him one of only 16 players to reach 2,500 hits and 400 steals. Aparicio is on that list; Concepcion is not.

For now, though, the focus is on getting one more hit to surpass Aparicio.

“It would have been nice to have gotten both of them tonight,” Vizquel said. “And it would have been nice to do it on Aparicio’s birthday, but Concepcion is one of the shortstops who has been big in my life. He was the guy I followed as a kid. It’s nice that a special day for me is also a special day for him.”