Ramón A. Concepción Ramos (A.K.A. Monchile Concepción) was born on February 5, 1905 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was a member of the Baseball, Basketball, and Track and Field varsities of the Central High School in Santurce, Puerto Rico, from where he graduated in 1923. He was signed to play professional baseball at age sixteen. He had a powerful arm, was a great fielder, a fast runner, and a magnificent hitter—one of the first Puerto Ricans to play in the United States.
In 1926 was invited by Scout Eddie Green for a tryout with the New York Yankees, but they didn’t sign him. He played several tournaments with the Lincoln Giants and Alex Pompez Cubans Stars, one of the non-Cubans players in that All-Star Team; Martin Dihigo and Alejandro Oms were his teammates. He has also played in Philadelphia with the Philadelphia Giants.
Some of his accomplishments are:
- He played in Canada with the Bedford Team in Montreal, winning two batting titles.
- First Puerto Rican ever to see action in Montreal, Canada.
- He was the first player to get a hit in the inauguration of the Escambron Stadium (later Sixto Escobar Stadium) on November 12, 1932.
- He won the batting title in Puerto Rico in the 1933-1934 season, competing against great hitters such as Joshua Gibson, Alejandro Oms, and Johnny Mize. He beat Lázaro Salazar in his dramatic last at-bat, hitting a line drive.
- Member of the Puerto Rico Sports Baseball Club that, has eight (8) position players and their star pitcher in the Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame.
- Founder of the first Baseball Academy in Puerto Rico.
- Among the first to advocate for the celebration of night and daily games in Puerto Rico.
- Managed the Escogido Lions of the Dominican Republic Summer League in 1952.
- Manager of the National Baseball Amateur Team in a tournament held in Venezuela in 1954 and Puerto Rico’s Baseball Team in the World Championship in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1957.
- He managed in the Puerto Rico Baseball Amateur League ( Double A ) the following clubs: Manatí, Carolina, and Vega Baja.
- Coach for the Santurce Crabbers for many years, he won the Championship of the Puerto Rico Winter Baseball League as manager of the Santurce Crabbers in the 1958-1959 season, the first Puerto Rican to do so with this team. Also, he was the coach for the Caguas Baseball Club in the 1960-1961 and 1961-1962 seasons. Participated in four (4) Caribbean Series, three (3) with Santurce and one (1) with Caguas.
- He was a crucial figure in Roberto Clemente’s becoming a professional baseball player.
- Appointed Chief Scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Caribbean Area.
- He was one of the founders of the Professional Baseball Players Association in Puerto Rico. Guest columnist for several local newspapers. Produce and broadcast the radio show The 10th Inning for the Santurce Crabbers games. Radio commentator for Major League games recreated in Puerto Rico.
- A ballpark in Levittown, Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, was named in his honor. Also, Humbold Park Boulevard in the City of Chicago bears his name. He is a member of The Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame, Sons of Old San Juan Hall of Fame, YMCA Hall of Fame, and Santurce Hall of Fame.
- He was selected among the first 130 Puertorricans MOST OUTSTANDING AFRICAN DESCENDANT MEN in THE HISTORY of PUERTO RICO by the PUERTO RICAN COUNCIL AGAINST RACIALISM and by THE COMMISSION of RACIAL EQUALITY of THE PUERTO RICO BAR ASSOCIATION on the 130 ANNIVERSARY of the SLAVE ABOLITION in PUERTO RICO.
On December 16, 2020, Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr. announced that «Major League Baseball is correcting a longtime oversight in the game’s history by officially elevating the Negro Leagues to «Major League» status.» One of those leagues is the National League II, where Concepción played with the Philadelphia Bacharach Giants in 1934, making him the third Puerto Rican who saw action in the Big Leagues after José Gacho Torres (1926) and Emilio Millito Navarro (1928).
Possibly the most versatile person in the history of baseball in Puerto Rico, this writing is a small example of the extraordinary trajectory of Monchile Concepcion. For his record in Puerto Rico and the Negro Leagues, please access here https://beisbol101.com/jugador/ramon-monchile-concepcion/.
