Concepción was born in Ocumare de la Costa, Aragua State, Venezuela, the son of a truck driver and his wife, Ernestina. He attended Agustin Codazzi High School. After high school, he worked as a bank teller and played part-time for the local Tigres de Aragua baseball team. His coach, Wilfredo Calviño, was also a Cincinnati Reds\' scout, and Calviño signed Concepción to a Reds\' contract in 1967.\n', '

Following the steps of his childhood heroes Chico Carrasquel and Luis Aparicio, Jr., Concepción, originally drafted as a pitcher, came out of Venezuela to become one of the Reds\' and the National League\'s greatest all-time shortstops. He made his big-league debut on April 6, 1970, starting at shortstop and going 0-for-4 as the Reds defeated the Montreal Expos, 5-1. He went 0-for-4 again the next day against the Los Angeles Dodgers before getting his first hit on April 8, a seventh-inning double off Dodgers pitcher (and future Reds teammate) Fred Norman.\n', '

In his first three seasons, Reds manager Sparky Anderson played him part-time, sharing duties with Woody Woodward and Darrel Chaney. In one of those appearances, in 1971, he was the only team member to reach base safely when the Reds were no-hit by the Philadelphia Phillies\' Rick Wise; a sixth-inning walk spoiled what would have been a perfect game. In 1973, Concepción blossomed, both at bat and in the field, being named the starting shortstop. On May 9, in a Reds 9–7 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Johnny Bench hit three home runs and drove in seven runs against pitcher Steve Carlton. It was the second time that Bench smashed three homers against Carlton in a game. However, a Concepción two-run tie-breaker homer in the ninth, off Barry Lersch, was the game-winner. Concepción had been named to the NL All-Star team, but on July 22, two days before the game he dislocated his knee and broke his leg(sliding into third base after moving from first base with Denis Menke base hit against the Expos in the bottom of the seventh inning at Riverfront, fracturing the fibula of left leg) and missed the second half of the year. At this time, he was batting .287, with 8 HRs, 46 RBI, 39 runs, 18 doubles, three triples and 22 stolen bases.\n', '

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