Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel (born April 29, 1934), nicknamed "Little Louie", was the first Venezuelan professional baseball player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, in 1984. He was one of the most dominant shortstops of Major League Baseball (MLB) in his era. He played for the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Boston Red Sox, from 1956 through 1973.

Aparicio won the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year Award in 1956. He helped the "Go-Go" White Sox win the American League Pennant championship in 1959 and was the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) runner-up that season (he led the AL in stolen bases, putouts, assists, and fielding as shortstop). He was an AL All-Star for ten seasons, an AL stolen base leader for 9 consecutive seasons, and an AL Gold Glove winner for 9 seasons.Baseball legend Ted Williams called Aparicio "the best shortstop he had ever seen". He was nominated for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team (one-hundred greatest players) in 1999.

Born in Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela, Aparicio came from a baseball family. His father, Luis Aparicio, Sr., was a notable shortstop in Venezuela and owned a Winter League team with Aparicio's uncle, Ernesto Aparicio. At the age of 19, Aparicio was selected as a member of the Venezuelan team in the 1953 Amateur World Series held in Caracas. He signed to play for the local professional team in Maracaibo alongside his father in 1953. In a symbolic gesture during the team's 1953 home opener, his father led off as the first hitter of the game, took the first pitch, and had Aparicio Jr. take his place at bat.

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