Luis Gonzalez (baseball outfielder)

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Luis Gonzalez
Los Angeles Dodgers — No. 20
Left Fielder
Bats: Left Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
September 4, 1990 for the Houston Astros
Selected MLB statistics
(through 2006)
AVG     .284
OBP     .368
HR     331
Teams

    Luis Emilio Gonzalez (born September 3, 1967) (affectionately called Gonzo by many of his fans), is an American baseball player who plays left field for the Los Angeles Dodgers. A Cuban-American, Gonzalez spent his best years with the Arizona Diamondbacks and was one of the most popular players in that organization's history. He is a native of Tampa, Florida, but he and his family (which includes wife Christine and triplets Megan, Jacob and Alyssa) are residents of Scottsdale, Arizona.

    Contents

    [edit] Career

    Gonzalez graduated from Jefferson High School in Tampa in 1985, attending the University of South Alabama. He earned Baseball America's All-Freshman Second Team honors while there. He was drafted by the Houston Astros in the fourth round of the 1988 amateur draft.

    [edit] Astros, Cubs, Tigers

    Gonzalez broke in as a Major League Baseball player with the Astros in 1990, playing 12 games as a September call-up. He became the Astros primary left fielder in 1991 and played for the team until 1995, when he and Scott Servais were traded in mid-season to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for catcher Rick Wilkins. He came back to Houston in 1997 as a free agent, but was not re-signed. So he signed with the Detroit Tigers in 1998. He finally became a Diamondback when he was traded by Detroit to Arizona in December 1998 in exchange for Karim Garcia and cash.

    During 1990 to 1998, Gonzalez was a good but not distinguished player, and in short, not yet putting up the kind of batting numbers expected of a star outfielder. His best year during that period was 1993, when his batting average was .300, with 162 hits, including 34 doubles and 15 home runs.

    [edit] Arizona Diamondbacks

    [edit] 1999-2000

    It was in Arizona that Gonzalez became a star. He helped the Diamondbacks into title contention immediately, hitting a career-best .336 in 1999, leading the NL in hits with 206 and helping them win the National League's western division that season before the team fell to the New York Mets in a divisional playoff series. In 2000, the Diamondbacks came in third place in their division. He also blasted 31 home runs and cracked 192 hits.

    [edit] 2001

    In 2001, Gonzalez astonished many when he hit 57 home runs, his personal best for one season and almost twice as many as he hit in any other season. The total is the second most in National League history for a left-handed batter (behind Barry Bonds's record 73, which also came in 2001). Gonzalez finished second in the NL in hits with 198. Gonzalez also won the Home Run Derby that year.

    The Diamondbacks reached the World Series that year. In the climactic moment, Gonzalez came to the plate in the bottom of the 9th inning of game 7, with the game at a 2-2 tie, the bases loaded and 1 out. The Yankee pitcher was Mariano Rivera, one of the game's most feared closers with an especially good record in the postseason. Gonzalez swung at one of Rivera's pitches and blooped a single over shortshop Derek Jeter's head that won the World Series for Arizona.

    [edit] 2004-2006

    On May 22, 2004, Gonzalez got his 2,000th career hit in a game against the Florida Marlins. On April 18, 2006, he got his 500th career double, becoming the 21st player in Major League history to hit 500 doubles and 300 home runs. On May 13, 2006, he passed Babe Ruth for 38th place all-time for the most doubles hit in league history.

    On June 15, 2006, The Arizona Republic printed a interview by columnist E. J. Montini with Diamondback managing general partner Ken Kendrick. In the interview, Kendrick mentioned whispers of alleged steroid use by Gonzalez; in the interview Kendrick never directly accused Gonzalez of using performance enhancing drugs. [1] The interview came 8 days after Diamondback relief pitcher Jason Grimsley was released by the team after the team learned that federal agents had searched his home looking for evidence that he was a distributor of human growth hormone and other performance-enhancing drugs. On June 16, 2006 an angry Gonzalez called a press conference to deny that he had ever used steroids. [2]

    [edit] Los Angeles Dodgers

    On September 14, 2006, the Diamondbacks announced that they would not pickup the team option of $10 million to re-sign Gonzalez after the 2006 season.[3] On December 7, Gonzalez signed a one year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers for $7 million for the 2007 season.

    [edit] Other Activities

    Gonzalez was a television color announcer for Fox Sports during the 2006 National League Championship Series alongside Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

    [edit] See also

    [edit] External links

    Preceded by:
    Richard Hidalgo    		 National League Player of the Month
    April 2001    		 Succeeded by:
    Barry Bonds
    Preceded by:
    Barry Bonds    		 National League Player of the Month
    June 2001    		 Succeeded by:
    Jeff Bagwell
    Preceded by:
    Sammy Sosa    		 Home Run Derby Champion
    2001    		 Succeeded by:
    Jason Giambi
    Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../l/u/i/Luis_Gonzalez_%28baseball_outfielder%29_1cb7.html"