Mike González (baseball catcher)

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For the baseball pitcher, see Mike González (baseball pitcher)

For the Marxist writer, see Mike Gonzalez (historian)

Miguel Angel Gonzalez (Cordero) (September 24, 1890 - February 19, 1977) was a Cuban catcher, coach and interim manager in American Major League Baseball during the first half of the 20th century. Along with Adolfo Luque, Gonzalez was one of the first Cubans or Latin Americans to have a long off-field career in the U.S. major leagues.

Born in Havana, Gonzalez, a righthanded-hitting catcher, made his National League debut with the 1912 Boston Braves, playing only one game. He re-emerged two years later with the Cincinnati Reds and went on to play 16 more seasons (1914-21; 1924-29; 1931-32) with the St. Louis Cardinals (in three separate stints), New York Giants and Chicago Cubs, batting .253 in 1,042 games. He appeared in one World Series - 1929 with the Cubs - and was hitless in his only at-bat.

In 1933, he became a coach for the Cardinals' American Association farm club, the Columbus Red Birds, and joined the St. Louis coaching staff in 1934 under manager Frankie Frisch. It was the year of the "Gashouse Gang," the hard-playing Cardinal team that stormed to the NL pennant and a seven-game Fall Classic triumph over the Detroit Tigers.

Gonzalez coached under Frisch until September 1938, when Frisch was fired. Gonzalez then took the helm for the final 16 games of the season, leading the Cardinals to an 8-8 record. He resumed his coaching role under Ray Blades the following season, but again became the Cards' acting pilot in June 1940, serving between Blades and his permanent successor, Billy Southworth. Overall, Gonzalez' major league managing record was nine wins and 13 defeats (.409).

Gonzalez continued on the Cardinals' coaching lines through 1946. In the bottom of the eighth inning of his final game, the seventh and deciding contest of the 1946 World Series, Gonzalez - coaching at third base - waved Enos Slaughter home from first base on a double by Harry Walker. Slaughter's "mad dash" scored the winning run and earned the Cardinals the world championship.

Gonzalez is also credited with contributing a lasting piece of baseball terminology. Asked by the Cardinals to scout a winter league player, Gonzalez judged that the player was outstanding defensively but a liability as a batter. He wired back a four-word scouting report: "Good field, no hit." That phrase is still in use today.

In retirement, Gonzalez returned to his native country. After the Cuban Revolution brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959, and the ensuing chill in relations between Cuba and the U.S., Gonzalez remained in Cuba, where he was cut off from his old friends and associates in American baseball. He died in Havana at age 86 in 1977.

[edit] References

• J.G. Taylor Spink, ed. The Baseball Register, 1946 edition. St. Louis: C.C. Spink and Son.

Preceded by Frankie Frisch	St. Louis Cardinals Manager 1938	Succeeded by Ray Blades
Preceded by Ray Blades	St. Louis Cardinals Manager 1940	Succeeded by Billy Southworth