Outfielder

Luis Gonzalez (outfielder)

Luis Emilio Gonzalez (born September 3, 1967 in Tampa, Florida), nicknamed "Gonzo" , is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Florida Marlins. 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.

Professional career

Gonzalez graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Tampa, Florida in 1985, and attended 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.

Astros, Cubs, Tigers

Gonzalez broke in as a Major League Baseball player with the Astros in . He made his debut on September 4, 1990, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He struck out in his first appearance, as a pinch hitter. He recorded his first career hit on September 8 against Steve Bedrosian of the San Francisco Giants. He played in 12 games as a September call-up and became the Astros' primary left fielder in and played for the team until , 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 as a free agent, but was not re-signed. So he signed with the Detroit Tigers in . He finally became a Diamondback when he was traded by Detroit to Arizona in December 1998 in exchange for Karim Garcia and cash.

Between 1990-1998, Gonzalez was a slightly below average player and was not putting up the kind of batting numbers expected of a corner outfielder. His best year during that period was , when his batting average was .300, with 162 hits, including 34 doubles and 15 home runs.

Arizona Diamondbacks

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 , 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. He was selected to his first All-Star Team in 1999. In , the Diamondbacks came in third place in their division. He also blasted 31 home runs and cracked 192 hits.

2001-2003

In , 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 third most in National League history for a left-handed batter (behind Barry Bonds's record 73, which also came in 2001, and Ryan Howard, who hit 58 in ). Gonzalez was selected to his second All-Star Team and 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 hit a bloop single into left field that won the World Series for Arizona.

He was also selected to All-Star Teams in and . During the 2002 season, Gonzalez received publicity as a piece of gum chewed by Gonzalez during a spring training game was sold for $10,000 on April 15, 2002. The buyer was Curt Mueller, owner of Mueller Sports Medicine Inc., manufacturer of the gum, Quench.

2004-2006

On May 22, , Gonzalez got his 2,000th career hit in a game against the Florida Marlins. In , he was selected to his fifth All-Star Team. On April 18, , he got his 500th career double, becoming the 20th 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 an 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. 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.

Los Angeles Dodgers

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

Gonzalez hit his first home run as a Dodger on Sunday, April 8, 2007 versus Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants. He hit two home runs in that game.

Florida Marlins

On February 7, , he signed with the Florida Marlins. The deal is reportedly worth $2 million for 1 season. In acquiring Luis Gonzalez, the Marlins see him as a back-up to current leftfielder Josh Willingham and first baseman Mike Jacobs.

Career stats

Regular season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	BA	SF	SH	HBP	IBB	GDP
1990	HOU	12	21	1	4	2	0	0	0	6	2	5	0	0	.261	.286	.190	0	0	0	1	0
1991	HOU	137	473	51	120	28	9	13	69	205	40	101	10	7	.320	.433	.254	4	1	8	4	9
1992	HOU	122	387	40	94	19	3	10	55	149	24	52	7	7	.289	.385	.243	2	1	2	3	6
1993	HOU	154	540	82	162	34	3	15	72	247	47	83	20	9	.361	.457	.300	10	3	10	7	9
1994	HOU	112	392	57	107	29	4	8	67	168	49	57	15	13	.353	.429	.273	6	0	3	6	10
1995	HOU	56	209	35	54	10	4	6	35	90	18	30	1	3	.322	.431	.258	3	1	3	3	8
1995	CHI	77	262	34	76	19	4	7	34	124	39	33	5	5	.384	.473	.290	3	0	3	5	8
1996	CHI	146	483	70	131	30	4	15	79	214	61	49	9	6	.354	.443	.271	6	1	4	8	13
1997	HOU	152	550	78	142	31	2	10	68	207	71	67	10	7	.345	.376	.258	5	0	5	7	12
1998	DET	154	547	84	146	35	5	23	71	260	57	62	12	7	.340	.475	.267	8	0	8	7	9
1999	AZ	153	614	112	206	45	4	26	111	337	66	63	9	5	.403	.549	.336	5	1	7	6	13
2000	AZ	162	618	106	192	47	2	31	114	336	78	85	2	4	.392	.544	.311	12	2	12	6	13
2001	AZ	162	609	128	198	36	7	57	142	419	100	83	1	1	.429	.688	.325	5	0	14	24	14
2002	AZ	148	524	90	151	19	3	28	103	260	97	76	9	2	.400	.496	.288	7	0	5	8	12
2003	AZ	156	579	92	176	46	4	26	104	308	94	67	5	3	.402	.532	.304	3	0	3	17	19
2004	AZ	105	379	69	98	28	5	17	48	187	68	58	2	2	.373	.493	.259	2	0	2	11	9
2005	AZ	155	579	90	157	37	0	24	79	266	78	90	4	1	.366	.459	.271	4	0	11	12	14
2006	AZ	153	586	93	159	52	2	15	73	260	69	58	0	1	.352	.444	.271	6	0	7	10	14
2007	LAD	139	464	70	129	23	2	15	68	201	56	56	6	2	.359	.433	.278	2	0	4	4	11
2008	FLO	134	340	30	89	26	1	8	47	141	40	43	1	2	.335	.415	.262	5	0	0	1	10
—	Total	2589	9156	1412	2591	596	68	354	1439	4385	1154	1218	128	87	.367	.479	.283	98	10	111	150	213

Other activities

Gonzalez has launched IsTalking, LLC, a Phoenix based company that develops new social networking Web sites exclusively for college students. The company just launched a new social network with Arizona State University called ASUIsTalking.com. He has also formed a partnership with the ASU Alumni Association to be the exclusive online social-network for its 250,000 members.

Gonzalez has served as a color commentator on ESPN Radio's broadcasts of National League Division Series games in recent years, and also worked on Fox Sports' television broadcast of the 2006 National League Championship Series.

Gonzalez formerly owned and operated a restaurant called Gonzo's, located in oldtown/downtown Gilbert, Arizona. It then changed name several times, and as of March, 2007, it is called "The Grain Belt".

Gonzalez is a prominent member of the U.S. Republican Party. As a resident of Arizona, he wrote a letter of endorsement for Arizona's Junior Senator, Jon Kyl, who won his bid for re-election in 2006.

Gonzalez was also the Celebrity face for a cornfield maze in Queen Creek, AZ for the Schnepf Farms' annual Celebrity Maze. Gonzalez is the first local celebrity featured. Oprah Winfrey, Larry King and Jay Leno were featured in the past.