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Mike González (baseball catcher)
Encyclopedia
Miguel Angel González Cordero (September 24, 1890 - February 19, 1977) was a Cuba
n catcher
, coach
and interim manager in American
Major League Baseball
during the first half of the 20th century. Along with Adolfo Luque, González 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
, González played winter baseball in the Cuban League
from 1910 to 1936 and was a long-time manager. He was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame
in 1955.
debut with the 1912 Boston Braves
, playing only one game. During that time he played "Negro baseball" with integrated teams from Cuba, the Cuban Stars
in 1911, 1912 and 1914; the Long Branch Cubans in 1913. During his organized baseball career he appeared with the New York Lincoln Giants in 1916 (Riley, 326).
González returned to the major leagues with the Cincinnati Reds
sometime in 1914 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
.
González 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).
González 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 was coaching at third base when Enos Slaughter
raced home from first base on a single
by Harry Walker
. "Slaughter's Mad Dash
" scored the winning run and earned the Cardinals the world championship. Although films taken of the play appear to show González waving Slaughter in, other accounts report that Slaughter ignored the coach's stop sign and took home on his own initiative.
González is credited with contributing a lasting piece of baseball terminology. Asked by the Cardinals to scout a winter league player, González 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 the winter of 1913. He hit .313 in 1918/19, .296 in 1927/28, and led the league in 1932/33 with an average of .432.
In 1914/15 he became Habana's playing manager and led the team to a championship. It was the first of 13 championships he won at the helm of the team (the others were in 1918/19, 1920/21, 1921/, 1926/27, 1927/28, 1928/29, 1940/41, 1943/44, 1947/48, 1950/51, 1951/52, and 1952/53). Cuban baseball historian Jorge Figueredo calls his 1927/28 Habana team, which included Jud Wilson
, Martín Dihigo
, Chino Smith
, Alejandro Oms
, Ramón Herrera
, and Manuel Cueto
, "probably the best they ever had in their illustrious history."
González retired as Habana's League manager after the 1952/53 season and in retirement remained in 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., González 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.
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
, coach
Coach (baseball)
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
and interim manager in American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
during the first half of the 20th century. Along with Adolfo Luque, González 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
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, González played winter baseball in the Cuban League
Cuban League
The Cuban League was one of the earliest and longest lasting professional baseball leagues outside of the United States, operating in Cuba from 1878 to 1961...
from 1910 to 1936 and was a long-time manager. He was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame
Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame
The Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame is a hall of fame that honors eminent baseball players from the pre-revolution Cuban League. Established in 1939, by 1961 it had honored 68 players whose names are shown on a marble plaque at Havana's Estadio Latinoamericano...
in 1955.
United States
González, a right-handed-hitting catcher, made his National LeagueNational League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
debut with the 1912 Boston Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
, playing only one game. During that time he played "Negro baseball" with integrated teams from Cuba, the Cuban Stars
Cuban Stars (West)
The Cuban Stars were a team of Cuban professional baseball players that competed in the United States Negro leagues from 1907 to 1932. The team was also sometimes known as the Stars of Cuba, the Cuban All-Stars, the Havana Reds, the Almendares Blues, or simply as the Cubans. For one season, 1921,...
in 1911, 1912 and 1914; the Long Branch Cubans in 1913. During his organized baseball career he appeared with the New York Lincoln Giants in 1916 (Riley, 326).
González returned to the major leagues with the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
sometime in 1914 and went on to play 16 more seasons (1914–21; 1924–29; 1931–32) with the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
(in three separate stints), New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
and Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
, batting
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
.253 in 1,042 games. He appeared in one World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
- 1929
1929 World Series
In the 1929 World Series, the Philadelphia Athletics beat the Chicago Cubs in five games.The famous "Mack Attack" occurred in 1929, named for manager of the Athletics, Connie Mack, in which the Athletics overcame an eight-run deficit by scoring ten runs in the seventh inning of Game 4...
with the Cubs - and was hitless in his only at-bat.
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
farm club, the Columbus Red Birds
Columbus Red Birds
The Columbus Red Birds was the name of a top-level minor league baseball team that played in Columbus, Ohio, in the American Association from 1931 through 1954. The Columbus club, a member of the Association continuously since 1902, was previously known as the Columbus Senators — a typical...
, and joined the St. Louis coaching staff in 1934 under manager Frankie Frisch
Frankie Frisch
Francis “Frankie” Frisch , nicknamed the "Fordham Flash" or "The Old Flash", was a German American Major League Baseball player of the early twentieth century....
. It was the year of the "Gashouse Gang
Gashouse Gang
The Gashouse Gang was a nickname applied to the St. Louis Cardinals Major League Baseball team of .The Cardinals, by most accounts, earned this nickname from the team's generally very shabby appearance and rough-and-tumble tactics...
," the hard-playing Cardinal team that stormed to the NL pennant and a seven-game Fall Classic
1934 World Series
The 1934 World Series matched the St. Louis Cardinals against the Detroit Tigers, with the Cardinals' "Gashouse Gang" winning in seven games for their third championship in nine years....
triumph over the Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
.
González 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
Ray Blades
Francis Raymond Blades was an American left fielder, manager, coach and scout in Major League Baseball.A native of McLeansboro, Illinois, Blades was first scouted as a baseball player as a teenager in 1913. Branch Rickey, then the manager of the St. Louis Browns, spotted Blades during a sandlot...
the following season, but again became the Cards' acting pilot in June 1940, serving between Blades and his permanent successor, Billy Southworth
Billy Southworth
William Harrison Southworth was an American right fielder, center fielder and manager in Major League Baseball. Playing in and and from to , he batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Southworth managed in and from through...
. Overall, Gonzalez' major league managing record was nine wins and 13 defeats (.409).
González 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
1946 World Series
-Game 1:Sunday, October 6, 1946 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, MissouriThe Red Sox won Game 1 when Rudy York hit a home run into the left field bleachers.-Game 2:Monday, October 7, 1946 at Sportsman's Park in St...
, Gonzalez was coaching at third base when Enos Slaughter
Enos Slaughter
Enos Bradsher Slaughter , nicknamed "Country", was an American Major League Baseball right fielder. During a 19-year baseball career, he played from 1938–1942 and 1946-1959 for four different teams, but is noted primarily for his time with the St...
raced home from first base on a single
Single (baseball)
In baseball, a single is the most common type of base hit, accomplished through the act of a batter safely reaching first base by hitting a fair ball and getting to first base before a fielder puts him out...
by Harry Walker
Harry Walker
Harry William Walker, known to baseball fans of the middle 20th century as "Harry the Hat" , was an American baseball player, manager and coach.-Early life and family:...
. "Slaughter's Mad Dash
Slaughter's Mad Dash
The Mad Dash, or Slaughter's Mad Dash, refers to an event in the eighth inning of the seventh game of the 1946 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox.-Background:...
" scored the winning run and earned the Cardinals the world championship. Although films taken of the play appear to show González waving Slaughter in, other accounts report that Slaughter ignored the coach's stop sign and took home on his own initiative.
González is credited with contributing a lasting piece of baseball terminology. Asked by the Cardinals to scout a winter league player, González 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.
Cuba
González debuted in 1910 as a shortstop for the Fé club. He was a part-time infielder his first three seasons before switching to catcher and gaining a full-time roster spot with HabanaHabana (baseball club)
The Habana club was one of the oldest and most distinguished baseball teams in the old Cuban League, which existed from 1878 to 1961. Habana, representing the city of Havana, was the only team to play in the league every season of its existence and was one of its most successful franchises...
in the winter of 1913. He hit .313 in 1918/19, .296 in 1927/28, and led the league in 1932/33 with an average of .432.
In 1914/15 he became Habana's playing manager and led the team to a championship. It was the first of 13 championships he won at the helm of the team (the others were in 1918/19, 1920/21, 1921/, 1926/27, 1927/28, 1928/29, 1940/41, 1943/44, 1947/48, 1950/51, 1951/52, and 1952/53). Cuban baseball historian Jorge Figueredo calls his 1927/28 Habana team, which included Jud Wilson
Jud Wilson
Ernest Judson Wilson , nicknamed "Boojum," was an American third baseman, first baseman, and manager in Negro league baseball. Born in Remington, Virginia, he served in World War I, and during his career played primarily for the Baltimore Black Sox , Homestead Grays , and Philadelphia Stars...
, Martín Dihigo
Martín Dihigo
Martín Magdaleno Dihigo Llanos was a Cuban player in baseball's Negro leagues and Latin American leagues who excelled at several positions, primarily as a pitcher and second baseman...
, Chino Smith
Chino Smith
Charles "Chino" Smith was an American outfielder in Negro league baseball who was one of the Negro leagues' most skillful hitters of the mid-1920s and early 1930s. He stood only 5'6" tall but could hit the ball with prodigious power and efficiency. In fact, Satchel Paige called him one of the two...
, Alejandro Oms
Alejandro Oms
Alejandro Oms was a Cuban center fielder in Negro league baseball and Latin American baseball, most notably with the Cuban Stars . Born in Santa Clara, Las Villas, he died at age 51 in Havana....
, Ramón Herrera
Mike Herrera (baseball)
Ramón "Mike" Herrera [er-ray'-ra] was an infielder in Major League Baseball, playing mainly as a second baseman for the Boston Red Sox in part of two seasons. Listed at 5' 6", 147 lb., Herrera batted and threw right-handed...
, and Manuel Cueto
Manuel Cueto
Manuel Cueto Melo was a Cuban Major League Baseball player. His professional career lasted from at least 1911, when he played for the Jacksonville Tarpons of the South Atlantic League until 1939, when he played professionally in the Canal Zone League in Panama.From 1912 to 1933, Cueto played 20...
, "probably the best they ever had in their illustrious history."
González retired as Habana's League manager after the 1952/53 season and in retirement remained in his native country. After the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
brought Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
to power in 1959, and the ensuing chill in relations between Cuba and the U.S., González 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.