Marco still draws inspiration from Dad
SEATTLE -- For Marco Gonzales, the baseball dream started early, courtesy of his dad. Though truth be told, his dream might have been skewed just a little by the stars in his eyes at age 5, when he got to travel with his father, Frank Gonzales, while his dad was pitching in the Minor Leagues.
“He tells a story that is pretty funny,” Gonzales recalled. “He was in Triple-A with somebody and we were showing up to a hotel, a Motel 8 on the side of the road someplace. And we got in there, and the beds were creaking and the mattresses were horrible, the carpet was horrible. He said the dresser drawer fell off when he opened it.
“And he looked back and I was lying in the bed with my hands folded behind my head and my feet kicked up saying, ‘Ahhh, this is the life!’”
For Gonzales, the memories of his father playing pro ball are fuzzy, but the early influence is crystal clear. And, indeed, Frank Gonzales’ oldest son has grown up to become a quality pitcher with the Mariners, driven by the same discipline and love of the game that pushed his father through 10 years in the Minors and propels him still as a coach with the Rockies’ Class A Lancaster club in the California League this season.
For a young Gonzales, it was the only life he ever wanted and he’s followed in his dad’s footsteps and beyond, turning into a first-round Draft pick out of Gonzaga and now in his fifth year in the Majors.
“There are a lot of things like that where he just got me on board with being passionate about baseball,” said the 27-year-old southpaw. “He will forever be one of my coaches. It’s a great thing to have him always in my corner.”
On Father’s Day, dad and son will be separated by the whims of baseball, as usual. His dad follows his own coaching path while Marco plays for the Mariners. But they are bound by their common bond.
“It’s always kind of crazy whenever we meet up, because we basically have the same schedule, just in different parts of the country,” Marco said. “My mom is back home in Colorado and my brother is still playing collegiately, so we’re kind of everywhere and it’s pretty unique when we get to cross paths.”
Frank Gonzales was a lefty, just like his son, and was drafted by the Tigers in the 16th round out of Colorado State in 1989. He wound up playing eight seasons in the Minors and three seasons in independent ball, as well as overseas ventures to Taiwan and Venezuela.
His dad helped coach Marco’s youth travel team from ages 10-13 and remains a helpful mentor both by words and example.
“Usually, there’s a good week or two when he’ll be around for some of my throwing early in the offseason,” Gonzales said. “He’ll have some input, just getting going and getting off on the right foot and making sure I’m doing things the right way.
“He always instilled the work ethic right away. He said you might not always be the most-talented player, but there are people out there that will work harder than you and you have to make sure that is never the case. I always take that to heart. Any time I wanted to sleep in or hang out with friends on the weekend, he’d always say, ‘There is someone out there getting better. What are you going to do?’ That kind of showed me that I wanted this really bad. He was a good inspiration.”
During Father’s Day games, for the fourth consecutive year, all Major League players will wear specially-designed New Era caps to raise awareness and funds for the fight against prostate cancer.
Players also have the option to wear Stance multi-pattern blue-dyed socks. MLB will again donate 100% of its royalties from the sales of specialty caps and apparel emblazoned with the symbolic blue ribbon -- a minimum $300,000 collective donation -- to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer.
This effort also includes the annual Prostate Cancer Foundation “Home Run Challenge,” which has given fans the chance to make a one-time monetary donation or pledge for every home run hit by their favorite MLB Clubs during the time period of Saturday, June 1 through Father’s Day, Sunday, June 16, all the while tracking where their team stacks up in a “Team vs. Team” competition.
Every dollar donated through the Home Run Challenge goes to PCF to fund critical research to defeat prostate cancer. As of June 13, more than $1.26 million has been pledged via the Home Run Challenge in 2019. Since inception, the Home Run Challenge has raised more than $51 million for PCF, the world’s leading philanthropic organization funding and accelerating prostate cancer research.
Founded in 1993, Prostate Cancer Foundation has funded nearly $800 million of cutting-edge research by 2,200 scientists at 220 leading cancer centers in 22 countries around the world.
Because of PCF’s commitment to ending death and suffering from prostate cancer, the death rate is down more than 52% and 1.5 million men are alive today as a result. PCF research now impacts 67 forms of human cancer by focusing on immunotherapy, the microbiome and food as medicine. Learn more at pcf.org.