Luis Emilio Gonzalez...he and his wife, Christine, have triplets, Megan (6/26/98), Jacob (6/26/98) and Alyssa (6/26/98)...the family
makes their home in Scottsdale, AZ...graduated from Tampa's Jefferson High School in 1985...is in that school's Hall of Fame along
with former teammate and big leaguer Tino Martinez...served as the Grand Marshal for the 2002 Fiesta Bowl...is extremely active in
the community, establishing, along with his wife, the popular "Kids Going Gonzo for School" program in Arizona, while also working
closely with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Phoenix Children's Hospital...nominated for the 2000 Roberto Clemente Award...
participated in the Arizona Quest for Kids, a scholarship program for Arizona youth designed to keep students in the state...was
named to the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, and was sworn in as a committee member on Jan. 30, 2003,
in the Oval Office...other members of the Council include Steve Young, Cal Ripken Jr., Senator John Glenn and Senator Bob Dole...
has served on the Board of Directors for the Houston chapter of the American Cancer Society and has been the spokesperson
for Life Gift organ donors...was named the City of Houston's 1997 Sportsman of the Year by the RBI Foundation...attended the
Dodgers' Annual Children's Holiday Party in December 2006...was on the Dodger Caravan in February 2007, where he met with
area youth and participated in a baseball clinic for youngsters...served as an analyst for ESPN Radio during the Division Series
playoffs from 2003-05...was an analyst for FOX during the 2006 NLCS between New York and St. Louis.
2007
Veteran outfielder was third on the Dodgers with 68 RBI and 56 walks, tied for third on the team with 15 homers and fourth in games played (139)
Finished the season with 23 doubles to give him 570 in his career, which ranks 20th all-time...on June 11, surpassed Eddie Murray who was the Dodger hitting coach at the time...will enter 2008 second among active players in that category behind Barry Bonds (601)
His 68 runs batted in gave him 1,392 in his career, which ranks 67th all-time...during the season, surpassed 15 players including Hall of Famers Carlton Fisk, Duke Snider, Orlando Cepeda and Johnny Bench, among others
His 15 homers gave him 340 as a left fielder in his career, the third most in Major League history behind Barry Bonds (725) and Ted Williams (477)...surpassed Ralph Kiner on that list with his 335th home run on June 24 at Tampa Bay
Had 129 hits to give him 2,502 in his career to climb 22 spots into 85th place all-time...registered his 2,500th career hit on Sept. 21 vs. Arizona (Bob Wickman)...the last big leaguer to collect his 2,500th hit in a Dodger uniform was Murray on Sept. 30, 1991...notched career hit No. 2,400 on May 5 at Atlanta...singled on May 26 vs. Chicago for the 2,416th hit of his career, passing Mickey Mantle for sole possession of 100th place on the all-time hit list
Reached double figures in home runs for the 13th consecutive season and 16th time in his 17 full big league campaigns...finished the year with 346 career homers, which ranks 79th all-time...surpassed such notables as Bobby Bonds and Darryl Strawberry, among others
Appeared in 127 games in left field and committed just one error
Had his best month in June, hitting .301 (28-for-93) with four homers and 19 RBI
Batted .317 vs. left-handers
Hit .356 (37-for-104) when leading off an inning
At the All-Star Break, was hitting .294 and was tied for second on the team with 10 homers and 41 RBI... led the club with a .384 on-base percentage at the break and was second with a .471 slugging percentage
Hit two home runs on April 8 at San Francisco, his 26th career multi-homer contest...had nine total bases in the game which tied for a Dodger season high
Homered on June 22 at Tampa Bay to become just the fourth Dodger to go deep as a designated hitter (Olmedo Saenz, Mike Kinkade and Chad Kreuter)
Batted .326 (76-for-233) with 10 homers and 46 RBI in Dodger wins compared to .229 (53-for-231) with five homers and 22 RBI in the team's losses
On June 26, tied his career high with four walks and reached base in all five plate appearances
Made his 17th consecutive Opening Day start on April 2 at Milwaukee
Hit .300 (12-for-40) with a homer, three doubles, five RBI and six runs scored during Spring Training
Was a valuable part of the Dodgers'community efforts...the father of triplets took part in a Macy's Father's Day promotion where he signed autographs at the Glendale department store and then donated his compensation of $2,500 to a family in need and hosted them at a Dodger game...spoke to youngsters at the Disney School Field Trip Day at Dodger Stadium on July 18...participated in the Dodgers Dream Foundation Bowling Extravaganza, hosted by teammate Derek Lowe on July 30...took part in the 2007 Dodger Community Caravan.
2006
At age 38, played in 153 games and logged 586 at-bats...hit .271 with 15 homers and 73
RBI while ripping a career-high 52 doubles, which was second in the National League
Scored 93 runs, his most since 2001
Played 150 games in left field, owning a .996 fielding percentage...made just one error
on the season
Hit .389 (37-for-95) in July with four homers, 16 doubles and 15 RBI
Batted .285 after the All-Star break with eight homers, 28 doubles, 35 RBI and a .480
slugging percentage
Did his best work against the World-Champion Cardinals, going 14-for-27 (.519) with four
doubles, a homer and a .778 slugging percentage against St. Louis...had two four-hit
games against the Cardinals, going 4-for-5 on both May 14 at the New Busch Stadium
and Sept. 10 in Arizona
In April, he became just the 20th player in Major League history to hit 300 home runs and
register 500 doubles in his career, joining a list of players that includes Hall of Famers
Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Lou Gehrig and Eddie Murray, the Dodgers' current
hitting coach
On July 1, went 4-for-4 at Oakland, including a season-high three doubles
2005
Won the 2005 Branch Rickey Award, the third Arizona player to win the award. ... Was the team's lone representative at the All-Star Game. ... Had a pinch-hit RBI double in the ninth inning of the Midsummer Classic. ... Hit leadoff for the seventh time in his career on Sept. 30 against San Francisco.
2004
Gonzo arrived in spring training well aware of the 50% tear in his right elbow, but was determined to attempt to play
through the injury in hopes of helping the Diamondbacks compete in 2004...after a slew of other injuries to his teammates,
trade deadline deals and an uncharacteristic losing record, he succumbed to "Tommy John" surgery on August 2 and missed
the remainder of the season...a testimony to Gonzalez's toughness came when it was determined during the surgical process
by Dr. Michael Lee and Dr. Donald Sheridan, that the All-Star leftfielder had completely torn the ligament in his elbow while
playing through the first 4 months of the year...the surgeons repaired the injury and took a ligament graph from his right
wrist to strengthen the elbow ligament...while active, Luis capitalized on the pitch offerings as the #3 hitter in front of
cleanup hitter Richie Sexson but his power numbers dropped with the injury to Sexson...Gonzalez continued his Opening
Day success, providing the D'Backs with all of their scoring via a pair of bookend home runs, going deep in the first and
ninth innings...it was his 19th career multi-homer effort, 18th of the 2-homer variety...he is the second Diamondback to go
deep twice in a season opener, matching Bernard Gilkey's effort from April 5, 1999, in Dodger Stadium...Luis now has 5
career Opening Day homers, 4 as a D'Back...he scored in 14 of 17 games from April 9-27, crossing the plate 20 times during
that span...he collected his 200th career double on April 30 off of Philadelphia's Randy Wolf...Gonzalez reached base
safely via a hit or walk in 24 straight games from April 11-May 8...on May 10 against the Mets, Gonzo homered in the first,
third and fourth innings, his second career 3-homer game, first since June 8, 2001, at Kansas City, and the sixth 3-homer
affair in franchise history...he also drove in a season-high 4 RBI in that contest...he had a 2-homer game on May 19 in
Atlanta, including a game-winning, solo blast in the 11th inning of a 6-4 win...he homered 12 times through his first 38
games but clubbed only 5 roundtrippers over his final 67 contests... Gonzo reached a career milestone on May 22 at Florida,
collecting his 2,000th career hit with a first-inning single off of Brad Penny...he was ejected from the May 25 contest in San
Francisco for excessive arguing...he earned N.L. Player-of-the-Week honors for May 31-June 6 after hitting in 7 straight
games at a .577 clip (15-for-26) with a .633 on-base percentage, a league-lead tying 5 doubles and 6 multi-hit affairs...he
propelled Arizona to a 6-5 win with a game-winning, RBI single in the ninth inning on June 1 vs. the Giants...on June 12
in Toronto, his 3-run homer in the sixth inning was followed by a Shea Hillenbrand blast, the 46th set of back-to-back clouts
in team history...Gonzo picked up his 450th career double on June 27 off of the Tigers' Mike Maroth...he became the first
player in franchise history to reach the 1,000 hit mark with a game-tying, RBI double on June 30 vs. San Diego...he halted
a 60 at-bat homerless streak with a solo blast on July 3 against the Twins...the next night in Los Angeles, Luis delivered a
pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth inning and scored the tying run on Chad Tracy's single, a run that snapped Eric Gagne's
streak of 84 consecutive save conversions...Gonzo reached base safely via a hit or walk in 27 consecutive outings from June
11-July 9...he finished the season with 11 intentional walks, tied for eighth in the league, despite missing the last 2 months.
2003
Gonzalez led the Majors with a .354 average against right-handed pitchers, while ranking in the top 10 in the National League in doubles (46, 8th), intentional walks (17, 4th), multi-hit games (54, T-7th), total bases (308, 9th), on-base percentage (.402, T-9th) and extra-base hits (76, 7th) ... his .342 road average finished second to Atlanta's Gary Sheffield while Gonzo's .338 average with runners in scoring position tied for ninth in the NL ... .he rebounded from a separated left shoulder that abruptly ended his 2002 season ... after proving in exhibition play that he was fully recovered from the injury, Luis signed a 3-year contract extension on March 18 ... he made his fifth consecutive Opening Day start for Arizona, but after a 2-for-13 start to the season he hit safely in 6 straight, including 4 consecutive multi-hit affairs to begin the streak, at a .478 clip (11-for-23) ... he took Dodger southpaw Tom Martin deep for his first homer of the year and 250th career blast on April 7, a game-tying solo shot in the eighth, that sent the game into overtime with Arizona prevailing in 12 innings ... he followed the next day with a game-tying 2-run shot off of Kaz Ishii, then a solo blast off of Darren Dreifort on April 9, the first time he had homered in 3 straight games since June 16-19, 2001 ... he plated the game-winning run with an RBI single in the ninth inning of a 4-3 win over the Rockies on April 16 ... he batted .336 (36-for-107) with 7 homers through the first 28 games with 12 multi-hit affairs ... he set a club record with 36 hits through April 30 and tied the team monthly record with 11 doubles in April, a mark he originally set in May 1999 and was tied by Junior Spivey in April 2002 ... Luis reached base safely via a hit or walk in 39 of 40 games from April 5-May 19, picking up at least one hit in 31 of those contests ... he popped his 150th homer as a D-Back on May 4, a solo shot off the Braves' Greg Maddux ... Luis had an RBI double, the 400th of his career, in the ninth inning on May 13 at Philadelphia ... his 2-run homer in the third inning on May 26 was followed by a David Dellucci homer, the 40th set of back-to-back homers in franchise history and the 11th time Gonzalez had been involved ... he was removed from the May 27 game with a contusion of his left calf after being hit by a pitch in the ninth inning of a 13-inning loss to the Giants ... he picked up his 500th and 501st career RBI with a 2-run homer in the opening inning of the May 31 game in San Diego, driving in 4 runs overall, his first 4-RBI game since July 22, 2002, vs. Colorado ... he followed the next day (June 1) with another 3-hit, 4-RBI effort in San Diego ... he had a 6-game hit streak from May 30-June 4, during which he batted .444 (12-for-27) ... he had 4 RBI on June 14 in Minnesota, his 34th career game with at least 4 RBI ... on June 18 in Houston, he opened the ninth with a game-tying solo homer off of southpaw Billy Wagner, becoming only the seventh left-handed hitter to ever homer off of Wagner ... the D-Backs eventually won the contest to jumpstart a team record 12-game winning streak ... Luis drove in a season-high 5 runs, his eighth career 5-RBI game, with a game-tying, 2-run homer in the sixth and a 3-run blast that provided vital insurance in an 8-7 win at Colorado on June 30 ... it was his first multi-homer game of the season and 17th of his career ... he hit safely in 11 of 12 games, including 7 straight, to close out June, batting .422 (19-for-45) with 4 doubles, 4 homers and 14 RBI ... he hit .384 (38-for-99) with 13 multi-hit affairs and only 2 strikeouts in 99 AB's in June ... he reached base safely in 19 consecutive contests from June 14-July 4 as he hit .400 (28-for-70) with 14 walks and 20 RBI ... Luis batted cleanup in 32 straight games from June 1-July 6 with a .367 average (44-for-120) with 25 runs, 10 doubles, 6 homers and 28 RBI ... he hit .244 (11-for-45) in 13 appearances leading up to the All-Star break and was named to his third straight All-Star Game and fourth in 5 years as a D'Back, singling off Oakland's Mark Mulder in his lone at bat U.S. Cellular Field ... starting with a 2-for-4 effort on July 13, he fashioned an 11-game hitting streak through July 26, posting a .386 clip (17-for-44) ... the streak was interrupted by a 0-for-1, 3-walk game on July 27 against the Dodgers, after which he hit safely in 8 consecutive games (.313, 10-for-32) ... he snapped a 71 at bat homerless streak with a solo shot off Cubs' lefty Shawn Estes on August 2 in Chicago ... he homered the following day for his sixth consecutive 20-homer season ... he reached base in 29 straight games from July 9-August 13, hitting safely in 24 of those affairs with a .308 average (33-for-107) and 19 walks ... that stretch culminated with a go-ahead, 2-run shot off of Felix Heredia in the eighth inning of a 3-1 win in Cincinnati ... on September 2 and 3, he batted fifth in the order, the first time he'd hit below the cleanup spot since April 27, 1999, at Houston ... he hit safely in 5 consecutive games from September 4-8 at a .421 clip (8-for-19) ... he recorded his second multi-homer game of the season on September 17 in Los Angeles taking Dodger rookie Edwin Jackson deep twice ... Luis compiled a .349 average (15-for-43) with 12 RBI over his final 13 outings ... he clubbed 8 home runs against lefties this season and has gone deep against southpaws for 60 of his 275 career roundtrippers.
How obtained:
Acquired with cash considerations from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for outfielder Karim Garcia,
December 28, 1998.
2002
Gonzo's year came to a quick end on one play in St. Louis as the final week of the regular season unfolded...
attempting to make the play on a quickly sinking fly ball down the leftfield line by former high school teammate Tino
Martinez, Luis collided with Tony Womack and suffered a season ending left shoulder separation that was surgically
repaired on September 30 by Dr. Michael Lee...the injury closed out a campaign that didn't produce numbers quite as
gaudy as the ones that got baseball's attention in 2001, but provided an overall solid year at the plate, finishing with
a .288 average with 28 home runs and 103 RBI...the possessor of no career 100-RBI seasons prior to the trade that
brought him to Arizona, Gonzo hit the century mark for a fourth consecutive year...since coming on board from Detroit
for Karim Garcia in the winter prior to the 1999 campaign, Gonzalez has hit .316 (747-for-2365) with 142 home runs and
470 RBI...unlike the record-setting campaign of 2001 when he never went more than 2 consecutive games without collecting
a hit, Gonzo had to endure some offensive slides last season... his year began slowly, hitting just .111 out of the gate
(3-for-27), but on April 8 he kicked off a stretch in which he hit safely in 14 of 16 games at a .362 clip (21-for-58)
with 5 home runs and 15 RBI...he then fell into an 0-for-19 drought over a 5-game stretch from April 27-May 2, dropping
his season average 51 points from .282 to .231...he snapped the 0'fer with a pinch hit double on May 3, his first missed
starting assignment since May 27, 2001, and the hit jumpstarted a 19-game stretch in which he batted .412 (28-for-68)
with 17 runs, 4 homers and 15 RBI to return his average to the familiar .300 level...included was a 6-game hitting
streak where he went 13-for-24 (.542) with 3 home runs and 10 RBI, featuring a 4-RBI effort on May 13 in Pittsburgh and
a club record-tying 4-run affair on May 17 vs. Philly...once he returned his season average to the more palatable .300
mark, the opposition also began pitching with a little more caution as evidenced by his 24 walks over 19 games from May
17-June 7, including a team record tying 4 freebies on May 26 against the Dodgers...he was all of the offense that Rick
Helling and Byung-Hyun Kim would need on May 30 in San Francisco, hitting a solo homer off of Kirk Rueter into McCovey
Cove for a 1-0 victory at Pacific Bell Park...it was Gonzo's second career splashdown in the Cove...all told, beginning
with the pinch-hit double on May 3, Gonzo had a 49-game stretch in which he batted .331 (58-for-175) with 10 home runs,
39 RBI and 37 walks...Luis experienced his second offensive drought as the month of June concluded, going 0-for-17, but
he picked it up again on the Fourth of July, then really sizzled after the All-Star break, coinciding with Bob Brenly's
decision to move Gonzalez out of his normal #3 spot in the order to the cleanup position...named to his third career
All-Star Game, second in a row, Gonzalez came out of the break hitting .413 (38-for-92) over a 24-game stretch featuring
25 runs, 8 homers and 28 RBI...highlights included his 10th career game of at least 5 RBI in a July 17 win at
Colorado...he raced to his first career inside-the-park home run on July 28, highlighting a 4-for-4 night at the plate
with a fifth inning trek around the bases off of San Diego's Brett Tomko...Luis followed a week later with a couple of
huge home runs in Arizona's 4-game sweep of the Mets in Shea Stadium...he delivered the key blow in the third win of the
series on August 4 with a 3-run shot off of lefty Mark Guthrie to snap a 7-7 tie in the seventh inning, falling behind
in the count 0-2, then fouling off 5 straight pitches before hitting one off the scoreboard in right-center...Luis
prefaced that blast the day before with a 2-run homer in the first game of a doubleheader off of Steve Trachsel, giving
him 1,000 career RBI...after the series with the Mets, Gonzalez fell into his longest dry spell of the year, an 0-for-24
slide that was exacerbated by his first major injury as a D'Back...he missed 7 games from August 14-21 with a rib cage
injury, snapping his streak of 446 consecutive regular season games played, which was the longest active streak at the
time in the majors...he had not had a full day off since September 30, 1999, the day after the D'Backs clinched their
first division crown... once deemed healthy, Gonzo was back in the lineup on August 22, and the next night he proved to
be fully recovered by hitting a 2-run first inning homer off the Cubs' Kerry Wood to help stake the D'Backs to a 6-2
win.
2001
Though he will be forever remembered for a ball that traveled a little over 100 feet last November 4, Gonzo's
regular season work was recorded as one of the top power displays in big league history ... he homered on the
final day of the season to finish with 57, the eighth different player ever to hit at least that many roundtrippers in a season ... Luis finished third in the MVP balloting behind Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa ... he obliterated his previous bests in virtually every category while placing his name among baseball's elite ... his 419 total bases finished second in the N.L. and tied Lou Gehrig for the 10th highest total in big league history,while his 100 extra-base hits made him just the 12th player (15th time) to ever break the century mark in long hits ... Gonzo set the tone for a phenomenal year in the first series in Los Angeles, hitting a 2-run homer off of Dodger Jose Nunez to stake the D-Backs to a 3-2 win ... Luis followed the next night with 2 more home runs and was on his way to setting a National League record and tying Ken Griffey Jr's major league mark with 13 home runs in April ... Luis set the N.L. mark and tied the big league record on April 26, hitting a solo homer off of Atlanta's Greg Maddux in the first inning, then connecting on a 3-run blast off of southpaw Damian Moss in the eighth ... Gonzalez was named the N.L. Player-of-the-Month for April, then remained hot in May, fashioning a 14-game hitting streak in which he batted .429 (24-for-56) with 6 home runs and 13 RBI ... included was his fourth 2-homer game of the young season on May 17 in Cincinnati, becoming the fastest ever to 20 home runs, achieving the mark in 40 games, a game quicker than Mickey Mantle in 1956 ... Luis recorded the 1,500th hit of his career by tripling on May 30 in San Francisco ... he was awarded the league Player-of-the-Month award for June, hitting .417 (43-for-103) in 27 games with 26 runs, 7 doubles, 12 homers and 35 RBI, totaling 86 bases for a June slugging pct. of .835 ... included was the first 3-homer game of his career, going deep to all 3 fields of Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium to lead the D-Backs to an 11-4 win ... Gonzo hit another hot streak at mid-month, homering 6 times and driving in 15 in a 7-game stretch to earn co-N.L. Player-of-the-Week honors with Houston's Lance Berkman ... included was a 2-homer, 6-RBI affair on June 19 in Los Angeles, then 2 nights later in Colorado he hit a grand slam off of Colorado's Gabe White, Gonzo's first slam since June 20, 1997 ... he recorded his seventh multi-homer game of the season on July 3 in Houston 's Enron Field, taking Scott Elarton deep twice, including his second grand slam of 2001, third of his career ... he continued the long ball momentum into the All-Star break, though Gonzo did not take a break, as he was voted into the N.L. starting lineup, going 1-for-2 ... he was also the surprise winner of the Home Run Derby the day before in Safeco Field, knocking off Sammy Sosa in the finals ... when regular season play resumed, Luis snapped the longest home run drought in franchise history with a 2-run blast in Anaheim off of Ismael Valdes to give Arizona the lead en route to a 6-2 win and halting a stretch of 58.0 innings in which the D-Backs had not homered ... he hit his 39th and 40th homers in Arizona's 100th game on July 24 against San Diego, driving in 5 in an 11-0 victory, his eighth and final multi-homer game of the year ... Gonzalez became only the fifth player ever to hit 50 home runs before September 1 when he took Kirk Rueter deep at home on August 29, joining Bonds, Sosa, Mark McGwire and Roger Maris ... though he finished the year with 57 home runs, #54 was one of his biggest, his only "walk-off" blast of the year to stake Arizona to a 4-3 win in 11 innings over the Dodgers on September 28 ... he played in all 162 games for the second consecutive year, closing the season with the majors' longest active streak of games played at 327 ... counting the post-season, Luis was the first player to participate in 179 games in a year ... 2001 was his third straight 100-RBI season with Arizona after never driving in more than 79 in any of his 8 prior seasons ... his homer on July 13 in Anaheim was the 200th of his career ... he has homered 137 times in his last 4 seasons, totaling 2,388 at bats, a 17.4 at bat per home run, after hitting just 84 in his first 8 big league seasons totaling 2,767 AB's for a 32.9 ratio ... Gonzo's final numbers matched him with Babe Ruth's 1921 campaign as the only players in history to hit at least .320 with 35 doubles, 50 homers, 120 runs, 130 RBI, 100 walks, 100 extra-base hits and 400 total bases in a season ... Gonzalez also completed his first career errorless campaign playing in 161 games in left ... his only non-start of the year was on May 27 in San Diego, but he appeared as a pinch hitter ... one of the down sides to becoming a power hitter was that he finished the year tied for fifth in the N.L. in hit by pitches with 14, then was plunked 3 times in the post-season.
2001 Postseason Highlights: Luis entered the bottom of the ninth inning of the seventh game of the World Series hitless in 4 at bats, but by the end of that at bat he would be in the midst of the greatest celebration to ever hit the Valley of the Sun ... with the bases loaded and a drawn-in infield he sent teammates and fans into a frenzy with a bloop single off of Mariano Rivera to drive home Jay Bell with the winning run that staked Arizona to a remarkable 3-2 win and its first World Championship ... Gonzo prefaced the game #7 heroics with 2 hits in the 15-2 runaway in game #6, including a 2-run double in Arizona's 8-run third inning ... he jumpstarted the World Series experience with a 2-run homer off of Mike Mussina in game #1, giving the D-Backs a 3-1 lead en route to a 9-1 triumph ... it was Gonzo's third roundtripper of the post-season and 60th overall on the year ... the Fall Classic also featured a sidebar in which Gonzalez and his childhood best friend, Tino Martinez, each played a huge role in their club's success ... raised in Tampa, FL, they played on the same Jefferson High School team that went to the state finals in 1985 and even worked in the same cigar factory that was run by Martinez's grandfather ... Gonzo's overall postseason batting average was an uncharacteristic .246 (16-for-65), due in a large part to an injured right wrist from being hit by pitches and a right hamstring strain ... he still provided key offensive contributions throughout Arizona's run to the title, including a big night in Atlanta in game #4 of the NLCS when the D-Backs took a 3-1 lead in the series ... Luis was on base 5 times going 2-for-3 with 2 walks, a hit by pitch while scoring twice and knocking in 3 with a ninth inning homer to blow open the 11-4 victory ... he closed out the Division Series against St. Louis by reaching base safely in 7 of his last 11 plate appearances over the final 3 games, including a solo homer off of Darryl Kile in Arizona's 5-3 win at Busch Stadium in game #3.
2000
Enjoyed 2nd straight solid season in a Diamondback uniform, establishing career bests in doubles (47), home runs (31) and RBI (114), breaking the personal marks he set during the '99 season, while also becoming the only D'Back in the franchise's brief history to appear in and start all 162 games...earned co-Player-of-the-Year honors with Steve Finley as voted by the Arizona chapter of the BBWAA...was also named to his 2nd consecutive Good Guy Award by the BBWAA...he was selected to travel to Japan as part of the MLB All-Star tour in November, playing 8 exhibition games against Japanese League All-Star teams.
Set a club record with 80 extra-base hits and is the first Diamondback to drive in 100 runs in consecutive seasons.
Opened the season going 10-for-19 (.526) through the first 5 games, featuring a club record-tying 3-double affair on April 7 vs. the Pirates... had an up-and-down first 5 weeks of the season in which his average dropped to .226 on April 20, returned to .273 in a week's time, then fell again to .229 as late as May 6 before kicking off a stretch in which Gonzo never went more than 2 straight games without a hit the rest of the way...the week between slumps featured career-best power display, hitting 5 home runs in a 6-game stretch including a club record-tying 3 straight games with a roundtripper from April 26-28...he later tied that mark with 3 in a row from June 7-10.
Recorded 300th career double on June 18 vs. San Diego.
Earned his first career N.L. Player-of-the-Week honors by hitting .417 (10-for-24) from June 5-11 with 3 doubles, 4 homers, 8 RBI and a 1.042 slugging pct...would earn 2nd league weekly honor for July 24-30, sharing the award with Colorado's Jeffrey Hammonds...2nd award was based on .450 week (9-for-20) with 4 homers and 6 RBI, featuring 8th career 2-homer game on July 30 at Florida.
Award winning week began with the first cycle in club history on July 5 in Houston, the 229th in major league history...Gonzo was 2-for-4 with a single and a double entering the 8th inning, but tripled in the 8th and homered in the 9th to become the 10th player in baseball
history to both hit for the cycle and author a 30-game hitting streak (1999)...also tied a club record by scoring 4 runs in the game, the 4th 4-run game in franchise history.
Had 9th career 2-homer game on August 3 against Atlanta, while driving in 5 to match the team-high for a game during the 2000 season.
Narrowly missed his 2nd cycle of the season on August 19, collecting a single, double and triple vs. Chicago Cubs.
Had a season-high 14-game hitting streak from August 6-21, hitting .382 (21-for-55) with 12 runs and 10 RBI.
Established his single-season career high for home runs by hitting his 27th on August 30 in Montreal off of Felipe Lira.
Tied a personal single-game best with a trio of 4-hit games giving him 13 in his career...celebrated his 33rd birthday with 3 hits vs. Florida on September 3.
Finished the season with an 11-game hitting streak in which he batted .356 (16-for-45) with 10 runs scored, 4 doubles, 4 home runs and 20 RBI...included was a huge split doubleheader in San Francisco on September 23, going a combined 3-for-8 in the twinbill featuring a 3-run homer in each contest, totaling 8 RBI on the day.
1999
When the Diamondbacks retooled after the '98 season, many of the winter acquisitions made headlines, but one of the quieter transactions was the Christmas break arrival of Luis Gonzalez from the Tigers, though there was nothing subtle about his 1999 campaign...acquired for Karim Garcia, the veteran outfielder had a breakout season in his 10th year of major league ball, establishing career bests in hits (206), home runs (26), runs scored (112), RBI (111) and doubles (45), with his hit and double totals easily establishing club records...his 206 hits won the N.L. crown, 2 more than Philly's Doug Glanville...a lot of players are known as "streak" hitters, but Gonzo's '99 season was one that consisted of streaks...he manufactured 5 different double-digit hitting streaks, including 30, 16, 13, 11 and 10 games, totaling 80 contests during the year that were tied up in streaks, nearly half of the schedule...with 5 double-digit streaks, Gonzo joined Eric Young (1996) as the only National League players with at least that many such streaks in a season...the headline grabber was the 30-game skein that ran from April 11-May 18, achieving the 30-game mark with a first inning homer at San Francisco off of Chris Brock, the such streak in the N.L. since 1989 (Jerome Walton)...Luis was the 37th player in major league history to hit in at least 30 consecutive games, with Vladimir Guerrero hitting in 31 straight later in the year to become the 38th...at 30 in a row, Gonzo's streak tied 11 others for the 14th longest in history...consistent throughout, he batted .400 over the 30 games (46-for-115) with 25 runs, 11 doubles, a triple, 7 homers, 25 RBI and 80 total bases for a slugging pct. of .696...probably the most memorable hit during the streak was at home on May 11 against Montreal, snapping a 3-3 tie with his first hit of the night, a game-ending 10th inning homer into the pool area off of Guillermo Mota...he opened the year by hitting safely in 4 straight, featuring 3 home runs, including his first of 2 multi-homer games, going deep twice on April 7 in Dodger Stadium...after an 0-for-3 in the middle game of a series in Atlanta, "the streak" began with a home run off of Greg Maddux in the series finale at Turner Field on April 11...once the streak was halted, Luis was hitless for 2 straight games, then hit safely in 13 in a row, giving him a start to the season that featured hits in 48 of his first 51 games at a .398 clip (80-for-201)...his impressive start to the season did not go unnoticed, as 478,311 fans placed him as a write-in candidate for the All-Star Game, and though those votes were only good enough to finish sixth among outfielders, he still earned his first Midsummer Classic visit as a selection of manager Bruce Bochy...Gonzo's contribution to the club was rewarded by management with a 3-year contract extension on August 2, locking up the potential free agent...he tied a career best with a trio of 4-hit efforts, giving him 10 career, while also driving in 4 in a game on 3 occasions...as the regular season wound down, Luis had one more hitting streak in him, hitting safely in the last 12 games of the year at a .408 clip (20-for-49), starting the skein with a 10th inning homer at Bank One Ballpark on September 18, ending an 8-6 Arizona victory...the lefthanded hitting outfielder did not discriminate offensively, hitting .339 against right-handed pitching (152-for-449) and .327 vs. southpaws (54-for-165).
1998
Luis eclipsed the 20-homer mark for the first time in his career, hammering 23 for the Tigers, his only year in the American League...he tied a career best with 154 games played, even with the addition of triplets to the Gonzalez family, when Christine delivered the threesome of Megan, Jacob and Alyssa on June 26...included was his fourth career 2-homer game, taking Anaheim's Omar Olivares deep twice on August 10, with the second blast the 100th of Luis' career...he also picked up the 1,000th hit of his career with a fifth inning single off of Olivares...the Tampa native celebrated his return home by belting the first-ever home run at Tampa's Tropicana Field in the Devil Rays' inaugural game on March 31, a 2-run blast in the fifth inning off of Dan Carlson...homered off Anaheim southpaw Chuck Finley on May 9, the first home run by a lefthanded hitter vs. Finley since Sept. 23, 1996 (Ken Griffey Jr.)...recorded his 500th career RBI on May 24 at Chicago...had a streak of 129 consecutive errorless games snapped on July 30.
1997
Signed as a free agent with the Astros, returning to the franchise where he began his career after a year and a half with the Cubs...had a career-high 23-game hitting streak, tying Art Howe's club record, also the longest streak in the N.L. in '97...was 1 of only 13 players in the majors to record more walks than strikeouts, and 1 of just 9 to do so over the last 2 seasons...enjoyed a visit to Montreal on July 18-20, collecting 3 hits in 3 consecutive games, going 9-for-11 in the series, with 2 homers, 6 runs scored and 7 RBI...included was his first career grand slam on July 20 off of current-teammate Omar Daal, Luis' 2nd homer of the day, the 3rd 2-homer game of his career...had 7th career 4-hit game on April 11 vs. St. Louis.
1996
Set a career best with 79 RBI for the Cubs, while matching a then career high with 15 homers...fanned only 49 times in 483 AB's, while walking 61 times, the first time he walked more than K'd in his career, fanning just once every 11.3 plate appearances, the 6th best ratio in the N.L....started twice at first base, his first major league work there since 1990...he hit .390 (30-for-77) over a 25-game stretch from April 4-May 1.
1995
Split the year between Houston and the Cubs, as he was traded to Chicago on June 28, with Scott Servais in exchange for Rick Wilkins...Luis finished the year tied for 3rd in the league with 8 triples...hit his first career game-opening home run on Sept. 27 off St. Louis' Allen Watson...hit .403 (25-for-62) over an 18-game stretch from August 1-19.
1994
Ranked 10th in the league with 29 doubles during the strike-shortened season...he hit .331 (50-for-151) in the final 41 games leading up to the stoppage of play.
1993
Finished with a .300 average for only time in his career, collecting a single in his final at bat on October 3 to penetrate the .300 mark...led the N.L. in sacrifice flies (10) and ranked 3rd in getting hit (10)...had 2nd career 2-homer game on April 7 vs. Philly...had 2nd career 5-RBI game on Sept. 6 vs. New York...hit in 14 consecutive games from July 8-23.
1992
Opened the season with Houston, but due to .158 average on May 20, he was optioned to Tucson (AAA)...appeared in 13 games and hit .432 for the Toros and said goodbye to the minor leagues for the final time...he returned to the majors on June 3 and batted .309 in first 34 games back...hit first career pinch-hit home run on June 13, a game-winning, 3-run shot off the Giants' Jeff Brantley in a 4-1 Houston win... was on the D.L. from July 21-August 5 with a partial dislocation of his left shoulder after making a diving catch vs. Pittsburgh on July 20.
1991
Luis' first full year in the majors, he led the Astros with 50 extra-base hits, a club record for rookies, breaking Joe Morgan's team record of 48 set in 1965...Gonzalez suffered a partial dislocation of his left shoulder attempting to make a diving catch on August 28 at Philly, and was disabled from August 29-Sept. 13...had the first 5-RBI game of his career on July 3 at San Francisco...recorded first career 4-hit game on July 17 at Pittsburgh...hit first 2 major league home runs on May 1 at Wrigley Field off of Greg Maddux, knocking in 4 runs in the game.
1990
Earned a spot on the Southern League All-Star team, batting .265 with 30 doubles, 24 home runs and 89 RBI for Columbus (AA)...he tied for the league lead in home runs and sacrifice flies (12)...was promoted to Houston after AA season, making debut on Sept. 4 at Los Angeles as a pinch hitter...made first start on Sept. 8 in San Francisco, picking up a double off of Steve Bedrosian for first major league hit.
1989
Was limited to 86 games for Osceola (A) due to an injured right shoulder...was on the disabled list from May 26-July 5, but still tied for the team lead with 7 triples.
