Migual Angel"Mike" Gonzalez
^{born: 09-28-1890, died: 02-19-1977}

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Mike Gonzalez, born in Havana, Cuba, was a catcher who started his Major League career in 1912 playing for the Boston Braves. He only played in one game and went 0 for 2 with a walk. He was released by the Braves in April the next year. In 1914, he played for the Cincinnati Reds and got into 95 games hitting for .233. Gonzalez was traded to the St. Louis for catcher Ivey Wingo.

Frank Synder was a young catcher also playing at St. Louis and in 1915, Synder got most of the playing time. Gonzalez got in 51 games and batted .227. However, the next year, Mike got more playing time and improved his numbers. He played in 93 games as catcher and 13 games at first base. His batting average was .239 with 29 RBI. In 1917, he split the catcher's role with Synder equally and play a little first base again. In 106 games, he had 312 plate appearances with 76 hits, 8 doubles, 1 triple and his first Major League home rum. He finished with a .262 batting average.

Mike became the starting catcher in 1918 playing in 117 games. His batting average was .252 with 88 hits, and 3 home rums. But he was put on waivers the next spring and was picked up by the NY Giants in May 1919. In New York, he shared the playing time with Lew McCarty. In 58 games he batter .190. In 1920, he played in 11 games and 1921 he got in only 13. In December 1921, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds but did not play for them in the Majors. He ended up in the Brooklyn Robbins organization and in April of 1925, at age 33, he was traded to the Cardinals.

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In 1924, Gonzalez put up his best numbers. His batting average was .296 with 119 hits in 120 games. His statistics were good enough to be noticed by the Chicago Cubs who needed backup for Gabby Hartnett. In May 1925 Gonzalez was traded to the Cubs. In his first season with the Cubs, he got into 70 games and had a .264 batting average. The following year his average slipped to .249 playing in 80 games. In 1928, he got into 49 games and he played 60 games in 1929. The Cubs won the National League Pennant in 1929 and Gonzalez got into two games in the World Series against the Athletics but only batted once. In game two Gonzalez pinch hits for pitcher Hal Carlson in the ninth inning and struck out. The Athletics win the series in five games.

Out of Major League baseball for one year, 40 year old Gonzalez ends up back at St. Louis for his third stint with the Cardinals in 1931. Playing behind starting catcher Jimmie Wilson, he gets into only 15 games that season. The following year, 1932, he gets into only 17 games. That would be his last year playing baseball. His lifetime batting average was .253 in seventeen seasons playing in 1042 games in the Majors.

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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 was coaching at third base when Enos Slaughter raced 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. Although films taken of the play appear to show Gonzalez waving Slaughter in, other accounts report that Slaughter ignored the coach's stop sign and took home on his own initiative.

Gonzalez is 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. After retiring from baseball, Gonzales move bact to Cuba and passed away in 1977.