Monster Card Monday: 2001 Luis Gonzalez

I know I’m going to get some flak for this but bear with me. It was 9pm and time was running out to write a Monster Card article. I decided to blindly reach into a box of APBA card envelopes and choose a player card from that team.

As luck would have it, there was a player that sort of fit the bill. It was my 2002 Twin City Thunderchickens and on that team was Arizona Diamondback Luis Gonzalez.

I had L-Gon on my team since I drafted him in 1992. On good years, he would have power numbers 1-0-0-0. He was mostly a ‘doubles’ guy. In fact, he still ranks 19th in the MLB all-time in career doubles.

Somehow, he broke out in 2001 and hit 57 homeruns (not sure if I want to know how). Playing all 162 games for the D-backs, he drove home 142 runs and scored 128 himself. He doubled 36 times and tripled seven times. On top of all that, he reached the century mark in walks.

Oh yeah, he hit .325 too.

Season Totals

Split	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG
2001 Totals	162	728	609	128	198	36	7	57	142	1	100	83	.325	.429	.688

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/10/2022.

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The first thing I noticed when I re-discovered Gonzalez’ 2001 card was his power numbers, of course. I almost wondered if his 1-1-5-5-6 would be enough to replicate his 57 homers. Then I noticed he led the NL with 728 plate appearances.

With 100 walks, Luis received a healthy four 14s plus a 42 for 14 hit-by-pitches in 2001.

Gonzalez was a decent contact hitter with two 31s and numbers like 26-30. Of note, he did not receive any 7s but got four 8s along with the two 9s.

How did Luis Gonzalez fare for my Twin City Thunderchickens back in 2002?

In a bit of related trivia, 2002 was the year that I drafted Albert Pujols. Albert came in second to Gonzalez with 41 homeruns that year.

Gonzalez retired a Thunderchicken after 18 years of service. Not a bad career for a ‘doubles’ guy.

A bit of a trip down memory lane for me.