René González (baseball)
Not to be confused with René González, a Cuban-American spy and member of the Cuban Five, or Rene Gonzales, a baseball player from Texas.
René González (August 5, 1918 – May 9, 1982) was a Cuban professional baseball player. A native of Cienfuegos, Cuba, González was a first baseman/outfielder who batted and threw right-handed.
González was a consistent hitter who spent most of his career in Mexican baseball (1947–1949, 1951–1956), where he won three consecutive batting titles (1952–54) including the Triple Crown in 1952. An eight-time .300 hitter, he collected 1144 hits in 3459 at-bats for a .331 batting average during nine seasons.
In 1950, González played for the New York Cubans in the Negro Leagues.
After that he played for the Patriotas de Venezuela club of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League during the 1951–1952 season. He finished with a .357 batting average and led the league in home runs (10), RBI (56), hits (74), doubles (18) and slugging % (.739). Later, he played as a reinforcement for the Navegantes del Magallanes in the 1951 Caribbean Series, where he led the Venezuelan offensive with a .333 average and two home runs, while his 11 RBI topped the tournament.
González also played in Cuba and Nicaragua up until 1958, his last season. Following his baseball retirement he returned to his Cuba homeland, where he died at age of 63.
In 1993 he was inducted into the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame.
Sources
- Antero Núñez, José. Series del Caribe. Jefferson, Caracas, Venezuela: Impresos Urbina, C.A., 1987.
- Gutiérrez, Daniel. Enciclopedia del Béisbol en Venezuela. Caracas, Venezuela: Editorial La Brújula, C.A., 1997.
- MLBlogs.com – René González fue un Gigante en el Caribe (Spanish Biography)
External links
- 1918 births
- 1982 deaths
- Alijadores de Tampico players
- Caribbean Series players
- Cuban baseball players
- Diablos Rojos del México players
- New York Cubans players
- Patriotas de Venezuela players
- People from Cienfuegos
- Rojos del Águila de Veracruz players
- Tomateros de Culiacán players
- Tuneros de San Luis Potosí players