A few weeks ago, I passed by a sports complex and I saw some baseball cards there. I decided to get 2 hobby packs of the 2022 Topps Allen & Ginter. I was looking for some cool rookie cards. However, very interestingly, I found 2 Luis Gonzalez cards. One is a short print card and the other is a short print mini card.
Well, I don’t know if it’s a coincidence. While seeing these 2 cards, I not only thought about his walk-off hit against Mariano Rivera to help the Diamondbacks win the 2001 World Series, but also thought about his days with the Diamondbacks.
In total, Luis Gonzalez spent 8 years with the Diamondbacks, hitting .298/.391/.529 with 224 home runs and 774 RBI in 1194 games. So, what do these numbers mean?
Luis Gonzalez had 2591 hits in his career. During his days with the Diamondbacks, he collected 1337 hits, which ranks first in Diamondbacks history. At the same time, Paul Goldschmidt played for the Diamondbacks from 2011 to 2018 and collected 1182 hits in 1092 games. Moreover, David Peralta was traded to the Rays last summer. Before the trade, he played for the D-backs from 2014 to 2022. Peralta had 960 hits in 961 games in the D-backs uniform.
In addition, Luis Gonzalez crushed 224 home runs in his days with the Diamondbacks. In particular, he smashed 57 home runs in 2001 and Gonzalez is the only D-backs’ player, who used to blast 50+ home runs in a single season. Furthermore, Paul Goldschmidt is the other player who blasted 200+ home runs with the D-backs. Additionally, Steve Finley was also a member of the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks. He played for the D-backs from 1999 to 2004 and blasted 153 homers.
Finally, Luis Gonzalez collected 774 RBI from 1999 to 2006. In the 2001 season, he had 142 RBI. Matt Williams is the other Diamondbacks player who used to collect 142 RBI in a single season. Matt Williams slashed .303/.344/.536 with 35 home runs and 142 RBI in 1999. Moreover, Paul Goldschmidt had 710 RBI in his days with the Diamondbacks. Luis Gonzalez and Paul Goldschmidt are the only 2 players who used to collect 700+ RBI in the Diamondbacks uniform.
It’s certain that the Diamondbacks fans wouldn’t forget Luis Gonzalez’s walk-off single in the 2001 World Series. Additionally, he’s still the franchise leader in several batting categories such as home runs, RBI and hits. Well, Paul Goldschmidt also played 8 seasons for the D-backs and he did contribute a lot to the team. Gonzalez and Goldschmidt are the only 2 players who collected 1000+ hits, 200+ home runs and 700+ RBI for the Diamondbacks. However, Paul Goldschmidt was traded to the Cardinals in December 2018 and he has played very well in the Cardinals uniform. In particular, he won the 2022 NL MVP. And, looking back at the 2022 season, Christian Walker led the D-backs with 36 home runs and 94 RBI. Walker has played for the D-backs for 6 seasons, hitting .249/.329/.453 with 87 home runs and 255 RBI. Hence, in the short-term, we probably won’t see any players from the Diamondbacks reach some of the franchise records, which were set by Luis Gonzalez. But, the D-backs and outfielder Corbin Carroll agreed to an 8-year deal. Is he going to be the one who will break some of the franchise records?
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