Chile Gómez

Jose Luis Gomez Gonzales
also known as Jose Luis Gomez Rodriguez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 165 lb.
• Debut July 27, 1935
• Final Game May 30, 1942
• Born May 23, 1909 in Mazatlan, Sinaloa Mexico
• Died December 1, 1992 in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas Mexico

BR page

Biographical Information

Chile Gomez was a 21-year-old student when he broke into professional baseball as a sub for the Tampico Lightermen and caught the attention of Homobono Márquez. The Mexican League statistics for his first couple of seasons are unavailable. In 1933, Gomez hit .258/~.326/.361 for the Beckley Black Knights and led Middle Atlantic League second basemen in both errors (42) and double plays (76). He was also hit by a MAL-high 21 pitches. Oddly, for the 17 Mexican seasons for which we have data, he was only hit by 14 pitches total. In 1934, Chile hit only .225 for Beckley and .216 with the Bartlesville Reds. By 1935, Gomez was in the majors at age 26, becoming the second Mexican native in Major League Baseball, following Mel Almada by just two years. He hit .230/.285/.243 for the Philadelphia Phillies, for an unimpressive 38 OPS+. He returned in 1936, with similar results - .232/.265/.250 with five extra-base hits in 332 AB, splitting his time between second and short.

He batted .230/~.321/.309 for the 1937 Jersey City Giants then returned to Mexico with the Electricistas del Necaxa, hitting .269/~.345/.385. In 1938, Chile batted .267/~.337/.314 for the Veracruz Eagle. He split 1939 between Veracruz and Cordoba and put up a .303/~.350/.421 line. In 1940, Jose Luis hit .242/~.345/.324 for the Monterrey Industrials. The impressive part was that he held onto a starting job when most native Mexicans lost them in favor of American players. Joe Naranjo, Quincy Trouppe and Sammy Bankhead were among the foreigners on Monterrey's infield. In a offense-high league, Gomez remained one of the weakest threats around.

In 1941, Gomez hit .264/~.333/.324 for the Industrials. He also managed the Mexican national team in the 1941 Amateur World Series, taking the Bronze. He joined the Washington Senators in 1942 and tripled off Lefty Gomez on Opening Day but overall batted just .192/.280/.274 for Washington, ending his major league career at .226/.274/.250 in 627 AB. He spent most of the year with the Chattanooga Lookouts, batting .281. Returning to Mexico with the Puebla Parrots, he hit .326/~.408/.453 in 20 contests.

1943 had Chile playing for the Mexico City Red Devils, hitting .264/~.319/.324. He got the decisive hit to win a 1-0 game in a duel between Alfonso Ramirez and Daniel Rios. Fans lifted Gomez and Ramirez onto their shoulders and paraded them through downtown Mexico City, the only time such an event has happened in LMB history.

In 1944, Gomez hit .291/~.346/.356 for Veracruz with 8 triples. He managed the Mexican national team to a Silver Medal in the 1944 Amateur World Series. He had another 8 for Veracruz in 1945 in a career year at .313/~.361/.422; he had his best LMB seasons in runs (67), doubles (20), hits (120), homers (2), average and slugging. Veracruz became the first stop where he stayed three years as he hit .258/~.312/.307 for the 1946 club, the year that major leaguers came to Mexico to compete. He hit .408/~.525/.429 in a brief stay with the Havana Cubans.

In 1947, the 38-year-old veteran had a .232/~.333/.307 year for Veracruz. In 1948, he split the year between Veracruz and Tampico and hit .338/~.411/.426 in a partial season (62 games) for his best rate-stat season. In 1949, he hit .279/~.363/.330 for the San Luis Potosi Cactus Pear Growers. Returning to San Luis Potosi for the 1950 campaign at age 41, he hit .264/~.373/.345. He played three more years, missing 1952, getting another 94 AB. In 3,342 AB in Mexico from 1937 onwards, he hit .278/~.343/.350 with only 240 strikeouts.

Gomez also was employed as the manager of Monterey, San Luis Potosi, Tampico and Puebla at some point. He was selected for the Salon de la Fama in 1971. He was elected to the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame as part of its 2011 class.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Playoffs	Notes
1940	Monterrey Industrials	Mexican League	52-41	3rd	none
1941	Monterrey Industrials	Mexican League	43-59	6th	none
1942	Pericos de Puebla	Mexican League		--	--	replaced by Guillermo Ornelas
1943	Diablos Rojos del Mexico	Mexican League	38-51	6th	none
1946	Azules de Veracruz	Mexican League		--	--	replaced Mickey Owen replaced by Jorge Pasquel
1947	Azules de Veracruz	Mexican League		--	--	replaced by Red Steiner
1948	Alijadores de Tampico	Mexican League	34-33	--	Team disbanded
1949	Tuneros de San Luis	Mexican League	41-44	6th
1950	Tuneros de San Luis	Mexican League	43-41	5th
1951	Tuneros de San Luis	Mexican League	42-42	5th	Lost League Finals
1953	Diablos Rojos del Mexico	Mexican League	32-39	4th	none
1957	Aguascalientes Tigres	Central Mexican League		6th	none	replaced Armando Flores on July 4
1960	Diablos Rojos del Mexico	Mexican League		--	--	replaced by Chero Mayer on August 24

Sources: Viva Beisbol newsletter by Bruce Baskin (August 2006 edition), The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics by Pedro Treto Cisneros, 1934 Spalding Guide, Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database, The International League: Year-by-Year Statistics by Marshall Wright, The Pride of Havana by Roberto Gonzalez Ecchevarria

Related Sites

• Salon de la Fama page for Gomez