Coco Gómez

Juan Gómez Mazorra

• Born December 24, 1933 in Matanzas, Matanzas Cuba
• Died July 11, 2023

Biographical Information

Coco Gómez played briefly in Cuba then managed.

He played in the Cuban amateur leagues before the Cuban Revolution. A catcher, he was 3-for-27 with four walks, a double, run and three RBI for the Occidentales in the 1963 Cuban Serie Nacional, fielding .938. He then became a coach under Gil Torres.

Moving up to the managerial ranks, he guided the Granjeros in 1965-1966 and 1966-1967, going 53-76. He was the first person to play and manage in Cuba's top league post-revolution. He also coached for the Cuban national team when they won the 1966 Central American and Caribbean Games and took Silver in the 1967 Pan American Games. He was 74-25 with La Habana in 1967-1968 as they won a title. He coached for Cuba when they won the 1971 Amateur World Series. After not managing for a couple years, he was 51-15 with the Industriales in 1971-1972. Guiding the expansion Constructores in 1972-1973, he led them to a 46-31 record.

Coco was 13-26 with the Henequeneros in 1974-1975. He managed Guantánamo to a 22-29 record in 1982-1983 and was 72-87 in a two-season stint with Sancti Spíritus from 1983-1985. That ended his managerial career. He continued coaching, including with the national team in the 1990 Baseball World Cup (Gold), 1991 Intercontinental Cup (Gold) , 1999 Pan American Games (Gold) and 2000 Olympics (Silver).