Juan González (baseball)

Did You Know?

• As a boy, González learned to hit bottlecaps and corks with a broomstick handle in the Alto de Cuba barrio.
• González managed the Puerto Rico national baseball team to gold medals at the 2018 and 2019 Central American and Caribbean Games, snapping Cuba's 36-year, 43-game winning streak in 2018.

Professional career

The Texas Rangers signed González as an amateur free agent on May 30, 1986, when he was 16. He debuted that year with the GCL Rangers, batting .240 with no home runs in 60 games. In 1987, playing for the Gastonia Rangers, he improved to a .265 average with 14 home runs and 74 RBI. González has always wanted to serve as a role model for Puerto Rican children facing drugs and prostitution; he avoided such temptations growing up, raised by a math teacher father and a housewife mother. He moved his family out of the barrio early in his MLB career and paid utility bills for struggling friends, planning to build recreation facilities and a baseball diamond in his hometown. In Puerto Rico, González is known as "Igor," a nickname from age nine inspired by professional wrestler Igor the Magnificent.

Career in Puerto Rico

In the 1989–1990 Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League, González hit .269 with 9 home runs for the Criollos de Caguas. During the 1992–1993 season, he batted .333 for the Santurce Crabbers and won league MVP despite not playing until after the All-Star break, hitting 7 home runs in 66 games. He did not accompany Santurce to the 1993 Caribbean Series. The next season he hit .268 with 7 homers. In 1995, González played for the San Juan Senators in the Caribbean Series, hitting .375 with 6 RBI as the Puerto Rican "Dream Team" won the title, outscoring opponents 49–15. During the 2006–2007 Puerto Rican League, he hit .281 with 4 homers for the champion Carolina Giants, then batted .369 in the playoffs. He went 10-for-26 in the 2007 Caribbean Series and made the All-Star team at DH. He now owns the baseball team in Vega Baja in the Confederative Baseball League, where he also plays as a DH, and helps the community without seeking media attention. For the 2015–2016 season, he coached the Double A Vega Baja team but was fired after a 3–11 record.

Steroid allegations

Jose Canseco claimed in his book Juiced that he introduced González to steroids, but provided no corroborating evidence. González was also mentioned in the Mitchell Report regarding a 2001 incident in which an unmarked bag in the Indians' team luggage was detained by customs in Toronto. González's assistant said the bag belonged to trainer Angel Presinal; Presinal claimed it belonged to González. It was disputed whether the bag contained steroids. Presinal said it held Soladek, Dolo-neurobion, and Clenbuterol, and that the contents were not steroids. González cut ties with Presinal after the incident. Indians general manager John Hart said the team investigated and exonerated González. In 2007, Rangers owner Tom Hicks speculated that González had used steroids, saying the team acquired him for $24 million after he came off steroids, but acknowledged this was only suspicion based on injuries. González has consistently denied using steroids, stating he is a vegetarian and offered to be tested anytime. He was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in 2015 after declining his first invitation in 2013, reportedly due to Hicks' comments.

Personal life

González has been married four times. He was first married to Puerto Rican volleyball player Elaine López, sister of Javy López. That marriage ended after a newspaper photo showed singer Olga Tañón kissing González at a concert. He then married Tañón, who said she did not know he was married; they had a daughter, Gabriela González Tañón, in 1996, married in December 1999, and divorced less than two years later. His daughter was later diagnosed with Sebastian syndrome, a mild blood clotting disorder; she was the first Puerto Rican and one of only 50 people worldwide with the condition. González developed a friendship with George W. Bush, who owned the Rangers when González debuted. Bush invited González to the White House twice: on April 16, 2001, and on December 3, 2007, when he was accompanied by historian Luis Rodriguez Mayoral. During the 2007 visit, he also met with Rudy Giuliani and visited Puerto Rican soldiers injured in the Iraq War at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. González stated in a 2007 interview that his personal life was in order, prioritizing health, family, and his relationship with God over money.