Luis Gonzalez weighs in on Ozzie Guillen, Miami Marlins
Apr 10, 2012, 8:25 PM | Updated: 10:45 pm
Luis Gonzalez is one of the all-time great Arizona
Diamondbacks.
He’s a World Series champion, a home run derby winner and
one of baseball’s greatest ambassadors.
He’s also the son of Cuban immigrants, so what has
transpired with Ozzie Guillen and the Miami Marlins hits
relatively close to home.
“If he wasn’t in Miami they would probably brush those
comments off,” Gonzalez told Arizona Sports 620’s Burns
and
Gambo Tuesday. “But the fact that he is the manager there
now and he was brought in for the simple reason of being a
Hispanic guy, generating excitement with the fans and
getting people to come to the ballpark, that’s definitely
not the way they wanted to get their attention.”
Guillen, who is in his first season managing the Marlins,
is in hot water after telling Time Magazine,
“I love Fidel Castro.”
The team suspended its manager for five games, but the
damage has already been done, and this is not good for a
franchise that has traditionally struggled to connect with
its fan base, something Gonzalez is familiar with after
playing for the Marlins in 2008.
Gonzalez, though, noted that it comes with the territory
of playing in Miami, as it’s understood that there are
millions of Cubans living in the area. In fact, Miami is
home to the largest Cuban-American plurality in the U.S,
with Wikipedia saying 34.1 percent of the
populace was Cuban.
