10 Questions

Luis Gonzalez on dreams, saying 'No' and some what-ifs

Luis Gonzalez hit 57 home runs last season -- 26 more than his previous career best. AP

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Bottom of the ninth, tie score, Game 7 of the World Series. You're up to bat. It's a dream millions of kids play out every year. Last season, Luis Gonzalez of the Arizona Diamondbacks got to play it out for real. The World Series hero, who squeezed out the Series-clinching single off New York Yankees ace closer Mariano Rivera, sat down with CNNSI.com's John Donovan recently to talk about dreams, the hit and everything since in this edition of 10 Questions.

Q: How wild was the offseason for you?

LG: You know what, there was some different demands. But it was a lot of fun. I didn't do anything I didn't want to do. I enjoyed it. I took advantage of the opportunity. I was able to travel, meet a lot of different people. I would say it was more exciting than tiring.

Q: You've always been a very accommodating guy. Did you have to learn to say no to keep it from getting out of hand?

LG: I've been a 'Yes' guy, yeah. I had to learn a little bit of saying 'No.' At the same time, our media department and the marketing company I'm with out of Dallas, they did a great job of helping me put things in order and keep my time separated pretty well.

Q: Tough thing for you, to learn to say no?

LG: I had to learn just to tell people to call [the marketing people]. They did my dirty work. It made it a lot easier for me. Yeah, it's tough for me. I'm a Southern guy, and I always like to treat people the way I want to be treated. It was kind of difficult to do that.

Q: What was an especially fun part of the offseason?

LG: I'm on the cover of the Triple Play 2002 Play Station [video game]. I enjoyed doing the motion capture, putting the suit on and all that stuff. It was done in Vancouver. I signed a milk deal, I'm excited about that. GNC. It was a lot of fun. I kinda consider myself the guy next door. I don’t look at myself any different than I do the normal person who's got a 9 to 5 job. The only difference is I'm doing something that millions of people want to do. Whether I hit 50 home runs, 57 home runs and everybody's saying 'You're the greatest guy in the world,' to me, I don't look at myself any different. I just go out there and have fun.

Q: Did your ego ever threaten to take off? That would have been a huge upset in a lot of people's minds.

LG: No. My wife does a pretty good job of keeping me in check anyway. I think I get it. I understand that the media is how the fans get to know about you as a player. Not everybody is up close and personal with you, not everybody is your family or your friends, and I understand that I'm not going to play this game forever. I don’t want to look back on my career and say 'I wish I would have done this, I wish I would have done that.' I wanna do what I'm doing and enjoy it and have fun, and when I don't love playing this game anymore, that's when I'll walk away. But for right now, we're sitting on top of the world and I'm having a blast going out there and playing.

Q: Can you give me one picture from the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 that you will remember in 40 years?

LG: The one thing I remember is standing on deck with [Craig] Counsell at the plate, second and third, and I honestly believed he was going to win the game. And he got hit by the pitch, everybody was standing on their feet and the first thing I thought was 'I've played this scenario out a gazillion times as a kid. And now, here I am as a 34-year-old adult, living out my kid's dream.' I really honestly didn't think about failing because the way my whole year had turned out, I thought 'This is the storybook ending to my season, right here.' To get the hit, it was like your body goes numb. It was an out-of-body experience almost. That's the biggest memory that sticks out in my mind. After you get the hit, I kept saying to myself 'I can't believe it was me.' I'm a sports fan. You see millions of different big plays and events, and you always see the other people make the game-winning shot, or throw the game-winning touchdown. But for you to be the guy that actually does it … it was a dream.

Q: You get any grief from anywhere that the game-winning hit of yours wasn't exactly … well, a rope?

LG: Oh, of course. My teammates. It's fun now, after it's already over. But I'm sure they'll tell you; take whatever we could at that time. I always come back with the 'Ten years from now, that was a line drive.' In my dream, you dream about hitting a home run. In reality, I was facing the toughest pitcher in baseball. Reality takes over. I choked up and tried to put the ball in play and make something happen. It was no secret what he was going to do. The guy throws cut fastballs 96, 97 mph. Just try to make good contact.

Q: Was there a time in the offseason when you could catch your breath and the enormity of what you had done dawned on you?

LG: I would say about two weeks after the World Series, my wife and I were -- I think we were at dinner or something [in Phoenix] -- and everybody's coming up and congratulating me and telling me what a difference you made in people's lives. You really don't realize it until after. I remember distinctly telling my wife after: 'What would have happened if I didn't get that hit?' You know? I never really thought about it until a week or so later. I mean, do we go extra innings? Do we lose the game? Do we come this close and then do I go back thinking 'Man, I had the chance of a lifetime and I missed out on it.' Right after I thought that, we started laughing and I said 'No, I don't even want to think about it anymore, 'cause that's not the way it happened.' It was kind of a scary thought. You've seen how excited everybody is, and you think about what would people have been telling you if I hadn't come through in that situation. 'We'll get 'em next year. You had a great year but … You didn't get the hit when we needed you to.' I'm just glad it all worked out.

Q: Wow. Does the whole thing seem surreal now, looking back on it?

LG: It was strange. When I look at the tape, I like to freeze it and look at the people's reactions. To me that's the best part. People biting their nails and clinching onto things. Jerry [Colangelo], our owner, and his wife -- they were so nervous. It's a great feeling to know that something like that impacted so many people.

Q: Finally, I know you've been asked this a few times already. I'll ask it again. How do you top it?

LG: Well, I think it never gets old winning these things. I'm sure the Yankees will tell you that. They've done it so many years. You just go out there and try to be consistent again. We heard last year that we were old and couldn’t do it. We traded youth for experience, and it worked last year. Really, it was our bench players and pitching that did it for us. I think when you have a bunch of good guys like we do, we know what we have to do to win. Hopefully, we can do it again.

 

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