Thumbnails | Next player Mr. Genorosity: Arizona's Luis Gonzalez runs up a 30-game hitting streak and celebrates with everyone around him. Luis Gonzalez is one of the more generous players in the game, but when he quietly slips a clubhouse attendant a $100 tip or buys dinner for front-office employees, he doesn't believe he's doing anything extraordinary. Lots of well-to-do people are willing to share their wealth with those less fortunate than they are, and here's the way Gonzalez looks at it: Everyone's less fortunate than he. Gonzalez, the Arizona Diamondbacks' 31-year-old leftfielder, has healthy 11-month-old triplets, a wife who allows him to get some extra shut-eye, a mother who emigrated from Cuba and taught him to appreciate life in the U.S., a job that pays $2 million a year, and red-hot hitters on either side of him in the Arizona batting order, which means opposing pitchers are all but forced to throw him strikes. Furthermore, he has put together the major leagues' longest hitting streak this season -- 30 games, snapped on May 19 by the San Francisco Giants -- and through Sunday had a .374 batting average, third best in the National League. "Believe me," says Gonzalez, "I know how lucky I am." -- Gerry Callahan Issue date: May 31, 1999 Photograph by Peter Read Miller Sports Illustrated on Baseball | Team-by-Team Reports Rookie of the Year Watch | SI's Inside Baseball Archive

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