Tino Martinez, Luis Gonzalez, and the cigar factory of World Series dreams
Bedecked in the sleeveless home whites of the nascent Arizona Diamondbacks, Luis Gonzalez bathed in the applause of 49,646 fans.
Trotting from the dugout at Bank One Ballpark, baseball’s newest superstar joined his teammates on the baseline before Game 1 of the 2001 World Series.
In just their fourth year of existence, the upstart Diamondbacks faced the dynastic New York Yankees, who sought a fourth straight championship.
Peering across the diamond, Gonzalez locked eyes with Tino Martinez, the Yankees’ suave first baseman, who wore an NYPD hat mere weeks after 9/11. Tipping his own cap, Gonzalez shared a smile with Martinez. This, after all, was something they always dreamed of. Something they envisioned as childhood friends, back in West Tampa. Something only fate could conjure.
Twenty-eight years earlier – before the pennants and the pageantry, the crowds and the contracts – they were just Tino and Luis from the sandlot. Born three months apart in 1967, to Floridian families of Cuban descent, the baseball-loving kids first met aged six, as Little League teammates at Lou Piniella Field. (1)
The pair were reunited in high school, when Tino transferred from Tampa Catholic to Jefferson High for his junior and senior years. Gonzalez and Martinez hit second and third while locking down the right side of an infield coached by Pop Cuesta, a legendary incubator of talent. (1)
Fast friends, Tino and Luis ran together, lifted weights together, hit baseballs off a tee together. They ate at Burger King before games and analysed their performances long into the night. Luis was impressed by Tino’s dedication and competitive fire, instilled by his father, Rene, after whom the high school baseball field was named. Such was Tino’s drive, in fact, he once deigned to give Luis a ride to practice when they were scheduled to face each other in an intrasquad game. (1)
On the same team, the boys were dominant and dynamic. In 1985, the Jefferson High Dragons went 24-5 and reached the state semi-finals, beating a team featuring Gary Sheffield in the process. (2) “I was the ant and he was the bull,” Gonzalez later recalled. “But it kind of helped me, because the scouts came to see him and they noticed me while they were there.” (3)
Of all places, though, it was at a cigar factory where Tino and Luis bonded most. Yes, a cigar factory. Once known as the ‘cigar capital of the world,’ nearby Ybor City had a rich reputation for stogie production, and the promise of smoke-filled opportunities lured many Cuban, Italian and Spanish families to the region. The parents of Tony La Russa met while working at a Ybor City cigar factory, and the same American dream drew the Martinezes to Florida. (4)
Tino’s grandfather part-owned the Villazon & Co. cigar factory on Armenia Avenue in West Tampa. (5) In time, Rene became general manager of the plant, which produced 50 million cigars per year at its peak. (6) Famous faces often dropped by, including Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench, who once took a break from spring training nearby to frequent Villazon & Co. Rene coaxed Bench into visiting the family home, where his sons – Rene Jr., Tony and Tino – posed for photos with the future Hall of Famer. (7)
From age 12, indeed, Rene’s boys worked at the factory, loading 450-pound bales of tobacco leaves off trucks, fresh from Honduras, for $3.75 per hour, sans air conditioning. (4) (5) Starting at 6am, unloads typically took three hours, after which the bales were stacked inside fumigation chambers. Tino occasionally roped his friends, including Luis, into helping, as Rene taught the neighbourhood kids a valuable lesson: work hard, stay at school, and avoid lifting bales for the rest of your life. (5)
“Lunch was the most fun part,” Gonzalez fondly recalled. “The men would sit there and talk baseball. They would talk about the local heroes. Wade Boggs. Lou Piniella. Dave Magadan. Fred McGriff. Tony La Russa. All those guys. And it kind of drove us. We wanted to be the next generation of guys they’d talk about.” (3)
To that end, the Boston Red Sox picked Martinez out of high school in 1985, but Rene championed education, and Tino attended the University of Tampa instead. Accordingly, both Martinez and Gonzalez were drafted – Tino in the first round by Seattle, Luis in the fourth by Houston – in 1988. They both debuted in the majors in 1990. And they both became solid big league contributors throughout the decade, crediting the cigar factory work as a bedrock – physically and mentally – of their success. (7)
Acquired by the Yankees to replace Don Mattingly, a franchise icon, Tino outshone his childhood buddy by becoming a key – though understated – cog in the Yankees’ latest empire. Whereas Donnie Baseball infamously failed to win a World Series ring in pinstripes, Martinez won four in five years, celebrating them all with – yes – the finest victory cigars. (8) Tino became a dependable vacuum at first base while morphing into a 30-homer, 100-RBI fulcrum offensively. Yankee fans adored him.
Gonzalez, by contrast, struggled to find a permanent home, traipsing from Houston to Chicago, back to Houston and on to Detroit while searching for a niche. Traded to Arizona in 1999, however, Gonzalez found his calling, transforming into a slugging behemoth. Gonzo hit .336 with 26 bombs and a .952 OPS in 1999. He followed that with 31 homers in 2000, complementing a .311 average and 114 RBI while establishing himself as a star.
Luis and Tino talked regularly on the phone throughout their careers, including during a 2001 season threaded with their shared destiny. (3) As Martinez posted his usual 30-homer, 100-RBI effort, Gonzalez enjoyed the greatest season of his career – 57 homers, a .325 average and a 1.117 OPS placing him third in National League MVP race, behind only Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa.
A fairytale run through October saw the Yankees and Diamondbacks converge. Hence two childhood friends reaching the pinnacle together. Hence Martinez seeking a full hand of championship jewellery and Gonzalez yearning for a first taste of glory. Hence Tino and Luis sharing a smile on the field before Game 1 of the World Series – twenty-five years ago today – a mutual dream realised.
From there, of course, perhaps the greatest Fall Classic of all-time unfurled. Arizona won the first two games, with Luis going yard in the opener, before President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch back at Yankee Stadium for Game 3, a home triumph.
In Game 4, Arizona hauled a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth. One out from defeat, with a runner aboard, Martinez cranked a game-tying bomb to deep right-centre field off Byung-Hyun Kim, producing a noise unlike any other in the ancient cathedral on River Avenue. Jeter then took Kim deep after midnight, winning the game, earning his Mr November moniker, and equalling the series at two wins apiece.
The next night, those fabled Yankee ghosts came calling once more. Again down by two with Kim seeking the final out, Scott Brosius launched a two-run, game-tying homer, shaking the Stadium to its core. Alfonso Soriano then won it in the 12th inning, putting the Yankees one win shy of a four-peat.
Back in Phoenix, the Diamondbacks won a laugher, 15-2, in Game 6. Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with an RBI as Arizona forced a decisive Game 7. Before that fateful encounter, Gonzalez and Martinez wished each other luck around the batting cage. It was all a far cry from Lou Piniella Field. (1)
Roles were reversed that night, as Arizona came from behind against Mariano Rivera, the most imperious closer of all time, in another spellbinding ninth inning. Just two outs from victory, Rivera surrendered a game-tying double to Tony Womack before hitting Craig Counsell with a pitch to load the bases for Gonzalez.
It was, undoubtedly, a scenario – the scenario – played out by those daydreamy kids of bygone Tampa. Game 7. World Series. Bottom of the ninth. Tied game. Bases loaded. With one out, Yankee manager Joe Torre deployed a drawn-in infield, hoping for a season-saving force at any base. Gonzalez took a strike, then fought off a trademark Rivera cutter, looping it over the head of Jeter and into centre field. Into history. Bell raced home, a dogpile ensued, and the Diamondbacks were world champions.
Shortly thereafter, in the bowels of Bank One Ballpark, a dichotomy lurked in the respective clubhouses. Just the ninth man ever to win the World Series with a hit, Gonzalez was mobbed by teammates and doused with champagne. A cigar or two may have been passed around, followed by the commissioners’ gleaming trophy. Across the hall, meanwhile, Martinez peeled off his Yankee uniform for the final time, fighting back tears and choking on goodbyes. Tino would never play for New York again.
By the time Gonzalez undressed, showered and headed home, midnight had been and gone. When Luis woke in the morning, Dom Pérignon thumping at his head, he scrolled hundreds of texts on his cell phone, from friends and acquaintances sharing their congratulations. The first? Well, that was from Tino. (1) Between humidors and homers, after all, humility was their shared foundation.
Sources
1. Olney, Buster. The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty. 2004.
2. Dubow, Josh. Associated Press. [Online] October 29, 2001. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1283059843/?match=1&terms=%22tino%20martinez%22%20%2B%20%22luis%20gonzalez%22%20%2B%20%22cigars%22&search-id=1caf8c7c-7bd9-458e-bba2-e1aa45f0d0ad&search-rank=2.
3. Hagen, Paul. Knight Ridder Newspapers. [Online] October 27, 2001. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1285258018/?match=6&search-id=1caf8c7c-7bd9-458e-bba2-e1aa45f0d0ad&search-rank=1.
4. Vaughn, Rick. Tampa Spring Training Tales. 2024.
5. Chastain, Bill. Tampa Tribune. [Online] June 22, 1999. https://www.newspapers.com/image/341081914/?match=1&terms=%22tino%20martinez%22%20%2B%20%22cigar%22&search-id=ea6ce961-2a03-4813-80cd-ed722ad0ec99&search-rank=1.
6. Froelich, Janis D. Tampa Tribune. [Online] February 17, 2001. https://www.newspapers.com/image/341609252/?match=9&terms=%22villazon%22%20%2B%20%22cigars%22&search-id=bad1adce-7ebd-4aed-b794-49a50dc51b38&search-rank=1.
7. Savona, David. Cigar Aficionado. [Online] July 3, 2003. https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/from-cigars-to-the-big-league-6173.
8. Cigar Aficionado. [Online] 1999.