Wenceslao Gonzales O'Reilly (September 28, 1925 – March 11, 1981) was a Cuban-born

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player during the 1950s and 1960s. A

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who stood tall and weighed , Gonzales appeared in one

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

game in 1955 as a member of the Washington Senators. Gonzales entered pro baseball in 1951 as a member of the Ciudad Juárez Indios and in his first season, he led the Class C Southwest International League with 32 victories. He followed that by winning 25 and 22 games for the Indios.Minor league statistics from Baseball Reference
/ref> In 1955, Gonzales was a member of the Senators' early season roster and appeared in the second game of the campaign, a road contest against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

. Called into the game in the seventh inning with Washington already losing 13–1, he worked the final two frames, allowing six hits, six

earned runs In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

and three bases on balls in an eventual 19–1 rout.Retrosheet
/ref> Gonzales spent the rest of the season in the

Arizona–Mexico League The Arizona–Mexico League was a Minor League Baseball league in the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico, that operated as an affiliated Class C league that existed from 1955–58, and then again in 2003 as an independent baseball league. ...

and the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

and the rest of his career pitching in Mexico, appearing in a game as late as in 1969.

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1925 births 1981 deaths Camaroneros de Ciudad del Carmen players Diablos Rojos del México players Indios de Ciudad Juárez (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Cuba Cuban expatriate baseball players in the United States Nogales Diablos Rojos players Nogales Yaquis players People from Quivicán Pericos de Puebla players Sultanes de Monterrey players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Cuban emigrants to Mexico {{Cuba-baseball-pitcher-stub