Joe Gonzales (baseball)

Joe Madrid Gonzales [Smokey] (March 19, 1915 – November 16, 1996) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball who played briefly for the Boston Red Sox during the 1937 season.

[1] After graduating from Roosevelt High in 1933, Gonzales entered the University of Southern California, majoring in physical education and compiling a 19-game win streak while pitching for the Trojans baseball team.

The Red Sox signed him out of USC and assigned him to the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, from whom they called him up before the 1937 season was over.

That was the extent of his major league career, as the Red Sox farmed Gonzales out to the Little Rock Travelers of the Southern Association in 1938.

After retiring from baseball, Gonzales was a field judge in the National Football League for 21 seasons, wearing number 54.