gomez made his major league debut on april 29, 1930. he pitched in only 15 games and finished the season with a 2-5 win-loss record, a 5.55 earned run average (era). coming into the 1931 season, gomez had good pitching velocity, but the yankees were concerned about the pitcher's slender frame of and . following a common medical strategy of the time, the team had most of his teeth extracted; they also had him drink three quarts of milk daily and gave him an unlimited meal allowance for road games. gomez registered the second-best era in the american league in 1931.