Gacho Torres

José Torres
also known as Joe Gacho and Tony Gacho
(Cocoa)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 172 lb.

• Debut 1926
• Final Game 1926
• Born July 2, 1896 in Rio Piedras P.R.
• Died December 14 1963 in Cayey P.R.

BR page

Biographical Information

José "Gacho" Torres was one of the first Puerto Ricans in the Negro Leagues, possibly the first.

Torres served in the 65th Infantry during World War I then taught at the University of Puerto Rico. In the late 1910s and early 1920s, he was considered one of Puerto Rico's top four baseball stars. He was noted there for both his power and his curveball.

After the independent Allentown Dukes toured Puerto Rico in the 1924/1925 winter, the club signed Torres. With Allentown, he played some Negro League teams and played well. He then moved on to the Newark Stars in the 1926 Eastern Colored League briefly, going 0 for 5 with a walk and handling 12 putouts at 1B, LF and CF; in the end of the second game, he was replaced by Willie Gisentaner in CF. He thus preceded Emilio Navarro to the Negro Leagues; Navarro had been listed as the first Puerto Rican, though a couple other players may have preceded Torres. When the Negro Leagues were officially deemed major leagues in 2020, that made Torres the first major leaguer from Puerto Rico.

Source:

• Agate Type blog by Gary Ashwill

Related Sites

• Gacho Torres at the SABR Bio Project