Jesse Flores

Jesse Flores Sandoval

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 175 lb.

• Debut April 16, 1942
• Final Game September 17, 1950
• Born November 2, 1914 in Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico
• Died December 17, 1991 in Orange, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Jesse Flores, the third Mexican-born player to come to the major leagues, pitched seven seasons in the big leagues. His son Steve Flores was a long-time scout.

Before the 1938 season Jesse was signed as an amateur free agent by the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs assigned him to the Bisbee Bees of the class D Arizona-Texas League and the 23-year-old Mexican-born righthander led the league with 24 wins and also was the league-leader with his 2.38 ERA. He was destined to come up with the Cubs in 1942. In the meantime, he spent four years (1939-1942) with the Los Angeles Angels in the Pacific Coast League, building a 42-34 record with a 3.45 ERA.

After his brief run with the Cubs in 1942 where he appeared in four games and went 0-1, Jesse was purchased by the Philadelphia Athletics from the Cubs on September 30th and spent the next five seasons with the Athletics. Flores did most of his pitching as part of Connie Mack's starting rotation from 1943 to 1946, winning a career-high 12 games in 1943. Jesse, who was 9-7, including four shutouts in 1946, fell to a 4-13 in 1947. He was the purchased by the San Diego Padres of the PCL from the A's and spent the 1948 and 1949 seasons with them, winning 32 and losing 29. He was last active in the big leagues as a reliever for the Cleveland Indians in 1950, closing out his major league career with a 44-59 record and a 3.74 ERA.

Flores spent five more seasons in pro baseball, all in the high minors, retiring in 1955 at 40 years of age. He had been in the game for 18 years (1938-1955), and finished with a minor league record of 124 wins with 114 losses and a 3.46 ERA.

Flores was a 1987 inductee in the Salon de la Fama, and scouted for the Minnesota Twins for 27 years. Among those he signed was Bert Blyleven. Following his death on December 17, 1991, at age 77 in Orange, CA, Blyleven stated, "Jesse signed me in 1969 and we always stayed close and played a lot of golf together. His death is a loss not only to his family but to baseball."

Notable Achievements

• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 1 (1943)

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com
Baseball Players of the 1950s
SABR MILB Database:page

Related Sites

• Jesse Flores at the SABR Bio Project