Félix Torres Sánchez (born May 1, 1932) is a retired professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player who played three seasons for the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

after spending time in the Cincinnati Redlegs and

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

farm systems. The former ,

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

was initially signed by the Cincinnati Redlegs prior to the season. He played in their

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

system in 1955 and briefly in 1956, before leaving organized baseball—he returned to the Cincinnati farm system in 1960. Prior to the season, he was acquired by the

, but was never called up to the major league level. After the season, on November 27, 1961, he was acquired by the Angels in the 1961 Rule 5 draft. Torres played three seasons in

, making his major league debut with the

in . On April 10, 1962, Torres went 0-for-4 in his major league debut against the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

Comiskey Park Comiskey Park was a ballpark in Chicago, Illinois, located in the Armour Square neighborhood on the near-south side of the city. The stadium served as the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League from 1910 through 1990. Built by Wh ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. In his third career game, a 5–0 loss to the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a ballpark in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Torres earned his first career hit, a leadoff double off pitcher

Jim Kaat James Lee Kaat (; born November 7, 1938), nicknamed "Kitty", is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. A left-handed pitcher, he played Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Senators / Minnes ...

. In , his rookie season, the career .254

hitter In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, to dri ...

hit 11 home runs and batted in 74 runs, far more than the 51 he would knock in the next season. In 127 games, he batted .259 and scored a career-high 44 runs. During the season, Torres played in a career-high 138 games, but had his least-productive power-hitting season, launching only 4 home runs. Torres did, however, hit .261 on 121 hits, both career-high marks. Torres hit a career-high 12

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s in , the third highest total by an Angel that year, behind only teammates Joe Adcock (21) and

Jim Fregosi James Louis "Jim" Fregosi (April 4, 1942 – February 14, 2014) was an American professional baseball shortstop and manager, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to , primarily for the Los Angeles / California Angels. He also played ...

(18). Although he reached a career high in 1964 in both home runs and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

, he set career-lows in

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

, runs, hits, RBIs, and

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

before eventually settling into retirement following the season. Although he was mostly known for his playing time for the Angels, before his Major League Baseball career began, he participated in the 1960 Caribbean Series. Torres tied for the tournament lead in home runs, hitting three in the week-long competition. Torres shared the honors with fellow- Puerto Rican Herman Davis and Héctor López of

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, who spent time in Major League Baseball during his career.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Felix 1932 births Living people Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Douglas Trojans players Havana Sugar Kings players Jersey City Jerseys players Los Angeles Angels players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball third basemen Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico Savannah Redlegs players Seattle Angels players Baseball players from Ponce, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Cuba

See also

References

External links