Halos Today

Pioneering Angels Third Baseman Passes Away

J.P. Hoornstra|
A detailed view of a Los Angeles Angels hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the eighth inning at Truist Park on Aug. 1, 2023.
A detailed view of a Los Angeles Angels hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the eighth inning at Truist Park on Aug. 1, 2023. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

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Los Angeles Angels

Felix Torres, the first major leaguer from Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico, and a trailblazing figure in Los Angeles Angels history, died Friday in his home town, according to Newsweek Sports. He was 93.

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A late bloomer by baseball standards, Torres was already 30 when he debuted as the Angels’ Opening Day third baseman in 1962. Over three seasons in Anaheim, he batted .254 with 27 home runs and 153 RBIs in 365 games, providing steady defense and occasional power from the right side.

The Angels plucked Torres from the Philadelphia Phillies’ organization in the December 1961 Rule 5 draft after he slugged .474 for Triple-A Buffalo. Because the expansion Angels didn't pick in the 1960 Rule 5 draft, Torres was among their first-ever picks in the winter supplemental draft.

By then, he was a seasoned veteran and a hero in Santa Isabel. In 1953, he represented Puerto Rico in the World Amateur Baseball Championship. In 1960, he launched three homers for Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Series.

When manager Bill Rigney wrote Torres’ name into the lineup on Opening Day 1962, he became the 21st Puerto Rican to play in the majors — and the first from his coastal hometown.

But Torres’ transition to the big leagues wasn’t easy. Language barriers left him isolated in the clubhouse until pitcher Julio Navarro, a fellow Puerto Rican who was bilingual in English and Spanish, arrived in September.

"Felix was lost here," Angels infielder Leon Wagner told Jackie Robinson in Baseball Has Done It (1964). "He had a wife and couldn’t get an apartment and only had two words of English: 'money' and 'beefsteak'... I went out and got the apartment for him."

Trainer Freddie Federico recounted another mishap in Viva Baseball! by Samuel Octavio Regalado. When Torres complained of a sore arm, "I worked on his left arm for a couple of days before I discovered he was right-handed."

Torres played at least 100 games each year with the Angels, but by 1965, his playing time dwindled — and so, he believed, did the front office’s commitment to him. That March, he told the Associated Press he made $12,500 annually the past three years, and was holding out for $15,000 in 1966.

The standoff failed. Torres didn’t appear in an MLB game that year, instead finishing his career in the Puerto Rican Winter League. After two final minor-league seasons with Seattle’s affiliate, he retired and returned to Puerto Rico.

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In later years, Torres was celebrated at home. He was inducted into the Ponce Sports Immortals Gallery in 1985 and received the Francisco "Pancho" Coimbre Atiles Award in 2012.

His legacy, however, stretches beyond honors—etched in the path he carved for Puerto Rican players in Anaheim and beyond. No Angels player who made his big league debut at age 26 or older has yet to hit more home runs for the franchise than Torres' 27.

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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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