LA HABRA : Fields Dedicated to Baseball Legend

The fields at Portola Park, where the late Jesse Flores spent years developing baseball programs for local youths and adults, have been named in his honor.

The area where the park’s three baseball fields are located will now be known as the Jesse Flores Sports Complex. The designation was approved by the City Council.

Flores, a former major league pitcher and renowned baseball scout who lived in the city from 1923 until his death in 1991, began playing sandlot baseball when he was a child at what is now Portola Park.

Flores, who moved to La Habra from Mexico with his family when he was 8, became the first Mexican American pitcher in the major leagues in 1942. He played for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Athletics and the Cleveland Indians and spent the last 30 years of his life scouting for the Minnesota Twins and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Friends praised Flores’ efforts to teach youngsters how to play baseball. He also organized and managed a semipro baseball team, the La Habra Tigers. He supplied the baseballs and bats for that team and spent Sunday mornings watering and preparing a field at Portola Park for afternoon games.

The council decided to honor Flores because “of what he did for the kids and the community,” Councilman Steven C. Cheverton said. “He was a great person known throughout the entire community.”

Flores’ nephew, Richard Flores, said his uncle “was a very good, humble man who never bragged about his career and was always there for the kids and always wanted to help people.”

He said he and a group of residents are hoping to raise $7,000 to get two plaques installed by February at the park on Euclid Street.