On Saturday, August 28th, before the Windy City ThunderBolts take on the Joliet Slammers at Ozinga Field, Michael Torres will be officially inducted into the Frontier League Hall of Fame and have his number retired in a pregame ceremony.
Torres, who started his career with the ThunderBolts in 2010, is the franchise’s all-time leader in games played (565), hits (611), runs (338), RBIs (207) and stolen bases (153). When he retired in 2015, he ranked second in league history in games played and hits and third in runs scored.
Acquired in a preseason trade with Southern Illinois on May 17, 2010, Torres went on to hit .307 with 22 stolen bases as a rookie. He was named a Frontier League all-star for the first time and helped guide the team to a division title. By the time his career ended, he had hit .300 or better two more times and played in four more all-star games. His consistency was also a trademark. In six seasons, he never played in fewer than 91 games. Three times, he played in all 96 and between June 1, 2011 and July 29, 2014, he never missed a game, starting a Frontier League record 339 in a row.
Earlier this year, Torres was officially announced as a member of the 2021 Frontier League Hall of Fame class. He is the second player, following Gilberto Mejia in 2019, to make the league’s Hall of Fame after spending his entire Frontier League career with the ThunderBolts.
Since he stopped playing after the 2015 season, no other Windy City player has worn Torres’s signature number 3. Now that will become official as his numeral joins Mike Kashirsky’s number 1 and Dylan Axelrod’s 23 in team history as the only three numbers to be retired.
Frontier League Commissioner Emeritus Bill Lee will be on hand to officially induct Torres into the Hall of Fame on Saturday, August 28th. The Hall of Fame and number retirement ceremony will occur before the first pitch between the ThunderBolts and Slammers, which is scheduled for 6:05 pm.
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