Flores, Tony

TONY FLORES

Tony Flores’ athletic career started at Lorain High in 1976. While at LHS, he earned two varsity letters in both football and baseball. In baseball, he was the starting shortstop on Coach Vic Furiga’s 1980 Buckeye Conference championship team.

Tony continued his education at Bowling Green State University and earned a degree in Sports Management. It was there that he laid the foundation for a stellar career as a professional baseball executive that lasted 13 years.

His first assignment was with the St. Petersburg Cardinals of the Class A Florida State League at historic Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, FL; an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. Starting in 1988 as an Administrative Assistant, Tony became Assistant General Manager in 1989, served as General Manager from 1990-1992, Vice President and General Manager from 1993-1995 and President in 1996. During his tenure, they hosted numerous other major events including the 1996 Olympic baseball team training, Baltimore Orioles spring training, ACC college tourney and numerous Major League Alumni games and events.

The St. Petersburg team was purchased in 1997 by the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Tony served three more seasons as the team’s General Manager and Director of Spring Training operations. He was the team liaison with the city of St. Petersburg and an integral part of the inaugural season for the new franchise. While in St. Petersburg, the teams under his direction were highly successful and regularly drew more than 160,000 fans annually, a lofty number for minor league baseball at the time, and for years held the Florida State record drawing over 200,000 fans.

Tony concluded his baseball executive career in 2001 as General Manager of the Auburn, NY, Doubledays, a rookie affiliate team of the Toronto Blue Jays. Tony retired from professional baseball after the 2002 season and has since pursued a career in commercial real estate in New York City and Westchester County, NY. Additionally, he also works with his son running a youth baseball instructional academy, Flores Baseball Training, for the last seven years, and it has become one of the largest programs in the Northeast with over 340 youth ages 5-16. 

Tony and his wife, Kate, currently reside in West Orange, NJ, and are the proud parents of two sons and two daughters; they also have two grandchildren.