WooSox bench coach José David Flores thankful to be back coaching following cancer scare
WORCESTER — José David Flores has a new lease on life.
Following a physical examination and a handful of follow-up tests during spring training in Florida, the Worcester Red Sox bench coach was presented with some troubling news: He had cancer.
“It was shocking,” Flores, 52, said.
Now, five months after undergoing surgery to remove a tumor from his bladder, Flores is cancer free. With a clear conscience, the longtime baseball coach is grateful to have the chance to help the WooSox make a run at the International League pennant.
“This is what I’ve done my entire life, and this is what I live for,” Flores said. “(Getting the chance to walk) through that door knowing that (I’m) OK and that I was given a second chance to continue to do what I do for a living is so gratifying.”
Flores a baseball lifer
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, José David Flores grew up around baseball.
Flores’ father was a big fan of Roberto Clemente, a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who suited up for 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates before tragically dying in a plane crash on Dec. 31, 1972 — a day before Flores’ second birthday.
“From the moment I was born, I pretty much had a bat and a ball in my hand,” Flores said. “It just pretty much kept going.”
Drafted as an infielder by the Houston Astros in 1990, Flores (who goes by “Flo”) played four years of minor league baseball before starting his coaching career.
After coaching stops landed him in the Puerto Rican Winter League, and with several organizations like the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles, the bilingual Flores (who speaks English and Spanish) was named the bench coach of the Worcester Red Sox heading into the 2022 season.
“Flo has been around forever, he’s managed a lot, too,” WooSox manager Chad Tracy said. “He views the game through the same lens that I do. He’s not afraid to tell me what he thinks.”
“He’s without hesitation one of the best coaches that I’ve ever had,” WooSox infielder Nick Sogard said. “His knowledge of the game and his experiences that he’s had throughout his career, you can’t really duplicate that very often and then his ability to form relationships with players is so unique with both languages and he’s funny and he’s just a really good guy to have around.”
Thankful to be at the ballpark again
Flores had been through this process so many times before: Physical examination. Lab work. All a formality of another spring training before the baseball season.
This spring, all health results came back “great” for the WooSox bench coach despite having some hidden blood show up in his urine test.
“With that being said, the team doctors with the big-league club wanted to perform a few more tests,” Flores said.
After a couple more exams and MRIs, everything continued to come back negative. Still, one of the doctors wanted to check off all of the boxes before the season started and called for a cystoscopy: a method where doctors use a camera to look at the bladder from inside the body.
“About a minute-and-a-half into the procedure he’s like ‘Thank God you did this’ and I’m like ‘What do you mean?’ and he was like ‘Yeah, you have a tumor and you have cancer in your bladder and this is something we have to take care of as soon as possible,’” Flores recalled. “From being OK to now I have cancer and I start thinking about family, mom, dad, daughters, grandkids. What am I going to do? Have much do I have to live? What am I going to do? It was tough.”
At first, Flores didn’t tell many people within the Red Sox organization about his cancer diagnosis. He kept his circle small and didn’t want to burden WooSox coaches and players. Flores was anxious and couldn’t eat. He lost roughly 15 pounds.
Finally, following the first homestand of the year, Flores sat down with WooSox staff and let them know about his health issue. He told his fellow coaches he’d miss the team’s trip to Buffalo since he had surgery scheduled for April 6 at Mass General Hospital in Boston.
“When I heard (the news), my heart sank into my stomach and my first thought was ‘This is my friend, what are we going to do if this thing is not good?’” Tracy said.
Luckily, Dr. Adam S. Feldman — sporting a Red Sox cap and facemask during surgery — was able to remove a one-inch tumor from Flores’ bladder.
“It looked like cauliflower,” Flores said.
Flores then spent four days recovering from the procedure before being cleared to rejoin the WooSox for the start of their homestand with the Colombus Clippers on April 11 at Polar Park.
“There's always a chance that it could come back but at least I’m aware that that’s a possibility,” said Flores, who credits doctors for continuing to screen him this spring. “But I’m just so thankful everything went the way it went and I’m able to be here with the club.”
And the WooSox were happy to have their bubbly bench coach back with them. Cancer free.
“He’s a guy where if he’s not there, our team takes a hit,” Sogard said. “That’s just the reality of it. He’s just a big part of our team. We were all pretty concerned, but it was good news when he was cleared.”
“A huge weight lifted off the shoulders,” Tracy said.
With the final week of the 2023 season approaching, José David Flores is thankful that surgery to remove a cancerous tumor was successful and allowed him to do what he loves most this year: coach baseball.
“If not, I probably wouldn’t be here talking about it,” Flores said. “I’m just very grateful that I’m able to come to the ballpark and be myself again.”
— Contact Tommy Cassell at tcassell@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tommycassell44.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: WooSox bench coach José David Flores opens up about cancer diagnosis