Gordon Leigh “Jack” Bloomfield
Inducted 1993
Hometown: Monte Alto
College: Pan American College
Best Known for: Athlete – Baseball
b. August 7, 1932
One of the Valley's most outstanding baseball players, he made the grade as a player, coach and scout, rising to the Major Leagues in the latter two fields.
Bloomfield was a second baseman, shortstop and third baseman in his playing days. He signed with the Kansas City Athletics in 1955 but was released and gained his first professional experience with the independent Harlingen Capitals of the Class B Big State League, where he batted .310. Bloomfield was then drafted by the Milwaukee Braves and played the bulk of his six-year Major League career in the Braves' and Cincinnati Reds' organizations, once again breaking the .300 mark with the 1958 Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League. Ironically, his final stint as a minor league player came with the Athletics, playing for their Triple-A Portland Beavers affiliate from 1959 to 1960, when he was released again.
He then played professional baseball in Japan during the 1960s (for the Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Nankai Hawks), where he compiled a .315 batting average and a .472 slugging percentage in more than 2,400 at-bats.
Overseas he starred, winning won two batting titles, making three All-Star Games, and averaging .315 in seven years, good enough for 14th all-time in Japan.
Bloomfield was a scout for the San Diego Padres from 1969 to 1973 and coached with the Padres and Chicago Cubs for four seasons, later scouting for the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies.