[1] As a teenager, he left his family to attend high school and play baseball in El Centro, California.

His grades were too poor for a four-year school and, after finishing junior college at 19, took a job at a department store for $4.75 per hour (equivalent to $10.02 in 2023) while pitching for an amateur team in Tijuana.

Three years later, in 1996, with a three-month-old daughter at home, he was convinced to attend a Cincinnati Reds tryout in San Diego.

The Reds did not sign Cortés on the grounds that he was too short at 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) but he was referred to an amateur team in San Diego, which he could afford to join only after being given $20 in gas money.

Cortés signed with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization in August 2008 and served as their closer until the end of the season.