Al Lopez Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Full name Alfonso Ramon Lopez
Born August 20, 1908, Tampa, Florida
Died October 30, 2005, Tampa, Florida
Buried at Garden of Memories Cemetery, Tampa, Florida
First Game: September 27, 1928; Final Game: September 16, 1947
Managed First Game: April 17, 1951; Managed Final Game: May 1, 1969
Bat: Right Throw: Right Height: 5' 11" Weight: 165

Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1977

AL LOPEZ
This article was written by Maxwell Kates and is presented in part, courtesy of the Society for American Baseball Research

He was equally as adept at coordinating pitchers and throwing out baserunners as he was as a leader and strategist in the dugout. However, Alfonso Ramon Lopez chose to defer his accomplishments to those around him. Much like his mentor Casey Stengel, Lopez knew that he could not have won the American League pennants in 1954 or 1959 without his players. Although disappointed that he never played or managed for a World Champion, he received countless honours from his peers on the diamond, his community, the Baseball Hall of Fame, and fans spanning four generations.

Lopez was the son of Spanish immigrants. His father, Modesto, was attracted to employment offers in the cigar trade in Cuba. After convincing his bride to abandon their Castilian roots, they spent “eight or nine years” in Cuba; they migrated yet again to the United States in 1906, settling in the Ybor City section of Tampa. The Lopez family settled in a modest four bedroom house which lacked running water.[1] It was here that their seventh of nine children, Alfonso, was born on August 20, 1908. At the time, Ybor City was hardly the popular nightclub district that it is today. Lopez encapsulated his neighborhood living conditions with the following anecdote told to Tom McEwen:

“Tough place, Ybor City was, once. I went to work one day and had to step around a couple of guys who had been murdered in the streets.”[2] Among Lopez’ earliest memories was the stench of his father’s cigar-stained clothing upon returning from the factory where he worked as a tobacco selector. He vowed to work diligently to avoid having to follow in his father’s footsteps.[3]