Tampa Bay History Volume 3 Issue 1 Article 6 6-1-1981 Baseball and the American Dream: A Conversation With Al Lopez Gerard A. Brandmeyer University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/tampabayhistory Recommended Citation Brandmeyer, Gerard A. (1981) "Baseball and the American Dream: A Conversation With Al Lopez," Tampa Bay History: Vol. 3 : Iss. 1 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/tampabayhistory/vol3/iss1/6 This Oral History is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Access Journals at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Tampa Bay History by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Brandmeyer: Baseball and the American Dream: A Conversation With Al Lopez BASEBALL AND THE AMERICAN DREAM: A CONVERSATION WITH AL LOPEZ by Gerard A. Brandmeyer Al Lopez occupies a special niche in the history of Tampa. To his surprise, Lopez became a much heralded symbol of his native Ybor City community. He did this by achieving prominence in major league baseball in a professional career that spanned forty-five years, 1925-69, with thirty-six of these years spent at the major league level first as player and later as manager. The highlights of Lopez’s career are a reflection of the era and the man. At the tender age of sixteen, and therefore technically ineligible to bind himself by contract, Lopez was coaxed nonetheless into signing with the neighborhood Tampa Smokers, forerunner of the modern day Tarpons of the Florida State League.