Tampa Bay History Volume 16 Issue 1 Article 3 6-1-1994 The Early Baseball Career of Al Lopez Wes Singletary Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/tampabayhistory Recommended Citation Singletary, Wes (1994) "The Early Baseball Career of Al Lopez," Tampa Bay History: Vol. 16 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/tampabayhistory/vol16/iss1/3 This Article 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]. Singletary: The Early Baseball Career of Al Lopez THE EARLY BASEBALL CAREER OF AL LOPEZ by Wes Singletary In the fall of 1924, a barnstorming team of big league baseball players came through Tampa, Florida, on an exhibition tour, planning to play either intra-squad games or local amateur teams. When they arrived in Tampa, they felt that it might be a good idea to get one of the local Latin youths to play with them in the hope that it would aid the expected turnout of Latin fans from nearby Ybor City. The young man selected to play with this team of major-league veterans was a modestly built, sixteen-year-old catcher named Alfonso Ramon Lopez.1 Upon being asked to catch, the equally thrilled and scared Lopez inquired who would be pitching. "Walter Johnson," they replied. "Do you think you can catch him?" In response the young Lopez answered that he did not know but that he would try.