TAMPA, Fla. — We’re highlighting the impact Latinos have had on the Bay Area for Hispanic Heritage Month. Here’s the story of three Latino baseball players from Tampa that made a mark in Major League Baseball, told by Rodney Kite-Powell with the Tampa Bay History Center.
“So, Tampa has a really rich baseball history. You know, we think about, of course, the Tampa Bay Rays. They’ve been around for 25 years, but our baseball history goes back, really, to the 1880s,” said Kite-Powell.
He said in the beginning of the 1920s, we had an incredible string of Latino, Tampa-born players make it to the major leagues and even coached after their careers on the field. “The first one of those was a man named Al Lopez. He was a pretty good catcher, but he was an even better manager and he was eventually elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager,” he continued.
Following in Lopez’s footsteps were people like Tony La Russa – born in West Tampa – and Lou Piniella, also from West Tampa. “They played in major league baseball and had pretty good careers, but both had definitely much better second acts as managers, including Tony La Russa who, like Al Lopez, was elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager.”
Al Lopez died in Tampa in 2005, but his legacy as the first Major League Baseball player to come from Tampa lives on. Lou Piniella and Tony La Russa are still with us and their most known for not just the types of players there were but the managers they became after retiring from the field.
Al Lopez, Lou Piniella and Tony La Russa are not just Hispanic history. They’re Tampa Bay history.
