Al Lopez Field
Al López Field was a spring training and Minor League baseball ballpark in West Tampa, Tampa, Florida, United States. It was named for Al López, the first Tampa native to play Major League Baseball (MLB), manage an MLB team, and be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Al López Field was built in 1954 and hosted its first spring training in 1955, when the Chicago White Sox moved their training site to Tampa from California. Al López became the White Sox's manager in 1957, and for the next three springs, he was the home manager in a ballpark named after himself. The Cincinnati Reds replaced the White Sox as Al López Field's primary tenant in 1960 and would return every spring for almost 30 years. The Tampa Tarpons, the Reds' Class-A minor league affiliate in the Florida State League, played at the ballpark every summer from 1961–1987, and many members of the Reds' Big Red Machine teams of the 1970s played there early in their professional baseball careers.
Location
Tampa, Florida
Tampa Sports Authority
Tampa Sports Authority
approximately 5,000
Left - 340 ft.
Center - 400 ft.
Right - 340 ft.
Grass
1954
March 1955
1988
Spring 1989
"$287,901 (equivalent to $3,274,561 in 2023)"
Al López Field was constructed as the first phase part of a planned community sports complex, with Tampa Stadium built adjacent to the ballpark in 1967. When the Tampa Bay area began seriously pursuing a Major League Baseball expansion team in the 1980s, the site of Al López Field was widely regarded as a prime location for a potential major league ballpark. With the city of Tampa unwilling to offer a new long-term lease due to the facility's uncertain future, the Reds decided to move their spring training home to nearby Plant City in 1988. The Tarpons moved to Sarasota a year later, leaving Al López Field without a tenant.
The ballpark was razed in 1989 to facilitate faster construction of a major league replacement. However, MLB chose St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field as the home for the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays, leaving the site vacant and Tampa without a professional baseball team. Legends Field opened nearby in 1995 as the new spring training home of the New York Yankees and summer home of the minor league Tampa Yankees. In 1998, Raymond James Stadium, a replacement for Tampa Stadium, was built at the former location of Al López Field.
Sporting history[edit]
Construction on Al López Field was not quite complete on October 6, 1954, when it was officially dedicated as part of "Al López Day" in Tampa.[3] It was, however, ready for spring training in March 1954, when the Chicago White Sox used the place as a training base while playing exhibition games at Plant Field.[4] After the White Sox went north for the beginning of the regular season, their new Florida State League Class-A team, the Tampa Tarpons, took the field.[5] Al López became the White Sox manager in 1957, putting him in the unusual position of managing in his hometown in a stadium that bore his name. During one ballgame, Lopez got into an argument with umpire John Stevens and was ejected. As Lopez said later, "The umpire threw me out of my own ballpark!"[6]
The White Sox moved their spring training home to Payne Park in Sarasota, Florida in 1960, and the Cincinnati Reds (who had continued to train at Plant Field) moved their spring operations across town to become Al López Field's new tenants. The Reds would become the major league club most associated with the ballpark, as they used the stadium and the adjacent training facilities (nicknamed "Redsland") as their spring home for almost 30 years. As part of the agreement, the Tampa Tarpons became the Reds' Florida State League affiliate in 1960 and would remain in their minor league system until 1987. Consequently, several members of Cincinnati's championship-winning "Big Red Machine" of the 1970s, including Pete Rose. Johnny Bench, and Dave Concepción, played some of their first professional baseball in Tampa with the Tarpons and later returned for spring training with the big league club.[7]
The Reds hosted the New York Yankees at the park on March 17, 1978. In honor of Saint Patrick's Day, Reds general manager Dick Wagner had green versions of the Reds' uniforms made. This was the first time a major league team wore green trimmed uniforms on March 17, a practice adopted in subsequent years by multiple major league teams for Spring Training games that fall on St. Patrick's Day.[8]
The South Florida Bulls baseball team played at Al López Field during their inaugural season in 1966, but moved to the on-campus Red McEwen Field the following year.
Besides professional baseball, Al López Field regularly hosted amateur and semi-pro baseball games, including many Florida high school baseball championships, and occasionally hosted boxing and wrestling matches.[9]
Other events[edit]
Al López Field was the site of several large civic events, particularly before Curtis Hixon Hall was built downtown in 1965. During a visit to Tampa in November 1963, President John F. Kennedy delivered his last major speech to an overflow crowd of 10,000 people at the ballpark only days before being assassinated in Dallas, Texas.[10]