Grand Opening Planned Saturday For Tampa Baseball Museum

TAMPA, FL — Although Tampa Bay's Major League Baseball team now makes its home at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, across the bay, America's favorite pastime has a long and storied history in Tampa that will now be on display at the Tampa Baseball Museum.

Hosted by legendary MLB alum and Tampa native Lou Piniella, the museum, located in the childhood home of baseball legend Al Lopez, will celebrate its grand opening Saturday at 10 a.m.

"We've gone through quite a journey to get this museum ready for the community," said Chantal Hevia, president and CEO of the Tampa Baseball Museum.

Threatened to be torn down during the widening of Interstate 4, Lopez's childhood home was moved from 1210 E. 12th Ave. in Ybor City to the Ybor City Museum State Park at 2003 N. 19th Street on May 16, 2013, in a 1 1/2-mile journey that took 14 hours.

Hevia clearly remembers that day.

"It was exciting to see this casita moved down the road by these seemingly small tractors," she said. "We had to go board by board through the exterior and preserve everything we could and, not only that, try to make it look as it would have in its early days."

Since then, the home has been restored and transformed into a baseball museum by the Ybor City Museum Society with the help of three Historic Preservation Grants from the Hillsborough County Commission, a Community Redevelopment Area Facade Improvement Grant from the city of Tampa, along with donations from private donations and community partners.

Lopez, Tampa's first Major League Baseball player, manager and National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, was the son of Spanish immigrants and the seventh of nine children. He grew up playing the baseball on sandlots in Ybor City.

He launched his career playing catcher for the Class-D Tampa Smokers before his Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1928. In the following years, he played for the Boston Bees, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Indians, and held the Major League record for career games as a catcher for more than 40 years, a record that was eventually broken in 1990.

He went on to manage the Cleveland Indians (1954) and Chicago White Sox (1959), and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.

The museum's exhibits represent nearly 135 years of local baseball history in Tampa, which is known for its baseball talent with one of the highest numbers of MLB players per capita in the country — 89 players in all.

Since the beginning, teams from around Tampa Bay have represented immigrant and diverse cultures, all coming together to play.

"Baseball became the universal language in Tampa when the Cubans began coming to Tampa to work in the cigar industry, and they brought their love of baseball with them," Hevia said.

From the earliest team formed in Ybor City in 1887 when the city's population had less than 700 people, Tampa's love affair with baseball grew when it became the spring training home for major teams starting in 1913 when the Chicago Cubs began training at Plant Field. The Cincinnati Reds, Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees followed, basing their spring training in Tampa.

Spring training spawned Minor League teams beginning with the Tampa Smokers in 1919 as a charter franchise of the Florida State League.

This version of the Smokers closed in 1929 only to be revived in 1946 as part of the International League. The Smokers played the Havana Cubans regularly until the league folded in 1954.

The Tampa Tarpons then took over as Tampa’s Minor League team, playing at Al Lopez Field from 1957-89. In 1994, the Tampa Yankees came to town and continued to play until 2018 when a re-branding effort brought the Tampa Tarpons back to Steinbrenner Field.

Even during the dark days of World War II, baseball endured in Tampa. The Inter-Social League pulled crowds of several thousand people to West Tampa and Ybor City to see players that included the fathers of future Major Leaguers Lou Piniella and Dave Magadan.

Outside the Tampa region, the All-American Professional Baseball League took shape and called to Ybor City native Senaida “Shu Shu” Wirth, who played shortstop and second base for the South Bend Blue Sox from 1946-51, earning her way to the All-Star team in her rookie season.

Through the years, baseball legends hailing from West Tampa, Ybor City and other areas of Tampa helped put the city on the map and are now represented in the Tampa Baseball Museum at the Al Lopez House.

The first two exhibits in the Tampa Baseball Museum were installed in 2020 and seven additional exhibits will be display opening day, including memorabilia from Tampa's youth baseball teams, Minor League, Major Leagues, spring training, wartime leagues and municipal leagues.

Exhibits include a mini-baseball diamond and an interactive quiz game, uniforms and equipment from the turn of the century to today.

"We lovingly have baseballs from every single player that is from Tampa on display, which is quite a remarkable display," said exhibit designer Deborah Guglielmo. "You've got to come and see that as well as all the wonderful artifacts and some of the historical photos. Everyone here has become so invested in this project over the years. So many organizations and individuals have contributed and supported this effort."

In conjunction with the opening of the museum, Tampa will celebrate its fourth annual Homeruns & History event Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Tampa Baseball Museum, Ybor City's Centennial Park, 1800 E. 8th Ave., and the Ybor City Museum State Park, 1818 E. 9th Ave.

The free family-friendly event will feature autographs by Major and Minor League Baseball alumni. Activities will include a question-and-answer session with a panel of high school coaches, team mascots and street teams, games, baseball-inspired food and music. Attendees are encouraged to show their team spirit by wearing their uniforms, favorite team apparel or other baseball-themed gear.

Homeruns & History is hosted in partnership with the Ybor City Saturday Market and the Ybor City Museum Society, and supported by an Ybor City Development Corp. co-sponsorship grant.

The museum will offer half-priced admission during the official opening from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Timed entry tickets are available for purchase by clicking here.

Charter memberships are also available for purchase on the museum website and include early access to the museum in advance of opening day, as well as other year-round benefits.

Beginning on Sept. 30, the Tampa Baseball Museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with expanded days planned for later in the fall.

The Tampa Baseball Museum was made possible through grants and donations from Hillsborough County, the city of Tampa, the Tampa Bay Rays, TECO, Swope Rodante, Mary and Manny Alvarez, Robert C. and Aida Calafell, The Saunders Foundation, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the family of Al Lopez, Kenneth Garcia, Donna and Sam Parrino, the Rotary Club of Ybor City, MNU Class 5 Inc., Cecelia and James L. Ferman Jr., Hill Ward Henderson, Oliva Tobacco Company, Paul J. Sierra Construction, Mabel and Ellsworth Simmons Foundation and the Tampa Sports Club Foundation.

For more information on how to get involved call, 813-247-1434 or email info@tampabaseballmuseum.org.

Some of Tampa's baseball legends include:

• Tony LaRussa was born in Tampa and grew up in Ybor City where his parents met while working at a cigar factory. His family moved to West Tampa where LaRussa played American Legion baseball and Pony League baseball with Lou Piniella. He made his major league debut in 1963 and spent parts of five major league seasons with the Kansas City Athletics, Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs. A Hall of Fame coach, he managed the Chicago White Sox, Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals to a combined 2,728 wins over 33 seasons and three World Series wins.
• Steve Garvey was born in Tampa and played first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres from 1969-87. Garvey was the National League Most Valuable Player in 1974 and National League Championship Series MVP in 1978 and 1984. He was an NL All-Star for 10 seasons and holds the NL record for consecutive games played (1,207).
• Tino Martinez was born and raised in West Tampa where his grandfather owned a small cigar factory. He attended Tampa Catholic School before transferring to Jefferson High School where he graduated. He played for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays from 1990-2005. During his 16-year MLB career, he scored 1,009 runs, drove in 1,271 runs, and hit 339 home runs. He was twice named to the All-Star Team.
• Fred McGriff was born in Tampa and hung out at Al Lopez Field during Cincinnati Reds spring training and played ball at Jefferson High School. He played first base for six MLB teams from 1986 through 2004 and won a World Series title with the Atlanta Braves. McGriff finished his career with 493 home runs, ties with Hall of Fame player Lou Gehrig.
• Gary Sheffield was born in Tampa and grew up in Belmont Heights where he and his family lived with his uncle, Dwight Gooden, who would go on to become the ace pitcher for the New York Mets. When Sheffield was 11, he was selected to play with the Belmont Heights Little League All-Stars, which included future Chicago Cubs No. 1 pick Ty Griffin and future Major Leaguer Derek Bell. The team made it to the finals of the 1980 Little League World Series but lost to Taiwan 4-3. He played varsity ball at Hillsborough High School and went on to play right field, left field, third base, shortstop and first base for the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets. On April 17, 2009, Sheffield hit is 500th home run.
• Dwight Gooden grew up in Tampa's Belmont Heights and played 16 seasons as a pitcher for the MLB from 1984 to 2000 with the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays. He won the National League's Rookie of the Year, Cy Young Award and Triple Crown.
• Wade Anthony Boggs, a 1976 graduate of Plant High School, spent 18 seasons in the MLB as a third baseman, primarily with the Boston Red Sox but also played for the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays. He won the 1996 World Series with the Yankees and became the 23rd player to reach 3,000 career hits. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

Cuba-born MLB standout Orestes Destrade visited shares his path to the big leagues.