Tampa Baseball Museum

Located in the historic home of Al Lopez, the first Tampa native to play in the Major Leagues, the Tampa Baseball Museum preserves the history of Florida baseball, from sandlots to the Major Leagues and from spring training to the World Series. The museum, which opened in 2021, features many exhibits about the history of Tampa's several baseball leagues, including the Minor, Major, and former Negro Leagues. It covers about one hundred twenty-five years of baseball history.

Born the son of Cuban immigrants in Tampa, Al Lopez became a catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1928 played for teams in Brooklyn, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland over his nineteen season career. After he retired from playing, he became the manager of the Cincinnati Indians in 1951. Later, in 1957, he became the manager of the Chicago White Sox and managed them until his retirement from baseball. His childhood home in Tampa is now the home of the Tampa Baseball Museum. 

The museum has exhibits on several different aspects of Tampa's baseball history, such as the Little, Major, Factory, Inter-Social, Municipal, Cigar City, and Negro Leagues. It is run by the Ybor City Museum Society. The Ybor City Museum is right across the street too, so visitors can walk from one museum to the other.   

The location for the house-museum is not the original location where Al Lopez resided. The original location was 1210 E. 12th Ave. For purposes of parking, the house was moved to its current location. Work on the museum began just a few years ago and not opening date has been announced as of yet. 

"Al Lopez House." Tampa Baseball Museum. Accessed June 30, 2016. http://tampabaseballmuseum.org/about/al-lopez-house.

"Lopez, Al." Baseball Hall of Fame. Accessed June 30, 2016. http://baseballhall.org/hof/lopez-al.

Morel, Laura C. "Al Lopez house moves to Ybor City for new life as museum." Tampa Bay Times. May 16, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130613103734/http://tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/al-lopez-house-moves-to-ybor-city-for-new-life-as-museum/2121382.

"Museum." Tampa Bay Museum. Accessed June 30, 2016. http://tampabaseballmuseum.org/about/museum.

Singletary, Wes (1999). Al Lopez: The Life of Baseball's El Senor. McFarland.