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Tampa’s Baseball Museum scores a home run

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You might — and probably will be — greeted by a rooster.

No, it’s not on a farm, but one that roams the historic streets of Ybor City, some of which are still laid in brick from nearly a century ago.

And, tucked away on those historic streets, at 2003 N. 19th St., is the Tampa Baseball Museum.

The Tampa Tarpons played at Al Lopez Field until 1988, when the area anticipated a Major League Team to be awarded to Tampa. The region wasn’t awarded a professional team, then known as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, until 1995. (Mike Camunas)

It opened in September and is inside the Al Lopez House, which was painstakingly moved from its original place in West Tampa to Ybor City.

Step inside the museum, and 135 years of Tampa baseball history and heritage greets visitors. It’s a place where 89 professional baseball players with Tampa roots are honored.

The impressive and immersive exhibit displays the rich and diverse stories dating back to long before the Tampa Bay area received a major league franchise.

Baseball and Cigars
In 1887, Ybor City was a small but crowded town with about 700 residents.

What else is there to do? Start a baseball team? Why not!

Residents would come by the hundreds to watch the team play other Florida teams. A decade later, the Cuban Cigar Industry came to Ybor City and the love of baseball bloomed.

Later in the 1910s, Spring Training would come to Tampa, with the Chicago Cubs playing on Plant Field. Six other teams would join the Cubs: the Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees.

The Tampa Baseball Museum at the Al Lopez Home in Ybor City showcases elements and features from the rich baseball history in the Tampa Bay area, including original seats and home plate from Al Lopez Field. The field was demolished in 1989. (Mike Camunas)

Minor League teams formed shortly after this, including the Tampa Smokers in 1919 — one of the first teams of the Florida State League. That team ended in 1929, but not before it was able to sign and develop Al Lopez, its most pivotal player.

The man, the legend
Lopez, who grew up playing in the sandlots of Ybor City, made his major league debut in 1928, becoming the first Tampa native to enter the Majors.

After a career that lasted nearly 20 years, he would become a manager, doing that for nearly another 20 years. Lopez also is the first Tampa native to manage a major league team, the first to manage a team to a World Series and the first to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, which happened in 1977.

What’s baseball without a Cuban Cigar? Here are some that were part of the Havana Winter League in the 1960s.

Lopez’s 1,410 MLB managerial wins are ranked 11th all-time.

It’s why the original Al Lopez Field was named after him when it opened in 1955. It would host Spring Training games for the Cincinnati Reds and the Tampa Tarpons, the Reds Class-A minor league team at the time until it was demolished in 1989, when the Tampa Bay area began pursuing a major league expansion team.

If you visit this museum …
Take your time. There’s much more Tampa Baseball History than you’ll expect. There’s a continuous running video presentation and various timelines of the different aspect of baseball in Tampa, including Tampa Bay receiving the expansion Devil Rays, the Negro Leagues and baseball during wartime.

Be sure to check out the wall of signed balls that include older players, Hall of Famers and even current players.

And once you’re done, head out past the roosters and go get a Cuban sandwich, one to honor Mr. Lopez and his hometown.

Tampa Baseball Museum at the Al Lopez House
Where: 2003 N. 19th St., Tampa
When: Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cost: $12 adults, $10 Military, Seniors 65+, Students 18+ (ID required), $6 children
Details: An interactive history museum on the 135-year history of baseball in Tampa
Info: Call 813-400-2353, or visit TampaBaseballMuseum.org

Published April 06, 2022

The Tampa Baseball Museum has dozens of signed baseballs from Tampa natives who grew up playing baseball in Tampa, including current Rays manager Kevin Cash, West Tampa’s Lou Piniella and Tino Martinez, and even Mets’ first baseman Pete Alonso, who played for Plant High School.
One of Ybor City’s many roosters that roam the streets outside the Tampa Baseball Museum at the Al Lopez House.
Great care was taken to move the Al Lopez House, now known as the Tampa Baseball Museum. It was situated in West Tampa but is now on 19th Street, in Ybor City.

Sheffield pitching Wesley Chapel to the Atlanta Braves

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The Atlanta Braves aren’t making a trip to the postseason this year, but could they instead be planning a trip to Pasco County in a few years? Like for spring training?

Retired Major League Baseball player Gary Sheffield, left, listens as Blue Marble Strategies owner John Talton shares his vision of a new 20-field baseball complex in Wesley Chapel's Wiregrass Ranch area. (Photo by Michael Hinman)
Retired Major League Baseball player Gary Sheffield, left, listens as Blue Marble Strategies owner James Talton shares his vision of a new 20-field baseball complex in Wesley Chapel’s Wiregrass Ranch area. (Photo by Michael Hinman)

Gary Sheffield, the retired Major League Baseball star who hit 64 home runs when he played two seasons for the Braves more than a decade ago, believes his old team will come. And if not them, maybe the Houston Astros or Toronto Blue Jays — both which have expressed interest in looking for new spring training homes — instead.

Regardless, the former outfielder says the proposed $70 million baseball complex planned on 100 acres in the Wiregrass Ranch area will be so attractive, it would be impossible for any Major League team to turn it down.

“They don’t want to be second to Disney,” Sheffield told a group of business leaders recently at a Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce economic development meeting. “The problem they are having is that the fans coming to the games there are not Braves fans. They are there for Disney, and that is a problem for them.”

The Braves have played spring training at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex near Disney World in Orlando since 1998, but have been unofficially considering other options in recent months since their lease there is set to expire in 2017.

Wesley Chapel could be perfect for the team, Sheffield says, since many might consider the Interstate 75 trip between there and Atlanta a straight shot. It also makes sense as a second home for the team without making it inconvenient for its fan base.

“That is an easy commute for them,” Sheffield said. “All those fans could come straight here, plus go to other places like Disney and Clearwater Beach, since they would be close by. That is a possibility that is pretty much there for the taking.”

The sports complex was proposed by James Talton, owner of Blue Marble Strategic, and would supply 20 baseball and multipurpose athletic fields, as well as dormitories for players and other amenities. It’s a way to tap into the lucrative youth baseball market, he said.

Talton is raising $54 million in private funding, and looking for $11 million from Pasco County tourist tax money, to make such a project a reality.

Even without a major stadium component, Talton feels his sports complex could play a role in creating 8,000 jobs in the county, and produce $318 million in annual economic impact, as well as a direct revenue stream of $9 million each year to the county government. But if the project could attract a Major League team, there’s no telling how big of an impact that would have in the Wesley Chapel area, Talton said.

Creating a separate field for spring training would not be anywhere near the headache the Tampa Bay Rays are experiencing with its efforts to get out of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. In fact, spring training fields are typically much smaller than regular season venues, Talton said, where average attendance usually holds around 6,700.

“We would want to put in up to 12,000 seats, but that could be a little ambitious,” he said. “A lot of what we hear from the league is that they want to have no more than 8,000 seats, because they want to make sure they are filled.”

Yet, just from his own youth baseball operations, Talton believes he can fill 3,000 of those seats with his players and families that might be using the rest of the facility during spring training time. He wants to be open for business by January 2017, which would be just ahead of when the Braves’ lease with Disney expires.

But are the Braves even looking to stay in this part of the state? Braves president John Schuerholz told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in March that staying in Central Florida could be tough.

Many teams that used to participate in spring training are looking for other parts of the state, especially south, and it could be tough for Atlanta to travel around if its only nearby opponent is the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland.

The Braves want to stay in Florida, however, and have waved off any suggestions the team could move to the other popular spring training state of Arizona. But if the Astros move out of Kissimmee, and the Washington Nationals leave their home in Viera, that could leave the Atlanta team rather isolated in Lake Buena Vista.

Yet moving to Wesley Chapel could be a good move in that respect. The Tigers would still be available in Lakeland, joining five other teams in quick driving distance — the New York Yankees in Tampa, the Blue Jays in Dunedin, the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater, the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton, and the Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota.

The Braves also would be a lot closer to the Tampa Bay Rays, who play its spring training games in Port Charlotte.

A request to the Braves for comment is still pending.

Sheffield, who was born and raised in Tampa, says he has been spending a lot of time in Pasco County, especially since his kids are members of the Pasco Predators youth athletic teams. Once tourists start discovering the area, they won’t be able to stay away.

“There is something about Tampa and Pasco County,” he said. “People can’t leave. They can’t leave the water, or the beautiful places here. It’s totally community-driven.”