Hall of Famer Al Lopez dies at 97

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Tampa baseball legend Al Lopez died Sunday at age 97.

Al Lopez was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1977.

The Hall of Fame catcher and manager had been hospitalized with a heart attack since Friday, according to his son, Al Lopez Jr.

Lopez played 19 years with four teams in a career that started in 1928. His record of 1,918 games caught stood for more than 40 years until Bob Boone passed him in 1987. Carlton Fisk later passed Boone.

Lopez caught some of baseball's all-time best pitchers, such as Bob Feller, Dizzy Dean and Dazzy Vance. As a teenager he caught Walter Johnson.

After retiring he managed for 17 years, leading Cleveland and Chicago to American League pennants in the 1950s. His teams, always known as overachievers, won two pennants and finished second to the Yankees the other seven years.

His 1954 Indians won 111 games, an American League record that lasted 44 years, and in 1959 he led the White Sox to their first pennant since 1919. Lopez lived to see the White Sox win the world championship this past Wednesday, their first world title since 1918.

Lopez was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977 as a manager with a .581 winning percentage (1,422-1,026).

A National Baseball Hall of Fame spokesman said Lopez was the
oldest living Hall of Fame member. The Hall will fly its flags at
half mast and adorn his plaque with a wreath.

With Lopez's death, former New York Yankees shortstop Phil
Rizzuto becomes the oldest living member of the Hall at 88.

Until Wade Boggs was inducted this year, Lopez was the lone Hall of Famer from Tampa in the Cooperstown shrine.

Lopez had a stadium named after him in Tampa in 1954 that was razed in 1989. The city renamed Horizon Park after him and built a life-size statue honoring its native son in 1992.

Lopez remained active in retirement, playing golf and cards and intently following the game he began playing in the sandlots of Ybor City. Lopez had lived alone in Tampa since his wife, Connie, died in
1983.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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