The stadium has been renamed three times. Built in 1948, it was originally named "El Estadio Nacional" (The National Stadium). After the 1972 earthquake that struck Managua and destroyed 90% of the city, it was rebuilt and renamed after Anastasio Somoza García. In 1979, after the Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza dynasty, it was renamed in honor of Rigoberto López Pérez, the man who, in 1956, assassinated Anastasio Somoza García. On November 20, 1998, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the stadium, then-President Arnoldo Alemán issued a decree changing the stadium's name to Estadio Nacional Dennis Martínez. Dennis Martínez, born in 1955 (several years after this stadium had opened), was Major League Baseball's first Nicaraguan-born player.