page_title: Al Lopez Field
section_title: Pre-history and design
hierarchical_section_title: Al Lopez Field / Pre-history and design
caption_attribution_description: English: Main entrance to Al Lopez Field.
context_page_description: Al López Field was a spring training and Minor League baseball park in West Tampa, Tampa, Florida, United States. It was named for Al López, who was the first Tampa native to play Major League Baseball, manage an MLB team, and be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Al López Field was built in 1954 and hosted its first spring training in 1955, when the Chicago White Sox moved their training site to Tampa from California. Al López became the White Sox's manager in 1957, and for the next three springs, he was the home manager in a ballpark named after himself. The Cincinnati Reds replaced the White Sox as Al López Field's primary tenant in 1960 and would return every spring for almost 30 years. The Tampa Tarpons, the Reds' Class-A minor league affiliate in the Florida State League, played at the ballpark every summer from 1961–1987.
  In 1988, the Reds moved their spring training home to a new facility in nearby Plant City, Florida, and Al López Field did not host spring training for the first time since 1955. The Tarpons became an affiliate of the Chicago White Sox for the 1988 season and played one more summer at the ballpark.
context_section_description: Tampa was one of the first spring training locations in Florida. Beginning with the Chicago Cubs in 1913, a series of major league teams trained at Plant Field, a multipurpose facility near downtown Tampa. Plant Field was also the home ballpark of the minor league Tampa Smokers, who were a charter member of the Florida State League. While the Cincinnati Reds were still training at Plant Field into the 1950s, the facility was old (it was built in 1898) and had to be shared among many different teams and events. City leaders decided that a new baseball-only facility would insure that Tampa would continue to be an attractive spring training location.
  In 1949, the city of Tampa bought 720 acres (2.9 km²) of open land near West Tampa from the federal government. The large, grassy parcel had once been the perimeter of Drew Field, a World War II-era airfield which was the precursor to Tampa International Airport. While Tampa's municipal airport grew to the west, the land to the east was purchased with the idea of building a community sports complex.
  The construction of Al López Field in 1954 was the first phase of this project. It was located east of Dale Mabry Highway (US Highway 92) and north of Tampa Bay Boulevard, near the center of the land purchased in 1949. Tampa Stadium, a much larger football stadium, was constructed in 1967 just to the north, beyond the baseball park's left field wall.
  Much like Tampa Stadium, the design of Al López Field was functional and minimalist. The grandstand was primarily constructed from concrete and featured a high, curved aluminum overhang with no obstructing columns, a design similar to that of Miami Stadium.
caption: Al López Field shortly before its demolition in 1989
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