Al Lopez

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Al Lopez
Al Lopez - WJROneOfAKind.jpg
Catcher / manager
Born: August 20, 1908
Tampa , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Died on: October 30th, 2005
Tampa , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Suggested: Right Threw: Right
Debut in Major League Baseball
  With the  Brooklyn Dodgers September 27, 1928
Last MLB assignment
September 16,  1947  with the  Cleveland Indians
MLB statistics
(until end of career)
Batting average    , 261
Hits    1,547
Runs Batted In    652
Teams

As a player

As a manager

Awards

member of
☆☆☆Baseball Hall of Fame☆☆☆
Recorded     1977
Special selection    Veterans Committee

Alfonso Ramon "Al" Lopez (born August 20, 1908 in Tampa , Florida , † October 30, 2005 ibid) was an American baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball .

biography

Al Lopez began his career as a professional baseball catcher in the minor leagues in 1924 in his hometown of Tampa. He played his first game in the National League on September 27, 1928 for the Brooklyn Dodgers , whose regular catcher he was from 1930. In 1936 he moved to the Boston Braves , for whom he played until 1940. His third station in the National League were the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1940 to 1946. His last station as a player were the Cleveland Indians in the American League , for which Lopez played his last game on September 16, 1947.

As a player, Al Lopez was not outstanding, as a batsman he only achieved a batting average better than 27.5% in three of his 19 seasons. Overall, he came to a batting average of 26.1%, 51 home runs , 613 runs and 651 RBI . But his perseverance was outstanding. Without major injuries he played in his career in 1918 games as a catcher, a record that was only broken for this field position in 1987 by Bob Boone . His record for the National League alone with 1861 games was only broken three years later by Gary Carter .

His career as a manager was far more successful. In 1951 he took over the Cleveland Indians team. In 1954 he set a new record for victories in one season for the American League with 111 wins, which could only be beaten in 1998 and 2001 by the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners . However, he had to accept a significant defeat in four games in the World Series against the New York Giants . Except in the championship season, the Indians under Lopez took second place.

In 1957, Al Lopez then moved to the Chicago White Sox . He was also able to celebrate a championship in the AL with them. In 1959 he won the title, but again he could not lead his team to triumph in the World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers kept the upper hand in seven games. Lopez was the only manager in the American League who could take a title from the Yankees between 1949 and 1964. He worked for the White Sox until 1965, and in 1968 and 1969 he returned to the managerial post for a short time.

His record as a manager is 1422 wins and 1046 losses. This makes him the fourth most successful manager who has been responsible for at least 2000 games.

In 1977, Al Lopez was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee . He died in 2005 at the age of 97, two days after the White Sox won the World Series again after 1917 and had previously won the championship in the American League for the first time since 1959. Al Lopez was the last surviving major league baseball player in the 1920s.

His stations as a player

His stations as a manager

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Lopez, Al
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lopez, Alfonso Ramon (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American baseball player and manager
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Tampa , Florida
DATE OF DEATH October 30, 2005
Place of death Tampa , Florida