Arturo Lopez had a full life before baseball and an interesting one during his pro career. And, just as importantly, his life didn’t stop when baseball did.
Growing up In Puerto Rico and Manhattan
Born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, in 1937, he closely followed the local winter league, which highlighted local stars as well as standouts from the U.S. Negro Leagues who, at the time, were barred from Major League Baseball.
“I once played hooky from school for at least two weeks to await the [Mayaguez] team’s 10 a.m. practices and sit in the stands [alone]; follow them upon completion to a local restaurant which they frequented to have breakfast (or lunch) while I stood outside gawking at them and dreaming that someday, I, too, would become a player for the team,” he said.
But López’s parents moved to the mainland after World War II and worked in New York City’s Garment District, and he joined them in 1949. “Dad first moved to New York City in 1947,” Lopez recalled. “He was an independent contractor with sewing expertise. The owner gave dad better opportunities as a mechanic. Mom [a sewing machine operator] and my kid brother moved to New York in 1948.”
López was a high-school classmate of future U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and played one year of high-school baseball while also competing in softball leagues and playing the iconic game of stickball in the streets of the Bronx. He served in the Navy from 1954-1958 and played amateur baseball in New York.
He also earned his insurance license in the 1950s and remembers that, since he didn’t have a driver’s license, he made most of his collections by running or walking quickly between East Harlem high rises and dashing up steps to collect premiums. López later helped persons employed by the insurance company get their licenses and better jobs.
Then came baseball.
A Unique Professional Baseball Journey
In a professional career that lasted from 1961-73, Lopez toiled in the U.S. minor leagues and the Caribbean winter leagues, earned a Major League cameo appearance in 1965 with the New York Yankees, and later, thanks to an identity snafu, became the first Puerto Rican to play in Japan and spent six productive seasons there. He was on championship teams in the U.S. minor leagues, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Japan.
Lopez got his start by participating in an open tryout the Yankees held in the summer of 1961, and he was impressive enough that the club offered him a contract. He split that season between Class D teams in Harlan, KY, and Auburn, NY, batting a combined .345. By 1963, he had reached Class A Greensboro, NC, where he averaged .338 and got promoted to AAA the next season. He batted .315 for Richmond, VA, in 1964 and followed that with a good spring training in 1965 to earn a spot on the Yankees’ opening-day roster.
He debuted by pinch-running for Mickey Mantle in the season-opener and later scored. His first hit came off the California Angels’ Dean Chance – the American League Cy Young Award winner the previous year – on April 24, 1965 at Yankee Stadium. Understandably, he remembers the occasion well.
“At the time, I couldn’t believe I was even playing for the New York Yankees, but there I was facing Dean Chance,” Lopez said. “He had a fastball that moved like a screwball and traveled faster than 90 miles per hour. [Yankee shortstop] Tony Kubek reminded me before the at-bat that I should avoid that pitch if I could. He threw me a pitch on the outside part of the plate, and I took it to left field for the hit. How I wish I had that ball now!”
Lopez was sent to the minors in early June, when the Yankees activated catcher Elston Howard, but he returned to the big club three months later. On September 5, he got two hits against Boston and had his last AL at-bat three days later against the Washington Senators, finishing the season with seven hits in 49 major league at-bats.
He played at the AAA level in 1966 and did not play in 1967, save for 50 at-bats in the Puerto Rican winter league. Then came the opportunity in Japan when the then-Lotte Orions (now the Chiba Lotte Marines) signed him to play in 1968, thinking that he was former Yankee Hector Lopez. The team realized its mistake soon after Arturo arrived for spring training, but his solid play earned him a roster spot.
Lopez played four seasons for Lotte and then two for the Yakult Swallows, posting a .290 average and an .804 OPS. He retired at 36 following his final season in Japan, though he had an offer from a team in Hawaii and knew he could still play.
So, what then? Well, plenty, as it turned out.
A Full Life After Baseball
“I didn’t have degree when I retired from baseball,” said Lopez, who now lives in Orlando, FL, and celebrated his 87th birthday in May. “Doors might have been open wider in baseball if I’d had a degree at that time.”
But he didn’t let that deter him. He has been in banking and also worked for many years as an insurance adjustor. He had kept his insurance license while playing baseball and specialized in life and health policies. In 1974, he also directed an insurance training school for New York and New Jersey.
Later, he spent nearly 20 years teaching in elementary schools – mostly the fourth and fifth grades – and has always focused on continual learning. He had received his GED high-school equivalency while in the Navy, then earned an undergraduate degree in finance in 1999, master’s degrees in Curriculum and Instruction 2005 and 2007, and, most recently, his MBA in December 2022, at the age of 85.
In addition to earning his MBA, Lopez received high honors from Stratford Academy in a Gardening and Landscaping course, proudly noting, “Now I can grow beans.” Currently enrolled in a writing course for children and young adults, Lopez continues to pursue knowledge, stating, “I consider myself a life-long learner.” His academic journey is complemented by degrees in finance and two master’s degrees in education.
“Earning those degrees involves a lot of work and writing, and it’s exciting when you finish them. As a teacher, I wanted to be portrayed as a someone who emphasized education to kids as a passion,” Lopez said. “Without education, the cycle will continue.”
Editor’s Note: This article is a follow-up to “The ‘Wrong’ López: How Arturo López Became NPB’s First Puerto Rican Player.” That story detailed how Arturo López became the first Puerto Rican player in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) due to a case of mistaken identity.
