against the Tampa Tarpons. These games were played at Al López Field, the Tarpons' home ballpark which was built in 1955 and named after the Smokers' (and Tampa's) most famous baseball figure. Ballparks The minor league Smokers played their home games at Plant Field, which was located just across the Hillsborough River from downtown Tampa. Plant Field had been built by Henry B. Plant as part of his Tampa Bay Hotel resort, and the Smokers shared the large multi-use facility with everything from auto racing to the Florida State Fair. Semi-pro and amateur versions of the Smokers played at smaller ballfields around town, often Cuscaden Park in Ybor City or Macfarlane Park in West Tampa. Players In all their incarnations, the Tampa Smokers featured many local ballplayers, including many Latin players from Ybor City and West Tampa, and usually had strong community support. Their most famous alumnus was Al López, who grew up in Ybor City and signed with the Smokers in 1925, when he was just 16 years old. Lopez played for his hometown team for two seasons and eventually became the first Tampa native to play in the major leagues, the first to be a major league baseball manager, and the first to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Several other future or former MLB players played for the Smokers at some point during their career, including Camilo Pascual, Tommy Leach, and Hall of Famer Joe Medwick, who served as the team's player-manager in the early 1950s after finishing his major league career. Another notable Smoker alumnus was Cuban Baseball Hall of Famer Manuel Cueto. Notable alumni Baseball Hall of Fame alumni Max Carey (1924) Inducted, 1961 Manuel Cueto (1928-1929) Inducted, Cuban HOF (1950) Travis Jackson (1949) Inducted, 1982 Al Lopez (1925-1926) Inducted, 1977 Joe Medwick (1952) Inducted, 1968 Notable alumni Red Barrett (1920) MLB All-Star Ben Chapman (1951, MGR) 4 x MLB All-Star Wes Ferrell (1949) 2 x MLB All-Star Tommy Leach (1920-1922, 1926-1927, MGR) Camilo Pascual (1952) 7 x MLB All-Star Contemporary links Tampa Bay Smokers softball team The Tampa Bay Smokers, a men's fast-pitch softball team founded in 1995 and based in St. Petersburg, won multiple Amateur Softball Association of America and International Softball Congress championships., Jr. The Tampa Bay Smokers produced one of the best won-;pst records of all times during their run between 1994 through 2005, averaging a .900 regular season