Luis Lopez (catcher)

Luis Antonio Lopez (born September 1, 1964) is an American former professional catcher and first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball for 41 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland Indians and later in Nippon Professional Baseball.

Lopez's greater success came in Japan, where he played for six seasons between 1996 and 2002. He spent five seasons with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp and played for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 1998. He was twice selected to the Japanese post-season all-star team, the Best Nine, for the Central League in 1996 and 1997. Overall, he batted .303 with 129 home runs over his Japanese career.

He was born to a family of Puerto Rican migrants. His father, Victor Lopez, ran a supermarket. His mother, Providencia Pagan, was a housewife. He has two older siblings named Victor and Nancy. Baseball runs deep in the family. Lopez’s grandfather Jose Lopez was local sports coach in the family’s hometown of Quebradillas, Puerto Rico. His uncles Luis and Wilfredo Lopez, were both patrons of local sports occasions.