``The old-timers committee was in session, and somebody called Joe Valdes at the Spanish Park restaurant and told him they were trying to get hold of me,'' Lopez said. ``He called me at Temple Terrace and told me I was just put into the Hall of Fame. That really surprised me.

``I never had any feeling about getting into the Hall of Fame. I caught a lot of ballgames and had records, but I never thought I'd be a Hall of Famer.''

That was 18 years ago.

Lopez became the first player from Tampa to be voted into baseball's hallowed Hall at Cooperstown. He played 19 seasons as a catcher with Brooklyn, Boston, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, then managed for parts of 17 more. His 1954 Cleveland Indians won 111 games, the American League standard until Lou Piniella's Seattle Mariners won 116 in 2000.

He caught 1,918 games in the big leagues and was a two- time All-Star.

``You get around baseball people and you quickly find out how respected he was,'' St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said.

As a young man growing up in Tampa, La Russa used to admire Lopez and wanted to emulate him. Even when Lopez was done playing, his status - particularly among the Latin community - was immense.

``I used to see him all the time at Temple Terrace. He loved to sit there and talk baseball. To me, he seemed larger than life,'' said Piniella, the Devil Rays manager and Tampa native.

``He has kept the same grace and class he had on the field. In fact, it has grown.''

Lopez is still a student of the game and watches the Rays nightly on TV.

``Baseball has changed so much. They don't pitch like they used to, in my opinion,'' he said. ``Now, they depend on the fastball more than moving the ball in and out. In my day, if you didn't have something besides the fastball, it was hard for you to be a major-league pitcher.''

He followed Wade Boggs' career and path to the Hall, and he knows what's ahead for Tampa's newest inductee.

``He's going to get a lot of invitations to go to a lot of places. It's a great feeling, and it's great to see him in there,'' Lopez said.

Ask Lopez who should follow Boggs to Cooperstown and he doesn't hesitate.

``Tony La Russa has a good chance. So does Piniella,'' Lopez said. ``They've both had great managerial careers. I'd like to see them in there.''

That might happen one day, but there's nothing like the original - and Lopez is the original.