Ybor City - Baseball Heroes & Legends history with Arminda Mata

Interview with Arminda Mata, CEO & President, Tampa Baseball Museum / Ybor Museum Society

Host: Mark Corbett

Episode Summary Mark sits down with Arminda Mata to explore the deep roots of baseball in Tampa's Ybor City — from the cigar factories of the 1880s to the formation of the first Cigar City League in 1913, and how that history shaped generations of Major League talent.

Key Topics

• Buildings Alive Celebration — The 14th annual event showcasing Ybor City's historic buildings and history.
• Ybor City's Origins — Vicente Martinez Ybor relocated his cigar business from Cuba to Key West and ultimately Tampa in the 1880s, sparking explosive population growth (800 to 15,000 in 15 years).
• The Mutual Aid Societies — Six immigrant societies (Italian Club, Centro Español, Centro Asturiano, El Circulo Cubano, Sociedad La Unión Martí-Maceo, German American Club) provided banking, insurance, healthcare, social activities, and even cemeteries — from birth to grave.
• The Cigar Industry Boom — Spanish, Cuban, Sicilian, Jewish, and German immigrants built a massive cigar trade producing over a million cigars per week, with the King of Spain buying exclusively from Cuesta-Rey.
• Baseball's Beginnings in Tampa — Amateur teams formed around cigar companies and local businesses. On May 30, 1913, the first Cigar City League was formally organized, with Cuesta-Rey winning the inaugural championship.
• The Inter-Social League (1940s) — Mutual aid societies formed teams that played against each other, bringing diverse communities together through baseball.
• Tampa's Baseball Legends — Al Lopez (first Tampa-born Hall of Famer), Lou Piniella, Wade Boggs, Fred McGriff, Doc Gooden, Gary Sheffield, and the family connections between them.
• Negro Leagues in Tampa — The first Negro Association in Tampa started May 23, 1885. Billy Reed, coach at Hillsborough High School, played for the Tampa Bay Rockets.
• Accessibility of Baseball Today — Discussion on the cost of attending games and the value of supporting minor league teams (Tarpons, Flying Tigers, Threshers) and local college/high school ball.
• The Tampa Baseball Museum's Mission — Mobile museum programs in schools and senior facilities, researching forgotten names and family connections, and preserving Tampa's unique baseball heritage.

Notable Names Mentioned Al Lopez, Lou Piniella, Wade Boggs, Fred McGriff, Doc Gooden, Gary Sheffield, Dave Magadan, Lance McCullers Sr. & Jr., Billy Reed, Senaida Shoo Shoo Wirth, Jane Leavy, Janet Marie Smith, Joe Maddon, Wes Singletary, Junior Caminero, Bobby Cox, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones

Links & Resources

• Tampa Baseball Museum: tampabaseballmuseum.org

Transcript

Arminda Mata & Tampa Baseball Legends at the Tampa Baseball Museum at the Home of Al Lopez

[00:00:00] 

Mark Corbett: Welcome to Baseball Business On Deck. I am Mark Corbett, your host, and with me today I have the CEO and President of the Tampa Baseball Museum and the Ybor Museum Society. Arminda Mata. Hey, how you doing today, Arminda? 

Arminda Mata: I'm doing great. Mark it. I'm so happy to be here. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. I'll tell you what you and a lot of the folks over there have been fairly busy.

I know. Last night, did you just conclude the building's a live celebration. 

Arminda Mata: Yes, 14th annual business, or sorry, buildings alive, and we were a little scared when the rain came, but it came, it went and we still rolled on with it. So we had about 200 people traveling around at Ybor City, learning all about its history and just having a good time.

Mark Corbett: It's interesting because I think if you have what you do with the Ybor Museum Society and then also with baseball and those two things, have a crossroads, it seems quite a bit, and even like last [00:01:00] night when you were going and showing these folks some of these buildings where was your mind thinking or where's conversations going to did you know, 'cause of this place, et cetera?

Arminda Mata: So there, there are, or, and there were six mutual aid societies. Several of them are still running. And there is the Italian club that the Sicilian population formed there is the Centro Espanol, the Centro Asturianoo, and those were both Spanish clubs.

And then you had the Cuban Club El Circulo Cubano is what they called it. And then they had the Sociedad La Unión Martí-Maceo club for the Afro-Cuban population because unfortunately we were in Jim Crow South when Yeah, when those clubs were created. And then you also had the German American Club, which sometimes gets forgotten because it did not run as long as some of the other clubs.

But it, it was. A beautiful immaculate club [00:02:00] and is now be, has now been repurposed for other things. 

Mark Corbett: Help me out here. You talk about social societies. What, in such a diverse group of people what was the origin? What was there a need? How did, A lot of times we don't think of having so many different communities within a community.

How did that all come to be? 

Arminda Mata: . So when Vincente Martinez Ybor first came to Tampa to look at where he could expand his or recreate his cigar business because at that time he left Cuba due to, the Cuban and Spanish War, him being a Spanish. Citizen living in Cuba, married to a Cuban and business partner was a Cuban, and being told that he had to fight for the Spanish Army and so he moved his business to originally to.

Key West. However, key West is not far from Cuba. So the problems that they had [00:03:00] between the Spanish and the Cuban populations and the fighting in amongst the groups followed him to Key West. He was dealing with his factory burning in Key West. He was dealing with the civil unrest he was dealing with strikes.

Among the workers. So looking for another location, he almost did not come to Tampa. It was other friends of his including Gino Gutierrez that had him come here. And Gino was not a cigar maker. Like Ybor, he was a guava man. Came to Tampa in search of guava. But they came here along with, Mr. Haya and his partner Serafin Sanchez, and they decided to come to Tampa Bay because of the weather and the ease of getting tobacco from Cuba into the Tampa Bay. So they chose Ybor City purchased 40 acres of land. In that first [00:04:00] 40 acres you. Had a population growth in 15 years of 15,000 people.

Mark Corbett: Oh, good gravy. 

Arminda Mata: And so because of the cigar business and how it boomed. And I'm throwing this all out there trying to be as 

Mark Corbett: you, you don't want to be that, as ultra concise. It just,

Arminda Mata: turned to me a possible of such a huge history. But, 

Mark Corbett: but tell me, how did it just suddenly explode with a population like that?

What, how did that, start, what was the 

Arminda Mata: cause of there? So when he when Ybor came and brought, because I've heard different historians joke about how prior to Ybor coming Tampa was nothing more than mosquitoes, Gators and soldiers, and it was a fishing village, you had around at the, there's all kinds of ideals, but say around.

, 800 people around 1880. 

Then Vicente Martinez came in 1884 looking at the land and the meeting in 1884, [00:05:00] he purchased the land. And in , 1885 is when he purchased land 1886. The first cigar was rolled by Sanchez-Hayaa, April 13th, 1886, and when that cigar was rolled.

Then you had all of these cigar businesses coming down from New York, coming into Tampa, coming outta Cuba. You had two steamships called the mascot and the Olivette, and they wore Henry plant's steamships, and I believe it was, they traveled back and forth between Cuban Tampa twice a week. Bringing raw tobacco 'cause it was cheaper and immigrants to work in the cigar factories.

You also had Henry Plant because of Henry Plant putting, bringing the railroad into Tampa. The foresight [00:06:00] that this man had, that is the biggest reason that, or one of the biggest reasons Ybor chose. Tampa was because the rail line was direct, what we call heartline, straight to New York, where the cigar trade was already set up.

And Sanchez -Haya, they came from New York. They were Spaniards, but their business was already set in New York. So all of these players that met down in Tampa. Created this huge cigar trade. So you had Spanish owners, Spanish workers, and then you had Cuban rollers and workers that eventually some of the Cubans also had cigar factories.

Then you had your Sicilians who came from New Orleans because of the unrest in New Orleans. And the KKK they they. Tried to escape the, there was the largest, I believe they said, the largest lynching in one day in, in [00:07:00] of Sicilians in New Orleans. Oh my gosh. And so you had this exodus of the Sicilians coming to Tampa.

And then a lot of times the Sicilians were your bakers, your farmers, your grocery store owners, and then you had the Jewish population who were your merchants. And there was this really interesting man in a Isadore Kaunitz. He owned five different stores. They were all called the, uh. Sombrero Blanco. The, The white hat, and they had all of the uniforms that the cigar makers would wear.

And the man was brilliant. He put one of his merchant stores either adjacent to or across the street from every cigar company. He could, every one of them had a cigar company nearby, and so you would have. Your workers go in, get a job at the cigar company and be sent across the street to buy their [00:08:00] uniforms or their ties, their white button up shirts or what have you.

Mark Corbett: So they had to buy them. Individual employees had to buy 'em. Yeah. 

Arminda Mata: Yeah. So you had this. Great community of immigrants all speak in different languages. You had German, you had Eastern European Jews, most of them from Hungary, Romania, Poland, places like that. You had Sicilians, Spaniards, you had Spaniards from the north that had a different dialect.

You had Cubans. And so all of these people are in this. 40 plus acres of land speaking all of these different languages. But they formed this massive trade of cigars. There were a million plus cigars per day, I'm sorry, per week getting rolled. And the, it became a point where the King of Spain, the only cigars he would buy was from Cuesta-Rey and [00:09:00] from Ybor City.

This growth just exploded over 15 years. And what many people do not realize is along with that baseball was brought to now baseball had been around. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

It wasn't creative by the cigar makers. No, 

Arminda Mata: no. It was not created by the cigar business by any means. But there was a true love and passion for the game, especially.

From the Cubans. Okay. And that passion, a lot of people say the Cubans brought baseball. I can't say whether they did or not, because baseball was already being played in the United States, but the Cubans brought the passion for baseball. And even in today's economy, , that passion's still there.

Mark Corbett: And that's something because I, I keep thinking about Ybor and Tampa [00:10:00] as the almost incubator, if you will for baseball. And so much of it. I'm glad you shared as much as you have about the tobacco industry 'cause. That it gives the beginnings, even though it's not the beginning of baseball, maybe it's the beginning of how it evolved to be such a critical part of this area and, people's lives. So when you look at that evolution, what are some of the key steps coming into baseball? What are a few of the main things from those cigar factories and those people where you see moments that you see the growth of baseball? 

Arminda Mata: So for one some of the research that I've done is there was the Tampa Cigar Company, and on October 21st, 1896, the Tampa Bay Times is talking about the cigar company in Tampa, playing against St.

Pete's nine and. The article, one of the articles I read said our boys [00:11:00] said they would've won against the team, but not against the umpire. Ooh, don't quite know what that meant. 

Mark Corbett: I think you do 

Arminda Mata: that, that rivalry was already there, and that was 1896. So you have a cigar company with its own team.

And then you see that. Now remember, the first cigar was rolled in 1896, so you have cigar companies all having their own teams. So you have all of these. Amateur teams. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Arminda Mata: All around. And so we've had teams in Tampa as far back as we can see, into the 1880s in 1890s. But we didn't have a league until 1913.

So in 1913, the Tampa Bay Times said that Ybor [00:12:00] City needed a wholesome activity to bring the community together. Okay, so you have all these languages being spoken. All these cigars being made, everybody's got their part in the community, but they needed to bring the community together because back to those mutual aid societies, they were being built to help the immigrants.

Build their own livelihoods. So for instance, you couldn't buy a house unless you had a bank account. If you come from Cuba with everything you own in a pillowcase, you don't have a bank account and you can't get a, a bank account sometimes if you're an immigrant, if you don't have a house or a property to show that you can have a bank account and then you can't get a house if you don't have a bank account.

So these mutual aid societies were built like in the HMO works in a [00:13:00] way, and they all helped each other. They paid membership dues and they had their own savings accounts. Through these mutual aid societies. So you had insurance through your Mutual Aid society.

You had bank accounts through your Mutual aid society. You had social activities that where you could speak your language, eat your foods, celebrate your customs, but also celebrate the new customs of the new country that you came to. It was all inclusive and it was from birth to grave service.

They also had their own cemeteries, their own hospitals. Wow. It helped the community to grow and to succeed in amongst their own groups. So then baseball became this, let's bring the community together. Because, let's face it, one of the biggest pastimes for men. Because women weren't involved in this as much was bolita and it was outlawed, it was [00:14:00] a illegal game at the time to play ex 

Mark Corbett: explain Bolita.

Arminda Mata: Bolita, from what I believe is where Florida Powerball comes from. It was brought from Spain and Italy. It was a game where you had numbered balls on a board and people would have a dream about. A wet dog. And so one of these numbers would represent the wet dog. So you would choose that number. It was just almost like bingo in a way.

And Powerball. And so you would pay, all the money would go in pot and you'd, whoever ball got drawn one. Unfortunately. when gambling and then lots of money are involved. So is crime. So you had people setting it up, especially with the mafia. And they would do things like freeze a ball in a freezer all night, pay someone in the crowd to reach in and get the cold ball Oh 

Mark Corbett: ho.

Arminda Mata: So that it was rigged to [00:15:00] where the winner was obviously.

Mark Corbett: So this wasn't going to be the healthy activity that they were searching for to help build community? Correct. 

Arminda Mata: So when you think of wholesome activity where women and children can also be involved, it became baseball because here you have all these amateur leagues, you have, i'll just really quick, if you don't mind, read off the list . The first. So the first league in 1913 consisted of the Cuesta-Rey, cigar company, Tampa Gas Company, ma Guns. Which was also a cigar company, Tampa Cuban Company, cigar Company, night and Wall, which was a hardware store, transportation lines, sancha Sanchez-Haya, cigar Company, and the police force.

Every one of those had their own amateur league or their own amateur team. And they came together in 1913. In fact, it was May 30th, 1913 [00:16:00] to form and formally organize at the Tampa Times office, the first Cigar City league. And that is how baseball really became the pastime. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Arminda Mata: And the community builder.

And their first game was, there were four teams. June 12th, 1913, Sanchez-Haya played the Cuesta-Rey Team Night Wall, played Tampa Gas and they played at Plant Field. And so at that point in time it was called the Tampa Tampa Grounds at the time. You had these players playing each other and the first league champions were the Cuesta-Rey cigar company.

So they won the first league championship. So these cigar companies and [00:17:00] these different. Amateur teams formed a whole league, and from what I can, I, I've done my research on, they played all over Florida. What? And they had other leagues coming in and they even played against the Cubs during spring training.

Mark Corbett: Oh my gosh. That's wild. And what, just quick sidebar. When was it again? The Cubs first came in was it plant field? Is it spring training? What year? Do you know? 

Arminda Mata: I don't recall the exact year. 

Mark Corbett: Don't worry about it. That's. Get that? No. So they were playing. So that, that was interesting in and of itself.

Not only were they playing in just an internal league with just their community. They were crossing over, I guess what the other community, so a German team might be playing then a Sicilian team or Sicilian team might be playing a Cuban team. But then also well. 

Arminda Mata: And those actually came a little bit later.

More into the forties. Yeah. And is the inner social league. [00:18:00] And the inner social league was consisted of the actual mutual aid societies and their teams all played each other. Gotcha. 

Mark Corbett: I guess initially though, they were just playing within. So if you were in the, we'll just say the Italian club, you just, there were maybe just four or five Italian teams that played one another, but then you're saying in the forties that these different social clubs would come together and have their own enter social league.

Is that, am I, is that accurate? Correct. Okay. 

Arminda Mata: That's correct. Because the other teams were made up more of the cigar companies and, the main, like the police force and the gas company and things like that. 

Mark Corbett: Man, baseball has been such a critical part of the community in Ybor certainly.

So once we've seen that, those social teams have come together in social league games, and what did we see as far as expanding beyond that? What baseball [00:19:00] talent coming from, all of that. 

Arminda Mata: One thing I've always said is I had someone ask me once I, is it in the water in the that Tampa has so many players?

And I said, to me, I feel like it's a community thing. You have these people like take Al Lopez for I, I can't be from the Tampa Baseball Museum and not mention Al Lopez, but take Al Lopez for an example. He grew up, he was born 1908. And he grew up in a family of with what?

Eight brothers and sisters and, and his parents both worked in the cigar business. And from what we were told by by people who knew him he had no desire he to be in the cigar business. And I, I've heard before that he said he hated cigar smoke, but his latter pictures showed him smoking cigars.

So I don't know how accurate that may be. But he had no desire to be in. And the [00:20:00] factories. But what he grew up with is he grew up watching the Cigar City League and watching these amateur teams play against each other. So baseball was just life. It wa it was the way they, what he knew and that to me showed him being.

Scouted at 16 years old, playing in a field. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Arminda Mata: And so when you have that, and then you have al coming back to his birthplace after he is made all these accolades and become our first major league player, our first hall of famer and our first manager, he comes back and retires back to his home in Ybor City, Lou Pinella, he goes out and he crushes.

The world stage and he comes back to his home in Tampa, and you have many others. Wade Boggs, Fred McGriff, [00:21:00] all of these players came back and the community, and they all give back to that community. And so when you have that baseball community where people come back and or people stay who come originally came to play with the Rays, you.

Build something that is deeper than just liking baseball or playing baseball. It, it's where baseball's more life. And in Tampa we have so many people that love baseball and they know baseball, but they know it because of the rays or the Yankees, or they know it because of Cincinnati being here for spring training or the Cubs being here for spring training, but they don't realize the clubs, the teams, the leagues that were already here. And I think that's why Tampa's baseball's so different. I 

Mark Corbett: well [00:22:00] be, here's the thing I, my question I guess are just, I'm looking at arm mandate and I'm saying that, oh, I guess over the last 50 years.

There have been so many people who were in the Tampa area and Florida who were not here before. They don't have roots here, myself is as one. I came from Louisville, Kentucky, so we don we haven't lived that history. We haven't had it from the ground up. And I think a lot of great things get lost because that history isn't communicated enough.

I know recently on a show with Larry Schild talking with Matt and I recently 

And he said. This community, he really hopes. With the advent of the new race stadium, make sure to commemorate the history. And he was specifically mentioning two people he thought reflect the history of baseball in this area and Al Lopez was primary, and that also Lou Pinella and they both reflect.

How baseball evolved from [00:23:00] once, from those inter social leagues to starting to see, the next step, whether it be al going with the Tampa smokers, with the minor leagues, or all the things that Lou happened with, because I know right now, if I go into your Tampa baseball museum and I look upon that wall of balls that have been signed by players from just from this area, I'm gonna see Lou, see, I'm gonna see al up there at the top.

And I'll see, I think Manuel Onis or whatever, I think he came up for a cup of coffee, and a one or two over. And then I see Lou Pinella, so I know Lou's right there at the beginning as well. And these are, people are part of what has grown the game in Tampa. And I don't want us to lose the history that came with it.

Yeah. So I know Larry and a lot of other ones appreciate the museum 'cause of what all you're able to share with the community with that, but. I hope the Rays do take Larry's recommendation and find a way to honor them, whether it is naming part of the stadium in the honor of their, so [00:24:00] you, just, for Grinch and giggles, let's say it's we'll just call it Tampa Stadium at a Lopez Field, something like that.

Camden Yards, at Orioles Park. Something along those lines. Wouldn't that be cool? 

Arminda Mata: I think it would be a. Deserving way to, to honor the people who the greats as, I lack of a better word. These were two iconic men that, and I'll put my 2 cents in there. I do believe Lou Piniella needs to be in the Hall of Fame.

Mark Corbett: Yes. 

Arminda Mata: Because. When you think of Tampa baseball, especially people around this area, when you think of Tampa baseball, I too am not from Tampa. And. I grew up a Atlanta Braves fan. I grew up in Montgomery and my dad was a huge bra brace fan. And, I remember sitting on his lap and watching the Braves play.

My, my [00:25:00] era that I remember watching with my dad was when you had Bobby Cox and Tom Vin and. John Smolt and Chipper Jones and Otis Nixon. You know that, that's when I watched the Braves. And I remember that and I remember that, that connection with my dad. And but when I came here and I started learning more and more about the history, I just fell in love with the way Tampa sees baseball and, I totally agree. I really hope that the raise can honor two of the greatest men in our baseball history, and, if they ever ask for our expertise, we'll be happy to share it with someone. 

Mark Corbett: There we go. No, I, and I know that, you and the folks at the Tampa Baseball Museum, have honored the Rays with the presentation there.

So I know that's there. What you had recently.

[00:26:00] Janet Marie Smith there with students from Yale, and we're talking about a woman who has gone ahead and was the designer with, of Camden Yards. The lady who actually designed the idea of having seats at the top of the monster. But there, there's so many people that come in and out of that museum.

You had Jane Leavy recently signing books. There's other authors coming up. I think you've got Wes Singletary coming up. Joe Maddon is gonna be there. Another event. You've got so many great things coming in you're continuing to promote the game and people who love the game are there.

I know, and I'm going on a tangent here, so forgive me, but I do want Thank you guys too. 'cause I know you participate some with the, with the little leagues around here and the different communities. And to me that is integral to maintaining the passion or giving the opportunity to have a passion of the game to, but it's it's it's just difficult sometimes getting that word out.

Arminda Mata: It is, I was thinking of when Jane Leavy was here [00:27:00] and she was talking about, what's wrong with baseball? And one of the things that she mentioned just resonated with me so well about making it easier for kids to, to get in, to see it, to, to experience it. And I have two sons.

Both of my sons are soccer players and my oldest, I I coached his sea ball team when he was four. And, once he got hit and his two front teeth got knocked out with a baseball, he was done. He said, I don't wanna be hit with a ball anymore. And I was like, you do realize that soccer balls are gonna hit you in the face too, but I guess soccer balls are a lot softer when get then a baseball hitting you in the teeth.

But, there are so many more opportunities for them also with with the soccer and I, it resonated with [00:28:00] me. We do what we call mobile museum where we take. Artifacts and lessons and into schools and senior facilities, and just anywhere in anybody who asks us to come to share our baseball history.

Usually when I go into school, one of the first questions I ask is, who in here loves baseball? And depending on the age group, ki I would say a little up to third, fourth grade, you get more hands. But then you say, who in here loves soccer? And I start hearing mass Ronaldo, it, it gets loud.

Same thing with football. And, then I use that moment to talk about all the sports and what they all teach us. The sportsmanship, the teamwork and then they calm down and start listening to us about our baseball history. And they walk out saying. I didn't realize how big baseball was in Tampa.

I [00:29:00] was like, that's a problem if we have all this history. And children are like I never realized baseball was big in Tampa and I'm just leaves you scratching your head. Yeah. It resonated with me when she was talking about that and how, if we would make it easier. Having two children, I can't afford to take two kids and me and my husband.

to a a baseball game and buy food and 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Arminda Mata: And it becomes difficult for a modern family to do. You look at these games, and I know it's a different time, but in 1913 when that Cigar City league formed 

It was 15 cents to get in 25 if you wanted to sit in the grandstand. 

They got to bring their own food. Bring their own drinks. When you think of that, compared to today's [00:30:00] world it's a different time. 

Mark Corbett: Oh, and I know I was happy to pay $35 and I. What's top of the moment to go see a spring training game. By the same token, it would've cost me some other games.

It could have cost me $150 if I was going over to see something at Yankees, with similar scene, maybe even more it's insane. I know on the show, I encourage people time and time again, go see the minor league teams. Go see the college teams who love the minor league 

Arminda Mata: ball. 

Mark Corbett: Go see them.

Go see the college, go see the little leagues I said. You're going to find people who are hungry. And I tell the story sometimes too. If you'd gone over to Jesuit a couple of years ago watching a baseball game, you would've seen Doug Waechter and Gary Sheffield up in the stands, watching their children, their youngsters, playing ball for Jesuit and.

It is seen from generation to generation, whether or not the love of the game and the talent of the game. Those are the moments that are great. And it's also, it ain't gonna cost you 50 [00:31:00] whatever bucks a ticket to go see some of this great talent. And on BaseballBiz On Deck on Dick a lot of times too.

Mat, , who's on here he'll he'll talk about people he's seeing in the minors, the prospects, and then, suddenly I. Oh, didn't you say something about junior Caminero two years ago? But Right. If you had been there at a single AA team, seeing those, paying a much lesser ticket, are going to the college, the high school games, there's such a vitality of all these young players there.

And to me, you're able to get up closer and enjoy the game as much. I'm not taking anything away from major league games 'cause they're fun and they're important. But my gosh, if you wanna be able to take your family out on a regular basis, for most of us folks, we're gonna need something a little bit more modest.

Arminda Mata: Exactly. And we have such great teams. You've got the tarpons and the tiger, the flying tiger. And then you've got the thresher. These are all great teams. And they're [00:32:00] all just right at our back door. And I love going to watch those teams play. I had the honor of.

Being at a, having a mobile museum last July 4th at the Tarpons game, and we had the best time and it was packed and the kids were enjoying it. They didn't care that it was lightning and thundering. I myself was a little freaked out because I was standing under a metal tent. Oh, but. It was really a good night, and I've never seen so many people, so it I enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed it. And we have such great teams around here. 

Mark Corbett: We do. We do indeed. Let me take you down another path for a moment. And on this one, I'm curious you, when you came in first with the Tampa Baseball Museum. I believe you came in as a curator first. Was that your first row with the museum?

I 

Arminda Mata: was technically the [00:33:00] curator of the we at the time that I came in, the Ybor City Museum Society was the citizen support organization for the Ybor City Museum State Park. So it was technically the curator for the state park. 

Mark Corbett: Okay. Okay. Here's the question. I wanted to find out. When you took on the role or when you were able to start looking through baseball and what was there an item that you discovered that just surprised you more than anything else?

Was there something you saw that really just registers with you even today? 

Arminda Mata: One of the things is the Negro Leagues here in Tampa. So because we know that the Negro Leagues did not officially start until what, 1920, I believe the official Negro League. But I started researching, I was researching, one of my favorite people that I've researched was Billy [00:34:00] Reed.

And Billy Reed, the coach of Hillsborough High School, who coached people like Gary Sheffield and Doc Gooden, and not many people knew he was part of the Negro Leagues here in Tampa. He played for the Rock, Tampa Bay Rockets. And to me, the man was just amazing man to read about. And he and everybody I've known who's talked about him being a a really good person and.

Some people never knew he played for the Negro League, so that made it me interested in just researching a little bit about our leagues. And we had, I wrote that this down to share with you. The first Negro Association in Tampa started on May 23rd, 1885. So that was long before. There was ever a an official Negro League and the manager was WM [00:35:00] Morris and that.

As a historian, a trained historian, I learn names first and then I take that name and I research that name, and so I have been trying to research the first manager of that association. I haven't had much luck, but I am not gonna give up because I'm just so interested in names that have been lost. 

.

Arminda Mata: I know that you and I both have a shared love for Shoo Shoo Wirth. Oh, yes. Who I did not realize existed until I came and she deserves to not be forgotten. And and so I, that's my thing is I researched the names that people don't remember. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Arminda Mata: Because I wanna know. What their story was.

And and then my other love is I have Josh, our curator at the baseball museum, he and I always talk about. [00:36:00] The family connections and that's another thing that surprises people when we go out and do our mobile museums we are very particular about where we sit, the baseball cards on the table so that we can bring people's attention to, did you know that Doc Gooden and Gary Sheffield raised in the same home?

And Doc is his uncle. Did you know that Lance McCullers and his father are his son? Lance McCull Jr. Were both in Major League baseball. Did you know that Lou Pinella is, the first cousin and godfather of Dave Dave Magadan and, it blows people's minds. People they did not think were connected. 

Yeah. 

Arminda Mata: Our family members.

And so going back to that inner social league, I started researching a lot of our players parents played in that inner social league. They were members of the Centro Asturiano Al Lopez himself was a member of Centro Asturiano. [00:37:00] And so you had all these families. And these players that made it to the majors and their families played for years before they were even born in these inner social leagues.

And that family connection is so interesting. Yeah. To follow. 

Mark Corbett: That's key. And it, 'cause it shows a richness of community, of family that people don't necessarily associate with baseball. Some people just see a game and they see players in the field, but they don't realize what all, where that all came from.

And it's early beginnings, in the importance it can have, even in today. So I'm glad you and Josh and the rest of Mora are doing a great job, rose and Augie to make sure that the. Messages out there and continue with that every day. And is there any last words you'd wanna make sure you would share with the folks?

Arminda Mata: Just. Come out, visit us. If you don't live nearby and you happen to visit Tampa [00:38:00] soon come visit us because I can guarantee you when you take a tour with one of one of our docents or, and one of our guides, they know. How pa and they're all passionate. We're a passionate bunch.

Everybody who meets us says, it's not just the knowledge, it's the passion. And I can promise you, you won't be disappointed and, I hope that we're all around long for a long time too. And, that we can share that baseball. 'cause you don't wanna see it die out.

You don't wanna see the game start to vis fizzle because it's been around for way too long.

Mark Corbett: Thank you, Arminda. I appreciate that. I appreciate that thought too about it's not the knowledge, it's the passion. And we've been speaking with Arminda Mata, she's the president and CEO of the Tampa Baseball Museum at the home of Al Lopez.

Give credit where credit is due. Yes. And also [00:39:00] of the Ybor Museum Society and looking forward to a great future. With that, the you could check out the, what's the website again to find out more. 

Arminda Mata: It is Tampa baseball museum.org. 

Mark Corbett: Fantastic. Okay, once again, thanks Amanda and look forward to talking with you real soon.

Arminda Mata: Thank you.