Bobby Lopez started playing softball at sixteen in La Grange with his brother’s team, the Family. Mike Spidale saw him play and invited him to play third base for the Stooges. After that, it was on to the Jaw Jackers in Cicero, the Titans and Jerry Main, and then with Lenny Nuzzo on the Blues. He moved into “big-time” ball when Angelo Alesia asked him to play center field for the Whips. He then joined Frank Holen to play for the Taggers and then played for Dick Cooper and Meadows. Rich Melman recruited him while he was playing for Meadows and it wasn’t long before he was playing for Melman and Lettuce. He helped them win the ASA Nationals four times (they took second in 1998), the USSSA Nationals once, and the Forest Park No Gloves Nationals four times. Once Melman left the game, Bobby played for Mike North and Licorice, helping them win the ASA titles in 2000 and 2002 and the No Glove Nationals in 2002. He won the batting title in the 1998 Mount Prospect Nationals and won two home run titles in 1998 and 1992. He was co-MVP with Frank Mustari at Forest Park in 1993 and was solo-MVP at the1998 Nationals. He was an ASA First Team All-American in 1988, ’89, ’92, ’93,’98, 2000, ’01, and ’03 and was a USSSA All-American in 1994. He was an ASA Second Team All-American in 1997. Bobby Lopez attended Lyons Township High School where he played four years of baseball (second base) and four years of football (defensive back). After high school, he played three years of semi-pro football with the Glen Ellyn Hawks as a wide receiver. Bobby and his wife of twenty-five years, Angela, live in Bolingbrook, Illinois. They have three children, Bobby, Anthony, and Nicky. Bobby is pursuing a career in law enforcement; Anthony attends Illinois Wesleyan University and was a starter on the 2010 Division III National Championship Baseball Team; Nicky plays baseball and basketball and is a sophomore at Naperville Central High School.
Bobby “Lopes” Lopez
