The Associated Press Al Lopez, playing catcher for the Pirates, tags out New York Giants baserunner Mel Ott at home in the eighth inning of the first game of a Giants-Pittsburgh doubleheader at the Polo Grounds in New York, June 27, 1945. Click photo for larger image.

Al Lopez, a baseball Hall of Fame manager who led the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox to American League pennants in the 1950s, died yesterday at 97.

Mr. Lopez had been hospitalized in Tampa, Fla., since Friday, when he suffered a heart attack at his son's home, Al Lopez Jr. said.

Mr. Lopez was the oldest living Hall of Fame member, said Jeff Idelson, spokesman for the Hall.

As a major-league player, Mr. Lopez hit .261 with 51 homers and 652 RBIs during a 19-year career in which he was one of baseball's most durable catchers and set the record for most games caught in the majors at 1,918. The record was later broken by Bob Boone and then Carlton Fisk.

Mr. Lopez was best known for being the only AL manager to lead teams that finished ahead of the New York Yankees between 1949 and 1964. He helped the Indians to the 1954 pennant and, until last week, was the last manager to lead the White Sox to the World Series -- their 1959 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The two-time All Star's first full season in the majors was 1930, and he played 18 seasons for Brooklyn, the Boston Braves, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. He managed the Indians from 1951 to 1956 and the White Sox from 1957 to 1965 and 1968 to 1969.

Every offseason, Mr. Lopez returned to Tampa, where he was born in 1908.

Mr. Lopez caught Bob Feller, Dizzy Dean and Dazzy Vance, but never forgot working as a teenager with Walter Johnson, who won 417 games and possessed a legendary fastball. During spring training in 1925, the Washington Senators hired the 15-year-old Mr. Lopez to catch batting practice for $45 a week.

Although he held the record for most games caught until Mr. Boone caught his 1,919th game in 1987, Mr. Lopez was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977 as a manager with a .581 winning percentage.

The Indians won a then-AL record 111 games in 1954, and his 1959 "Go-Go" White Sox won Chicago's first AL pennant since 1919. His teams finished second to the Yankees every other season that decade.

"We called him 'Senor' Lopez," said Jim Rivera, a center fielder for the 1959 White Sox.

"He was very fair. If you did something good he would compliment you. If you struck out or made an error, he wouldn't say a word, as long as you hustled and worked hard," Mr. Rivera said from his home in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Mr. Lopez's second stint as manager of the White Sox ended May 2, 1969, when he resigned for health reasons with a career record of 1,422-1,026.

With Mr. Lopez's death, former New York Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto, 88, becomes the oldest living member of the Hall.