In addition, López played in the professional leagues of Cuba, México and Puerto Rico, overcoming color line prejudice throughout a career that lasted 21 years.

[1][2] López was born in Río Chico, a small farming community located in the Barlovento coastal area of Miranda state in Venezuela.

[3] After a long while, López finally attended elementary school, but had to quit in order to take a formal job to help his impoverished mother and blind sister.

[3] In 1935, at age 17, López debuted professionally with the Royal Criollos BBC of the newly created Liga Nacional de Béisbol, which had stabilized the first national championship of first division in Venezuela since its inauguration in 1930.

[5] López returned after a one-year absence and was impressive on the mound for the repeating champion Vargas in 1939, going 5-1 with a league-best ERA of 1.71 and 30 strikeouts, allowing 12 earned runs on 47 hits and 12 walks in 63.0 innings.

He quickly became the best pitcher of the league, topping all pitchers with 12 victories and 16 complete games,[6] playing in a highly competitive league that boasted such pitching stars as Martín Dihigo, Agapito Mayor, Gilberto Torres, Tomás de la Cruz and Luis Tiant, Sr., as well as noted hitters as Lázaro Salazar, Ray Dandridge, Sam Bankhead, Roberto Estalella, Alejandro Crespo and Santos Amaro.

That season, López also was involved in the fastest game played in Cuban baseball history, as he won a complete-game pitching duel against René Monteagudo and the Leopardos de Santa Clara by a score of 2–1, which lasted one hour and nine minutes.

He was unquestionably the dominant pitcher in the circuit, fashioning a ledger of 9-4 with 55 strikeouts and a 0.67 ERA to win the pitching Triple Crown, while handling a 121-inning work in his first full season for Magallanes, allowing also only nine earned runs on 67 hits and 22 walks.

During the game, Cangrejeros fans roared when López struck out Monte Irvin with the bases loaded and forced McDuffie to hit into an eight inning double play to preserve a 2–1 lead.

[10] Nevertheless, Santurce lost several close games, being unable to match Ponce, the team that won both halves of the season led by slugger Francisco Coimbre.

[10] After his stint in Puerto Rico, López joined the Cervecería Caracas club during the 1942–1943 season, as the Venezuelan league shifted players as needed to help new teams stay afloat.

He posted a 6–1 record with a 1.14 ERA and 26 strikeouts in his eight starts and also led in complete games (6), while scattering eight earned runs on 11 hits and 10 walks over 63+1⁄3 innings of work.

The homegrown Mexican players included former Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Senators infielder Chile Gómez, as well as future American League champion bat Bobby Ávila, to name a few.

Ultimately, López improved at least from the perspective of his long term development as a two-way player, so he joined the league with the Industriales de Monterrey, where he formed a battery with future Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella.

Between Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico, López had worked close to 1,000 innings in his previous four years, a considerable amount of usage for anyone, but especially for a pitcher who was then only in his early twenties.

Unfortunately, the acute effects of overload pitching and nagging injuries rendered him ineffective with Magallanes in the 1945 season, losing his only start in which he gave up just two runs on 10 hits through seven innings, while striking out two batters and walking one.

[5] When the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League started to operate in 1946, López stayed with Magallanes for the rest oh his career and also managed the team in part of that season.

He batted a paltry .216 average and three homers in 28 games, while his 23 RBIs ranked him fourth in the new circuit despite missing significant playing time due to recurrent injuries.

López became the first player to pinch-hit a home run in VPBL history in that season, when he belted his blast off Vargas' ace pitcher Roy Welmaker.

[5] López rebounded sharply during the 1947–1948 season, winning the batting title with a .374 average, driving in 29 RBIs and collecting a .532 of slugging in 39 games, while again managing Magallanes for a brief stint.