A house made its way through the streets of historic Ybor City but this isn't just any home.

It's the house where local former Major League Baseball legend Al Lopez grew up and it's on its way to becoming a local museum.

The former childhood home of Al Lopez is being moved about a mile from the 1200 block of East 12th Avenue to 19th Street and 9th Avenue.

The move began just after 8 p.m. on Wednesday and is expected to take a total of about six hours.  By 11 p.m., crews were able to move the house about one block and they have an entire mile in front of them before they can put the house down in its new location.

Crews had already removed the house from its foundation and put it on a platform before the move began Wednesday night.

As the move started, workers made sure that every last detail was in place so things went as smoothly as possible.

Utility crews were also in place to make sure the home never took down any phone or power lines.  It was a painstaking task, moving the house inch by inch, as the utility crews were one step ahead of them.

Al Lopez's mother and father moved into the house more than 100 years ago and lived in it until 1954.

The home is being relocated for two reasons, to be renovated and turned into the new Tampa Baseball Museum.

This is also a partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation and the Museum Society in which they have relocated 62 out of 64 houses so far as part of FDOT's historic mitigation plan to expand Interstate 4.

Mark Roesch from Above All Structural is in charge of moving the two houses.

"There's always challenges.  Every house creates challenges of its own and this one happens to be removing power poles and stuff like that," said Roesch. "Gets a little challenging moving the brick columns on a frame house when they're attached to a brick house.  It's a little bit different.  They don't want to stay together as well."

When asked about the history and his part in it, Roesch said, "It's nice to have in your archives.  You know, something to remember.  Look back and show your kids.  Say, I did that."

The second house that is being moved will be renovated for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office as a law enforcement museum.

As for the Tampa Baseball Museum, it will open next spring and showcase 125 years of Tampa's baseball heritage.

For more information on the new museum, join Bay News 9 for a special "In Depth" Thursday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. with more about the life of Al Lopez and Tampa's rich baseball history.