Rickwood Field and Major League Baseball are set to put spotlight on Birmingham, Alabama
Rickwood Field will once again host Major League Baseball after a multimillion-dollar renovation. (Michael Tomberlin / Alabama News Center)
No other professional baseball park can boast a past like Birmingham’s Rickwood Field and, with Major League Baseball returning there later this month, its future is looking brighter than ever.
After a multimillion-dollar renovation, America’s oldest professional baseball park will host the San Francisco Giants against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 20. The game will be broadcast by Fox and will once again put the Magic City jewel in a national, even a global spotlight.
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The city and state stand to benefit from the exposure and economic developers are taking advantage of the opportunity to host prospects and showcase the region.
But nobody is more excited about all of the attention than the Friends of Rickwood Field, the organization that has nurtured and managed the historic ballpark since the early 1990s.
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“We have a 114-year-old baseball field that’s been renewed with a brand-new playing field, new dugouts, new padding on the outfield walls, fences to protect the fans from errant foul balls, appropriate handicapped accessibility – the works,” said Gerald Watkins, chairman and executive director of the Friends of Rickwood Field. “So the field is going to be Major League quality when they step out on it on June the 18th for the Barons-Biscuits game and then on the 19th for the celebrity softball game and on the 20th for the big game, Major League Baseball’s Cardinals and Giants.”
That’s right. While the main event is the MLB game on Thursday, there will be events all week at Rickwood Field and elsewhere in Birmingham leading up to the big game.
On Monday, June 17, MLB players will provide instruction (and possibly some donated equipment) to Little League teams from the area.
Tuesday, June 18, will be a game between Minor League teams the Montgomery Biscuits and the Birmingham Barons.
Wednesday, June 19, will be Barnstorm Birmingham, a celebrity softball game in which the “Say Heys” team (named for Birmingham-born baseball legend Willie Mays) will take on “The Hammers” team (named for Mobile-born baseball legend Hank Aaron). The event is a collaboration between Major League Baseball and UNINTERRUPTED, the athlete storytelling brand founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.
Celebrities confirmed to be participating include:
- Omari Hardwick – star of TV show “Power”
- C.C. Sabathia – six-time MLB All-Star; 2009 World Series champion; 2007 A.L. Cy Young Award winner
- Alycia Baumgardner – WBC and IBO female super featherweight champion; WBO IBO and The Ring female super featherweight champion
- Jalen Milroe – starting quarterback of the Alabama Crimson Tide
- Lil Rel Howery – comedian and actor (“Get Out”)
- J.R. Smith – former NBA champion; North Carolina A&T State University golfer; co-host of “Par 3” podcast
- Matt Barnes – former NBA Champion; co-host of “All the Smoke” podcast
- Dwight Freeney – Pro Football Hall of Famer
- Ari Chambers – founder of HighlightHER; host and writer, ESPN and Andscape
- Phoebe Robinson – comedian, actor, author and podcaster
- Bubba Dub – comedian
- Ryan Howard – former World Series champion, All-Star and MVP
- Roy Wood Jr. – comedian; Birmingham native
- Stephen Jackson – former NBA champion; co-host of “All the Smoke” podcast
- DC Young Fly – comedian and actor
- Sam Jay – comedian and actor
- Terrell Owens – Pro Football Hall of Famer
- Jameis Winston – NFL quarterback and former FSU pitcher
Former MLB All-Stars Harold Reynolds and Chris Young will call the game. Sabathia and Carter organized the event as an extension of UNINTERRUPTED’s Fam Jam, a celebrity event platform that will feature remixed softball celebrating the Negro Leagues in a fresh way. There will be a Fam Jam outside of Rickwood Field and a postgame performance by Metro Boomin. Tickets can be purchased for $24 at MLB.com/rickwood.
The game will be broadcast on MLB Network at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 20, leading into MLB at Rickwood Field on Fox that night.
MLB is organizing the week’s events as a tribute to the Negro Leagues and its players.
It’s the result of nearly two years of talks and planning. MLB officials visited Rickwood Field and determined that it could be brought up to the league’s standards with some improvements.
Watkins noted the needed renovations were made possible by $5.5 million from the city of Birmingham along with support from the Alabama Power Foundation, Regions Bank, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau and others.
“We are honored to support the renovations of America’s oldest baseball park, not only for the upcoming MLB game in tribute to the Negro Leagues, but also for the future home of Miles College baseball,” said Staci Brown Brooks, president of the Alabama Power Foundation.
“I told our chairman we ought to make a T-shirt that says, ‘If you renovate it, they will come,’ kind of playing off the ‘Field of Dreams’ movie,” said Mike Newton, board member with Friends of Rickwood Field. “We expect a lot of visitors from all over. And when I say all over, I’ve already given tours to people from Germany, we’ve had guests here from Australia, so this is not just a local, in-state kind of event, really. Word has gotten out and people are going to want to come here and see this.”
Newton said Rickwood has more of a real-life claim to history than can be found in the movies.
“I love the movie ‘Field of Dreams.’ It talks about ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson being able to live out the rest of his career without any controversy,” he said. “Shoeless Joe did not play in a cornfield in Iowa. But he played out here at Rickwood Field. If he ever appears, it’s going to be out here. It’s not going to be in a cornfield.”
It’s a history that no others can claim.
“There’s over 180 baseball players in Cooperstown, the Hall of Fame, that played here or managed here,” Newton said. “And that comprises, like, two-thirds of the number of baseball players in the Hall of Fame. So, 66% of them have played or managed here at Rickwood Field. No other ballpark in America can say that.”
Rickwood will be the star, but the Magic City will benefit.
“We’re excited for Rickwood. However, I’m excited for the city of Birmingham as well,” Newton said. “The exposure that this event, the week, the game week is going to bring just to Birmingham alone is going to be phenomenal. It’s going to be nationally televised even around the world. You know, people think of Birmingham as ‘The Football Capital of the South’ and we are, but we’ve got a national treasure in baseball right here in our own backyard.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey noted the history and significance of the event.
“Alabama has a significant place in baseball’s history, and it is certainly no surprise our state’s competitive spirit has earned the Magic City the honor of hosting Major League Baseball,” Ivey said. “Folks from around the country – and world, for that matter – will descend on Birmingham June 20 to visit historic Rickwood Field, where legends have played since the beginning of baseball’s history. I look forward to watching the Cardinals and Giants take the field June 20!”
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said the city is poised for the moment.
“The city of Birmingham is so honored to have historic Rickwood Field as the centerpiece of MLB’s celebration of the Negro Leagues,” he said. “Having this recognition during the week of Juneteenth, on the very streets that paved the way for acceptance and inclusion in our nation, is a powerful testament to Birmingham’s story, as well as the courageous spirit of the Black Barons. Those athletes deserve the spotlight, and there’s no better place than Rickwood to shine that light the brightest.”
John Oros, president and CEO of the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the spotlight effect will be immeasurable.
“The national attention Birmingham will receive from the game can’t be measured. As the nation’s oldest professional baseball stadium, historic Rickwood Field is sacred ground for baseball historians and fans, and a one-of-a-kind attraction for visitors to Birmingham and Jefferson County,” Oros said.
“Although in our area we know its unique history, the Cardinals-Giants game will showcase Rickwood’s storied past to the nation,” Oros added. “Hall of Fame players including Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Satchell Paige, Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb played at Rickwood. Many of the 1972, ’73 and ’74 World Champion Oakland A’s played at Rickwood when the Barons were the A’s AA farm team, including Dave Duncan, Bert Campaneris, Rollie Fingers and Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson. I’m excited about the game, but I’m even more excited that the great story of this iconic structure, a monument to baseball’s storied past, is going to be shared with the nation.”
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Ancillary events include a Juneteenth celebration at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in partnership with Urban Impact and CREED63.
After all of the work and planning, it’s now just a few days away.
“Oh, it’s an incredible time,” Watkins said. “We are probably in the – to use a baseball analogy – the eighth inning. We’re getting close to game time. A lot of fine tuning to be done, but most of the major work is completed. So we’re counting down the days.”
Friends of Rickwood Field members are looking beyond the game and have events planned through the end of the year.
“Well, it’s going to provide a great place to play for Miles College,” Watkins said. “They are our primary tenant; we’re their home field. They will have this as a tremendous recruiting tool: ‘Hey, you join the Miles College baseball team, you’re going to play at Major League Baseball’s oldest field with the new playing surface.’ That’s a great thing for them.”
Travel ball teams from nearly every U.S. state and parts of Canada will be playing at Rickwood through the summer. A Birmingham law firm has rented the field for a company softball game and picnic.
A homerun derby and a fantasy camp celebrating the Cincinnati Reds are also scheduled this year.
“I just want to let people know after this ball game is over, check our website,” Watkins said. “You can come in and do tours. I would say you can talk about booking events, but we don’t have any dates left for 2024. But I just want people to enjoy the park, to know it’s here. Enjoy the history and come out and take it in.”
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Rickwood Field is also home to a museum that the Friends of Rickwood Field hope to expand. It will tell the history of Rickwood Field that includes more than baseball. Three movies – “Cobb,” “Soul of the Game” and “42” – were filmed there along with documentaries “Reggie” and “Say Hey, Willie Mays.”
Rickwood has also seen performances from a wide range of artists including Kiss, The Osmonds, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Charlie Daniels Band and The Beach Boys.
Beyond this year, Friends of Rickwood Field would like the MLB game to be a fixture on the calendar.
“We’re hoping that this will be an annual event where we feel like that if we do our jobs that it will continue to return here,” Newton said. “That’s a good thing for Birmingham, not only Rickwood, because it fills up hotel rooms, it fills up restaurants and it gives even greater exposure to Birmingham. When people come in, it’s not just to see Rickwood. They say, ‘Well, I want to go visit the Civil Rights Museum. I want to go to the zoo.’ So it’s kind of like a domino effect. It’s not just about Rickwood, but Rickwood certainly is opening up the door for that opportunity to happen.”
