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In Birmingham, Alabama—a city with a rich baseball heritage—Rickwood Field holds memories of one of baseball’s legends, Willie Mays, who passed away at 93. Before becoming a star with the New York Giants and making “The Catch” famous in the 1954 World Series, Mays began his career in this very field as a teenager in 1948, playing for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues.
Rev. William Greason, Mays’ former teammate and now nearly a century old, reminisced about Mays’ incredible talent and the strong bond among the team members. He expressed awe at Mays’ natural gift and the unknowing privilege of playing with one of baseball’s all-time greats.
The Black Barons were part of the Negro Southern League, navigating the challenges of segregation while traveling through the Jim Crow South. Rickwood Field, shared with the all-White Birmingham Barons, was a place of enforced segregation, a reality Greason recalls vividly.
Throughout its history since 1910, Rickwood Field has welcomed 182 MLB Hall of Famers, including legends like Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron. The field is set to host a game between the St.
Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants, paying homage to Mays and the legacy of the Negro Leagues. Masyn Winn, a Cardinals shortstop and one of the few African Americans currently in Major League Baseball, spoke on the significance of representing African Americans in the sport today amidst declining participation rates.
Despite a drop from 18% to 6% in African American MLB players since 1991, recent drafts and MLB’s $150 million investment to boost Black participation show promising signs of change. Additionally, the inclusion of Negro Leagues statistics into MLB records last month has been a landmark step in recognizing the contributions of African American players.
The upcoming Rickwood Field game, located just miles from Mays’ childhood home, is poised not just to honor his legacy but also to highlight the ongoing efforts to diversify baseball, marking an end of an era and the hopeful beginning of a new chapter in the sport’s history. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin emphasizes that the field’s history is an integral part of both Black and American heritage, underscoring the impact of those who played there on the evolution of baseball.