It is older than both Wrigley Field and Fenway Park – indeed it is the oldest venue for professional baseball in the United States. It is one of two remaining Negro League parks. It has – in a testament to its historical breadth – hosted within its walls 181 of the 351 total Hall of Famers, whether players, managers or operators of teams.
On the playing side, the list includes true pantheon dwellers of the sport: Willie Mays, Satchel Paige, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Honus Wagner, Cool Papa Bell, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Rogers Hornsby, Reggie Jackson, Stan Musial, Ernie Banks, Dizzy Dean, Rollie Fingers. Of these, Mays, perhaps the greatest baseball player in the annals of baseball players, is the Hall of Famer most linked with Rickwood Field. Mays, , was a native of the Birmingham, Ala.
, area, and so he was on his hometown field when he suited up for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948. It was Mays' first season as a professional and the start of a career that would tower over that of almost any other player. It's fitting, then, that when Mays' former team, the Giants, takes the field against the Cardinals on Thursday in Birmingham, it'll be a celebration not only of Mays but also of the setting – the living museum that is Rickwood Field.
Major League Baseball's foray into Rickwood also marks the latest initiative to embrace – or co-opt, if you find that term more accurate – the history of the bygone Negro Leagues. For MLB, it's a complicated needle t.