Alabama Is Home To America’s Oldest Baseball Park
Alabama Is Home To America’s Oldest Baseball Park
Many baseball fans are eager to hear the phrase “Play Ball.” Those fans will get their wish very soon because of the anticipation of the return of Major League Baseball. What is the actual date? According to CBS Sports, “MLB announces 60-game season for 2020; Opening Day will be July 23 or 24.” This is super exciting news. I enjoy baseball, but I’m more of a take in the scenery, people watching, and game-day specials (like fireworks after the game) type of a fan.
I did find it very interesting to know that Alabama is home to America’s oldest baseball park, which is Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. I’ve been to this field numerous times while I worked in Birmingham. This is an amazing history and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. According to Choice Hotels America's Oldest Baseball Stadiums, “Rickwood opened in 1910, two years before Fenway Park. The Birmingham Barons, a minor league team with roots dating back to the 1880s—the earliest days of American baseball—called Rickwood home until 1988.” The great baseball legends have played there like Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige, and Jackie Robinson. Also, the Black Barons played at Rickwood Field as well. According to Baseball Pilgrimages, “The legendary Willie Mays, who grew up minutes away, was a 16-year old center-fielder on the 1948 championship squad. The Black Barons played their home games at Rickwood when the (White) Barons were out of town.”
(Source) To read the full story from CBS Sports, click here. For more from Choice Hotels, click here. To review Rickwood Field history from Baseball Pilgrimages, click here.