The oldest Baseball Park in America is in Birmingham, Alabama, which is also our current stop on tour. Rickwood Field, built in 1910, sits quietly in a residential area just southwest of downtown. On a beautiful Martin Luther King Day in 2010 there is no fanfare, no raucous cheers from the grandstand; there is no movement at all. It's as if the ghosts of this hardened relic, a testament to both the wonderful and terrible aspects of our country’s history, aren’t even here anymore. The place is devoid of life.
The Birmingham Barons were the home team here, and over the years they served as a minor league affiliate for the Cubs, Reds, Pirates, A’s (Kansas City and Oakland), Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers, and finally the Chicago White Sox. The Barons called Rickwood home from 1910 until 1987. But by the time a thirty-year old Michael Jordan became the clubs most famous (and tallest ?) Right Fielder in 1994, they had long since vacated this old park for a more spacious suburban home in a town called Hoover. If MJ had tried out fifty years earlier however, he would not have been allowed to join the Barons. If he made a roster at all it would have been with the Birmingham Black Barons of the American Negro Leagues, who also played in this stadium from 1920 until 1960.
It was here that the immortal Satchel Paige won countless games, and Ted Radcliffe, Willie Gleason, Sam Streeter, and other brilliant baseball players performed infinite feats of greatness forever left out of official Major League Baseball stat books. Baseball’s history, like our country’s, will always be stained in this way. Great Major League players who played here at Rickwood (in games played “on the Road” to increase revenues for their respective ballclubs) like Dizzy Dean, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio all played in a “whites-only” league. And even after beginning integration in the late 40’s, one could argue that baseball wasn’t really represented by the truly great players for at least an era. I wonder if they mention that when you first walk into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Are there any asterisks next to any of those early baseball heroes and their gaudy numbers?
Right around the time when Jackie Robinson was finally breaking the “color barrier” in the Majors, a hometown, 16 year old rookie named Willie Mays led the Black Barons to the American League Championship in 1948. The Negro leagues played until 1960, but segregation lived on at the ballpark and around the community far past that, as the country’s evolution continued to lag significantly in the south. The right-field bleachers (colored-only seating) weren’t demolished until 1972, and area schools didn’t fully integrate until the 1963 school-year. And just a few miles away at the 16th Street Baptist Church, perhaps the most horrible of all of the terrorist church bombings took place in September 1963 claiming 4 young lives. Across the street from the church today is the Civil Rights Museum and Sculpture garden, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stands for all time with a bible in his left hand. Other statues in the garden feature police attack dogs and high-powered water hoses and their victims, and other infamous images of the savagely troubled times. On a beautiful Martin Luther King Day in 2010, we remember. For many in Birmingham, Alabama, I doubt that it’s ever slipped from memory.
Thanks to Dr. King and a great many others, Alabama and the nation started on it’s long and tedious road to some semblance of equality for all. And Willie Mays, of course, went on to an incredible career in the Majors, finishing second to Babe Ruth in all-time home-runs (until Hammerin’ Hank Aaron passed them both.) In addition to their obvious inductions into Cooperstown, Aaron and Mays are both enshrined in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame a few miles away... right across the street from our hotel!) Never a big fan of Alabama sports (Note this last years SEC championship game) I went somewhat begrudgingly to this place... and I have to admit I was impressed. I didn't know that Aaron, Joe Namath, and Ozzie Smith were from here. The extensive exhibit and collection also includes Bo Jackson’s Heisman Trophy from 1985, Charles Barkley’s 1992 Dream Team Jersey, and of course, one of Bear Bryant’s Hats.
Surprisingly, there is no inclusion or even mention of famous Alabama Crimson Tide Running back, Forrest Gump, from Greenbow. I guess the fact that he didn’t play pro ball hurt his chances with the voters.
Today Rickwood field is used for promotional events and amateur leagues, and every year the Barons play a traditional “throw-back” game there where they and their opponent wear old school uniforms and pose for pictures. Rickwood has also been popular with filmmakers looking for an authentic location for their period films; A League of Their Own, and Cobb (starring Tommy Lee Jones) most notably. And no, I’m not sure if this is where Tom Hanks famously and incredulously whined, “There’s no crying in baseball!”… but wouldn’t that be great? I do love that line. (Or maybe he said "Stupid is as stupid does." Something like that... wow, lots of Tom Hanks in this post.) aaaanyway,
As we all know, baseball has gone on to field more and more problems as the years have rolled on. The first Dominican player was finally allowed a slot on a Major League roster in the mid 1950’s; as once again, baseball proved a microcosm of our Nation’s prejudices and embarrassing ignorance. But however difficult, it also represented our hopeful progress forward toward a better future. If this past century has proven anything, it’s that we had a very long way to go. Which leads us to today and the current baseball atrocity… The Steroid Era. Rodriguez, Bonds, Palmeiro, Maguire, Clemmons… Ugh. Anybody order more asterisks??
But don't be fooled into thinking that this game has been utterly tarnished from something pure or virtuous, because the game was never innocent. Those bygone years of "the good old days" were wrought with much worse.
Happy Martin Luther King Day, 2010!
Here’s to the future!
Underdogs Out.
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