BASEBALLPARKS.COM's Ten Must-See Parks

Rickwood Field

This is a must-see park??  There hasn't been a regular tenant here since 1987!  It's really old, for crying out loud!  Why should anyone go out of their way to look at this elderly facility?

Because if you don't, you will miss seeing one of America's true baseball treasures.

Built in Birmingham, Alabama in 1910 at a cost of $75,000 -- even that modest sum was $50,000 over budget! -- this was the showplace of Southern baseball for decades.  Rickwood, now dubbed "America's Oldest Baseball Park," is undergoing a methodical and loving restoration that has brought it back to its past glory.  And the city sometimes leaves the gates open so that visitors can go on a self-guided tour inside this historic stadium.

For much, much more on this grand ol' ballpark, I highly recommend the book "Bases Loaded with History" by Timothy Whitt.  To see BASEBALLPARKS.COM's book review of this great read, click here.

WHERE THIS PARK IS LOCATED:    West of downtown Birmingham, just south of the intersection of 3rd Avenue West and 12th Street West.  It is just a couple of miles from Legion Field, the mammoth football stadium.

WHO PLAYS HERE:  These days, most of the baseball played here is by local college and other amateur teams.  Most years from 1910 until 1987, though, it was the home of the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association (which became the Southern League).  The Black Barons of various Negro Leagues called Rickwood home, too.  Today, you have one chance a year to see true pro baseball here, as the "Rickwood Classic" game pits the Birmingham Barons against another team from the Southern League.

SPECIAL EVENTS WHICH HAVE OCCURRED HERE:  Well, the original opening day, August 18, 1910, must have been pretty special.  As Timothy Whitt says in Bases Loaded with History, "City businesses announced a half-holiday for the 18th, closing their doors at 3:00 p.m. so that no one would have to miss the glorious spectacle of the inaugural game at Birmingham's new baseball palace."  The Barons won 3-2 with two runs in the bottom of the ninth . . . Before Shoeless Joe Jackson made it to the Majors, he batted .355 for New Orleans' team that played one game against the Barons later that same year . . . Some of the all-time greats played spring exhibitions here or stopped by during off-season barnstorming tours.  During Ty Cobbs first visit in 1911, he tripled and singled.  Rogers Hornsby's Cards played Cobb's Tigers in an exhibition 12 years later.  Babe Ruth smashed a grand slam for the Yanks in March of 1925.  And Stan Musial blasted a 486-foot home run in a '54 exhibition . . . Perhaps the most anticipated baseball game in the history of Birmingham occurred on September 16, 1931, when the Houston Buffs, champions of the Texas League, came to town for a showdown with the Southern Association-winning Barons in the "Dixie Series."  The largest crowd ever to see a sporting event in Alabama (at that time) crammed into Rickwood to see brash Dizzy Dean's Buffs fall 1-0 to the Barons . . . and in 1948, a skinny kid was a junior at Fairfield High School, in the same neighborhood as Rickwood.  He also started playing pro ball that summer for the Black Barons, who won the Negro American League pennant that year.  That 16-year-old showed incredible prowess in the field, on the bases and at bat.  His name was Willie Mays.

WHY YOU MUST SEE THIS PARK:  Rickwood Field is important in baseball history -- more so than you may realize.  We are indeed fortunate that this particular park has survived the wrecking ball that so many other splendors of the National Pastime have befallen.  Go see it.  And if you want a clear contrast of what was in baseball (with charm and intimacy) and what is in baseball (with function and anything *but* intimacy), also go see a game in the Baron's new home in suburban Hoover, south of town.  You'll probably run screaming back to Rickwood.

And in addition to going to visit this wonderful place, there's one more thing you can do.  Contact the Friends Of Rickwood Field, the non-profit organization working so hard to preserve this landmark.  The organization can be reached at 205-458-8161, or at their Website at www.rickwood.com.

Certainly Rickwood's intimacy and sense of history make it unique, but its two most unique elements are probably the way the light towers were designed and the reconstructed press box on top of the roof behind home plate.  See the photo above for a look at both elements.

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