Major League Baseball is paying tribute to the Negro Leagues and Hall of Famer Willie Mays with minor league and major league games played this week at legendary Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Mays is a Birmingham native and former Birmingham Black Barons player.
The showcase game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals will be played on Thursday. Both teams will wear period uniforms paying homage to the Negro League histories in their respective cities. Fox will broadcast the game, a regular-season contest, beginning at 7:15 p.m. ET.
“There were over 130 Hall of Famers who played at Rickwood,” MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds told Yahoo Sports. “So when I see these fences, it takes me back to my first trip to Fenway, my first trip to Wrigley, my first trip to Yankee Stadium. That’s the family this field is in… That’s stuff you go, ‘ Babe Ruth hit a ball where? That’s the cool part of the story, and we’re missing it.”
In somewhat fortuitous timing, the tribute game will be played a few weeks after Negro League statistics were officially integrated into MLB’s all-time record.
“We can tell people who these players were, who they are and their talent,” Reynolds said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
On Tuesday, the Birmingham Barons (Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox) will host the Montgomery Biscuits (Double-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays) at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on MLB Network, with Rich Waltz and Chris Young calling the broadcast and former “The Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood Jr. calling the broadcast.
Wood was born in Birmingham and previously worked with MLB Network as host of “All-MLB team show” last December. Being the sideline reporter for Tuesday’s minor league game is like “dusting off your journalism degree,” he said.
“It’s just about keeping the celebratory spirit about why we’re here and at the park,” Wood told Yahoo Sports. “For me, my plan is to try to be the eyes and ears for people who can’t come to Rickwood. But if there’s an opportunity to add an extra fact about the city of Birmingham or the people of Birmingham, my job is to make sure we don’t forget why we’re here and why this field is so interesting.
“We’re talking about a field where the original depths… were 480 immediately that day, 400 in the future,” he added. “So the right field line is like 320 and then it projects out to 390 or something ridiculous. I won’t say ‘drunk’ on the broadcast, but who drew those dimensions?”
Reynolds thinks Wood’s ability to tell stories about growing up in Birmingham and playing at Rickwood Field will engage viewers and make him a perfect fit for the job.
“I can tell you a story about a time when Ensley High School lost a game to us because they got into a fight with each other in their own dugout,” Wood said. “I’m pretty sure Rickwood is the only baseball field where a team lost a game because of fighting among themselves. Lavert Andrews wasn’t left without a grounder, as he should have been, and his teammate called him ‘sorry’. Lavert punched him in the face.”
On Wednesday, the Barnstorm Birmingham event celebrating Juneteenth will feature a celebrity softball game. That broadcast will air Thursday on MLB Network at 2:30 p.m. ET, between the “MLB Central” and “MLB Tonight” pregame shows live from Rickwood Field. Reynolds and Young will be on the call.
Among those participating in the softball game will be former Philadelphia Phillies slugger Ryan Howard, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, NFL veterans Terrell Owens and Dwight Freeney, Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston (who grew up in the Birmingham area) and NBA veterans Stephen Jackson and JR. Smith. Wood Jr. will also star, alongside actors Omari Hardwick, Phoebe Robinson and Lil Rel Howery.
“I’ll be the first person in a celebrity game to bunt drag,” Wood said. “You know, Chuck Carr was my inspiration. Brett Butler, Willie McGee, those are the guys I want to be.”
