At first glance, it looks like many other baseball fields used in the minor leagues or by colleges. But Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, is much more. It is a place that has seen much of America’s past, and it is a place where we can envision our future.
A.H. “Rick” Woodword, a native of Wheeling, WV, was a prominent business leader in Birmingham. He was also a college baseball player who realized that he was not major-league material. He had the good fortune of being born into a family with significant iron and steel interests.
Rick Woodword bought a majority interest in the Birmingham Coal Barons while he was still in his 20s. He wanted to showcase his team in a new stadium and commissioned it to be built. The year was 1910. Not being modest, he named the stadium after himself: Rickwood Field. He was also the starting pitcher for the first game played in his stadium. He threw just one pitch –a ball.
One year later, both the University of Alabama and Auburn University played their home football games in the stadium. They will continue to do so for 16 years.
In 1915, Rickwood Field was the site of Suffrage Day, where women advocating for the right to vote, played a one-inning exhibition. In 1920, Rickwood Field would be home to both a white minor-league team and a black Negro league team. The teams would never play each other. This continued for 40 years.
When Major League Baseball began to accept African American players, the Negro Leagues began to disappear. The Barons baseball team was disbanded in 1966 when Jim Crow Laws make it unlawful for Negro and white players to be on the same team.
Today, Rickwood Field is the oldest ballpark remaining in America. It is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. In its years of existence, Rickwood Field has been a host to 181 of the 351 members of Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Major League Baseball is making an effort to recognize its past and not try to whitewash it. The performance of Negro League players is now recognized and records are being adjusted.
Just imagine the lessons we can learn from a baseball field. These are lessons that are important for all Americans. A stadium constructed of steel and concrete and opened in 1910 is a living monument to our past and hopefully, a vital place to imagine what our future might become.
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“Life is divided into three terms—that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present, to live better in the future.” –William Wordsworth