BACKROADS • AUGUST 2021
Page 13
Frontline Eurosports presents
BIG CITY GETAWAY Rickwood Field 1137 2 Avenue West, Birmingham, Alabama Rickwood.com nd
The Oldest Professional Baseball Field in the United States Yes, you read that right. While most people believe Fenway Park (c. 1912) in Boston, MA or Wrigley Field (c. 1914) in Chicago, IL are the oldest baseball fields, this beautiful, out-of-the-way ballpark in Birmingham holds the prestigious heritage. However, Fenway is the oldest MLB field in continuous use by a major league team. While we have been planning on visiting all the major league baseball stadiums in the U.S., our plans always seem to go awry. First, it’s not enough to just visit the stadium – we want to watch a game. Piecing together the games and travel becomes somewhat sticky so quadrants need to be established. We have gone to the furthest (for us) in Seattle, WA and were hoping to get to Miami during the spring. The west coast will be a quadrant unto itself and who knows when we’ll be able to get to Toronto. When we knew we were heading to Georgia and the surrounding great riding areas, we did some research and found, as you read in our June 2021 issue, there was an overwhelming amount of history of all sorts to be seen. One of the sights to absolutely pique our interest was Rickwood Field.
daytrip ideas to get out of the daily grind Here’s the scoop… In 1909, Allen Harvey ‘Rick’ Woodward, grandson of Birmingham industrialist Stimpson Harvey Woodward, while in his 20s purchased a majority share of the Birmingham Coal Barons baseball team. Wanting to build a grand showcase for his new minor league team, he consulted the great catcher, manager and team owner Connie Mack and based Rickwood on the parks in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The 12.7-acre park was completed during the summer of 1910, with opening day held on Au-
gust 18, 1910 where the Barons defeated the visiting Montgomery Climbers. Many of the greatest players in baseball’s history played at Rickwood Field. Even if you are not a follower of the sport, you are sure to know the names Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson, Stan ‘The Man’ Musial and the image of one of the rarest and most expensive baseball cards in history, Honus ‘The Flying Dutchman’ Wagner. Willie Mays grew up just minutes from Rickwood Field and, as a 16-year-old high school junior, was starting centerfielder for the 1948 championship Black Barons.
