Baseball

to honor Negro Leagues

Baseball fans may want to circle June 20, 2024, on the calendars. That’s when baseball will turn back the clock to honor the Negro Leagues at famed Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala. The San Francisco Giants will play the St. Louis Cardinals at the iconic ballpark that opened in 2010.

The Negro League Birmingham Black Barons played at Rickwood from 1925 to 1960, sharing the facility with the then all-white Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association.

At age 17, Willie Mays made his pro debut at Rickwood as a Black Baron outfielder, playing 13 games. Mays went on to become a 14-time All-Star and is today considered the “greatest living ballplayer.”

The San Francisco vs. St. Louis match will be nationally televised on ESPN as part of the Juneteenth holiday celebration.

There will also be a minor-league game at Rickwood June 18 between the current Barons (affiliate of Chicago White Sox) and Montgomery Biscuits (Tampa Bay).

VCU heads to Greece

Befitting a team brimming with international talent, the VCU basketball Rams will soon be making an international excursion.

There was never a thought of playing JV or riding the varsity bench when she arrived as a freshman.

“As soon as we saw her, we knew she was a starter,” said Hollingshead, who was JV coach at the time.

“It’s not just her straight-ahead speed. It’s her quickness with the ball that sets her apart.” Woodson and the Chiefs excelled despite having no home-pitch advantage. The Smoketree Subdivision school’s football field has been under construction while being converted from grass to turf.

The Chiefs practiced and played home games this season at River City Sportsplex, some eight miles away. The state quarterfinal (a Monacan “home game”) was played at Clover Hill High.

There is a long list of credits beside Woodson’s name.

She was Region 4B Player of the Year, first-team Class 4 All-State, Chesterfield Superintendent’s All-County and Monacan Senior Athlete of the Year.

To the relief of Monacan rivals, her goal-scoring heroics are history.

Now it’s Auburn’s opposing netminders that may be nervous.

Coach Ryan Odom’s squad will travel to Greece July 31 to Aug. 9 to play three exhibition games and take in a lot sightseeing in and around Athens.

VCU’s foreign-born players include Michael Belle and Tobi Lawal from Great Britain, Sean Bairstow from Australia and Max Shulga from Ukraine.

Bairstow and Shulga are transfers from Utah State. Lawal, a rising sophomore, is the lone returnee among the bunch. Belle and Patrick will be freshmen.

This is truly a reward in advance. Only four of the players and none of the coaches traveling to Greece have ever been a part of a VCU game.