Field of Dreams: Rickwood Field’s 100th Anniversary

Posted May 28, 2010

“THE ONE CONSTANT through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again." – Terrence Mann in Field of Dreams.

If you are looking for a living, breathing museum of baseball, Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, more than fits the bill. That it is here at all stands as a testament to those who seized the moment to preserve and protect the best of Birmingham’s traditions. If the game of baseball encapsulates part of our past, Rickwood Field in turn sustains that part of our history and tradition for future generations.

Back in 1910—around the advent of baseball’s “Golden Age”—when a young Birmingham industrialist by the name of Rick Woodward built his new baseball park, all seemed right with the world. At the time, the booming town of Birmingham was the fastest growing city in the country. So excited was the up-and-coming city, businesses closed to celebrate Rickwood Field’s opening day. It was a marker laid down that this young, emergent town could look forward to a bright future.

In the racially divided South, though, the new ballpark signified a curious accommodation with the social norms of the day: Woodward partnered the Birmingham Barons with the newly formed Black Barons so that on alternating weekends, the white Barons and the Negro League team would share the new park, both claiming it as their home field. Over the coming decades, baseball’s greats graced the field—Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Dizzy Dean, Leroy “Satchel” Paige, and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson—to name just a few. From the early days of baseball to the advent of the modern game, Rickwood Field and generations of fans who have walked through its gates have witnessed the glorious evolution of the sport and our love affair with the game.

In the United States, the cliché is true: baseball is more than just a game, it’s a national pastime. And in Birmingham, the country’s oldest standing baseball park, Rickwood Field, is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year. It would have been easy to have just let Rickwood go, to allow it to live out its remaining years in a slow, gentle decline. What is one more once-great sporting venue lost to time and neglect? After all, this is the United States of America and the promise of “progress” has often overshadowed the pull of history. Thus, when the Birmingham Barons departed Rickwood Field in 1987 for the newly built park at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in the Birmingham suburbs, many thought the days of Rickwood were simply over.

Yet the people of Birmingham were not going to let that happen. That it is here at all—lovingly restored, maintained, and cherished—is a credit to the group of Birmingham citizens, officials, and civic leaders who took the lead in protecting and preserving the storied ballpark in all its glory.

That this coup literally fell in Birmingham’s lap, is a story in itself.

When, incredibly, Chicago tore down Comiskey Field in 1991—at the time the oldest ballpark in the nation—suddenly the city of Birmingham had something very special to protect and honor. The city wasted no time. Tom Cosby, longtime employee of the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce (now Birmingham Business Alliance), recognized the opportunity Birmingham had been handed on a silver platter and seized the initiative.

“It was something we had to take advantage of immediately,” says a reflective Tom Cosby. “The Rickwood effort began as the Rickwood Field Task Force of the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce, with the Chamber hosting all the meetings and serving as fiduciary for the first two years. The Friends of Rickwood, of course, grew out of the that beginning.”

It is said one has to know a thing to love it. If that’s so, a logical progression would be that to love something means you have to take action to protect it. A 501c3 nonprofit responsible for the restoration and revitalization of the ballpark, the Friends of Rickwood did just that, overseeing everything from the scheduling and marketing of the park to the repairs that kept the aging structure going strong. No mere delicate museum of Birmingham baseball history, the park is a hard-working treasure regularly used for high school and college games, baseball camps, special events, and even serving as the historic setting for films like Soul of the Game and the biographical film Cobb, starring Tommy Lee Jones.

“Over 100 members of the Hall of Fame have played here, yet as a social historian, I would argue that there’s more to the Rickwood story than baseball alone,” asserts David Brewer, Friends of Rickwood Director. “It played a significant role in shaping community identity and civic pride in Birmingham. There was something about going to the ballpark. From white residents to African Americans, you went there to support your home team, your city. It was more than just baseball.”

Accordingly, the Friends of Rickwood work with committed volunteers and vital sponsors to make sure that baseball is still played at the ballpark in order to cultivate a connection with young baseball fans in the community. It is also based on a belief that it is important for generations to continue to connect at Rickwood Field, but it is not an easy or inexpensive prospect. “The challenge remains to acquire funding for Rickwood to start its second hundred years in tip-top shape,” says Gerald Watkins, current Chairman of the Friends of Rickwood. “We have a very diverse and dedicated board which works tirelessly to prepare the park for events such as the upcoming Rickwood Classic in June.”

“Maybe the most rewarding part of my involvement at Rickwood has been the opportunity to share it with my son,” Watkins continues. “They say baseball connects generations like no other sport. Well, Rickwood has allowed me to share something special with my son. We are sharing an experience which he will always remember, and maybe he will lead the next generation that works to preserve the old ball park for future generations.”

And that is the implication imbedded in that wonderful quote from Field of Dreams: that by preserving and cherishing the best of our shared history, we remind ourselves—and perhaps most importantly, the next generation—of the good and promise found in the past. And that that good can live again.

The Rickwood Classic, an annual event at Rickwood Field where a regulation baseball game in this historic park is played between teams in authentic period uniforms, is set for Wednesday, June 2 at 12:30pm. The Birmingham Barons will be playing the Tennessee Smokies. For more information, see www.rickwood.com.

Everyone has a story.