San Francisco Giants to play in oldest pro ballpark in 2024
Jun 20, 2023, 1:00 PM
Rickwood Field, the oldest baseball park in America, Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo by: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
(Photo by: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The San Francisco Giants will play in the oldest professional ballpark in 2024.
Major League Baseball officially announced Tuesday that the Giants will take on the St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field, the former host of the Negro Leagues’ Birmingham Black Barons and the former home of Giants legend Willie Mays.
The game is scheduled to take place around the Juneteenth holiday, June 20, 2024, with MLB highlighting the “Negro Leagues and Mays.” The game will also feature both teams in uniforms “that honor San Francisco’s and St. Louis’ Negro League histories.”
“We are proud to bring Major League Baseball to historic Rickwood Field in 2024,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a press release. “This opportunity to pay tribute to the Negro Leagues as the Giants and Cardinals play a regular season game at this iconic location is a great honor. The legacy of the Negro Leagues and its greatest living player, Willie Mays, is one of excellence and perseverance. We look forward to sharing the stories of the Negro Leagues throughout this event next year.”
Mays played in Rickwood Field from 1948-50 as a member of the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro League. Additional baseball legends who’ve played at Rickwood Field include Ty Cobb and Leroy “Satchell” Paige, among many others.
“It has been 75 years since I played for the Birmingham Black Barons at Rickwood Field, and to learn that my Giants and the Cardinals will play a game there and honor the legacy of the Negro Leagues and all those who came before them is really emotional for me,” Mays said in MLB’s press release. “We can’t forget what got us here and that was the Negro Leagues for so many of us.”
The game will be broadcasted on FOX.
On June 20, 2024, Rickwood Field takes center stage. See you next year, Birmingham! pic.twitter.com/ciVqxh0foA
— MLB (@MLB) June 20, 2023
While not titled the Field of Dreams game, MLB previously held their throwback games in Dyersville, Iowa — where the movie “Field of Dreams” was filmed. The first Field of Dreams game took place in 2021 when the Chicago White Sox beat the New York Yankees 9-8. The following year, the Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-2. No game is scheduled to take place in 2023 because of construction at the Dyersville field.
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