‘Baseball in its purest form’: Rickwood Field still serves an important role in community, director says

Sitting atop the roof of 112-year-old Rickwood Field in late April, Gerald Watkins watched as players from Center Point High School and George Washington Carver High School warmed up on the field down below.

These days, the oldest baseball stadium in America hosts a number of different teams, from local high schools to Miles College to traveling teams like the Savannah Bananas. There are at least 125 games held here each year. The park is also open daily for visitors to come and explore the history contained within its walls.

But several decades ago, the grass was occupied by legendary names like Mays, Ruth, Cobb and Paige. Visitors could catch the local Birmingham Black Barons and the Birmingham Barons, before the latter left for Hoover after the 1987 season.

Watkins, the chairman and executive director of the Friends of Rickwood, which manages the ballpark, said while those players and teams are long gone, their memories haven’t left the grounds.

“When you catch the ball, you can think, ‘Willie Mays was out here,’” Watkins said. “You can imagine who came before you. The setting is the same.”

It doesn’t take a long look to see that Watkins is right. Stepping into Rickwood almost feels like stepping back in time.

While it’s been rebuilt due to rotting wood, the scoreboard looks the same as it did in the 1920s, a decade into the park’s existence. The Friends of Rickwood keep the bathrooms and actual field in good condition, but everything else gets patched up as needed, Watkins said. Some seats were changed in 1981 and the outfield wall advertisements, while still true to their era, have been redone, but the stadium remains otherwise untouched, and for good reason.

“We stand pretty firm on that,” Watkins said. “If we change anything, it sort of destroys the allure of this being the oldest park in the country.”

Tales from History

Major league legends played exhibition games at Rickwood, bringing in Hall of Famers like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and more to the Birmingham area. One future Hall of Famer, Dizzy Dean, was famously outpitched at Rickwood by the Barons’ 43-year-old ace, Ray Caldwell, in the first game of the Dixie Series, which pitted the winners of the Southern League and Texas League together.

Baseball on the silver screen has also had an impact on Rickwood. Ron Shelton, director of the movie “Cobb,” shot the baseball scenes of the movie here, which played a major role in pushing business and city leaders to preserve Rickwood, Watkins said. The documentary “Soul of the Game” and the movie “42,” which tells the story of Jackie Robinson, were also shot at Rickwood.

Rickwood has also served as a vital resource for the community, serving as host for a women’s suffrage rally in 1915, Watkins said.

“I think the importance of Rickwood is beyond baseball,” Watkins said in reference to the rally.

‘A Thinking Person’s Game’

Watkins’ love of baseball brought him back to Rickwood as a member and future leader of the Friends of Rickwood, but his love for the park began as a visitor in his younger days.

In 1976, the Baltimore Orioles, led by legendary manager Earl Weaver, were playing an exhibition game against the Oakland Athletics at Rickwood. Watkins, 20 years old at the time, and his 10-year-old brother had front row seats next to the Orioles dugout on the third base line.

During a break, Watkins went up to get snacks, but when he arrived back at his seat, his brother was missing. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for him to realize where his younger brother was.

Weaver had evidently picked the young man up and sat him next to future Hall of Famers Jim Palmer and Brooks Robinson.

“He saw me and he waved, and all I could think of was, ‘Gosh, I wish that were me,’” Watkins said.

After a few minutes, Weaver lifted the boy, still oblivious to the entire situation, back to his seat.

“He had no idea how lucky he was,” Watkins said. “All I could do was sit in disbelief.”

Baseball is a “thinking person’s game,” Watkins said. He loves its movement and its history — “it [baseball] survives and thrives because of its history” — and loves watching young people play the game.

Baseball also serves as a way to connect people in ways that other sports do not, Watkins said. That’s as true at Rickwood as anywhere else, as people did, and still do, come to the park to socialize with others.

Keeping History Alive

Decades after his brother’s encounter with the Orioles, Watkins joined the board of the Friends of Rickwood and became chairman a few years later in 2009. The organization rents the park from the city of Birmingham and maintains a good relationship with them, Watkins said. They reach out for funding to make necessary repairs — like the historic light towers, which need to be fixed — and lean on the city and community leaders.

Major events like the April 16 arrival of the Savannah Bananas, a travel team which serves as baseball’s version of the Harlem Globetrotters, have a huge impact, Watkins said. The crowd at Rickwood was the largest the team had seen on its tour, Watkins said.

The park recently received a $10,000 grant from the state and benefits from donations, the sale of merchandise and field rentals, Watkins said. The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) also gave the organization a grant to repair the park’s historical signage. The local SABR chapter also meets at the park.

As the COVID-19 pandemic began to end, it “unleashed” people, Watkins said. The park began to see more visitors, some who had come from other countries and faraway states. The park has also benefited from more corporate outings, weddings held on the field and more. In April, Watkins recalled one family who came and had a picnic on the outfield grass.

One of the most noticeable events held at Rickwood in years past has been the Rickwood Classic, which has not been held since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There won’t be a game this year, either, Watkins said, as the park could not meet Major League Baseball’s safety requirements in enough time to put on the annual contest featuring the Barons.

MLB wanted padded outfield walls and extended netting down the baselines to increase fan and player safety, and the Friends of Rickwood are working with the league to find a way to do that without losing the historical nature of the ballpark, Watkins said.

The league has offered to help and Watkins said he is “very optimistic” that the game will return soon. He believes MLB understands the importance of the park and of the area, with Hall of Famer Willie Mays, one of the game’s oldest living legends, hailing from the community.

“The door is wide open,” Watkins said.

‘Baseball in its Purest Form’

Watching as the high school teams continue warming up on the field below, Watkins said he’s mindful to interact with the young people who come here and tell them to not take the chance they have to play on one of baseball’s most hallowed grounds for granted.

While some of the young men know the park’s history, others do not, Watkins said. Watkins just tells them to go home and look up some of the players who have passed through here.

“You get to go play on the same ballfield as 180 Hall of Famers that have played here,” Watkins said.

Understanding and appreciating the park’s place in history is important for young players, Watkins said, because there’s no guarantee they’ll get the chance to step on Rickwood’s grass again.

“They may be fathers and grandfathers talking about a place that was,” Watkins said.

Whatever the future of Rickwood holds, its past, and its present, is a reminder of what baseball stadiums used to be, in the days before gargantuan video boards, sky-high ticket and beer prices and WiFi for every fan.

“You don’t have the bells and whistles of the newer stadiums. You’ve got a ball field and you’ve got seats,” Watkins said.

“It’s baseball in its purest form.”