Rickwood Classic returns for May 30 throwback game

Historic Rickwood Field, after being closed for an entire year, will again host the Rickwood Classic baseball game on Wednesday, May 30, at 12:30 p.m., when the Birmingham Barons play the Chattanooga Lookouts. 

The annual Classic was canceled in 2017 after the city of Birmingham was forced to close the 108-year-old ballpark, the oldest in the country, in order to make much-needed structural repairs.

The Birmingham City Council voted in January to spend about $1 million to make the repairs, which City Engineer Andres Bittas said should be complete in time for the Classic.

The Barons will pay homage to the “Fabulous Fifties,” when the team was affiliated with the New York Yankees from 1953-56. 

The team will wear throwback gray uniforms, as well as caps with text written in vintage Yankees navy-blue script.

The caps will be auctioned to benefit the nonprofit Friends of Rickwood.

The special guest will be Bucky Dent, the 1978 World Series MVP with the Yankees, who played at Rickwood Field with the Southern League Knoxville Sox in 1972. Dent will sign autographs at the game.

For tickets, call 988-3200, go to barons.com or go to the Regions Field ticket office.