The Negro Leagues history behind MLB's Rickwood Field game

The oldest professional ballpark in America is ready to welcome MLB for a regular-season contest. 

On Thursday, Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, will host the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants. Rickwood Field opened in 1910 and served as the home stadium for the Birmingham Barons and, from 1924 through 1960, the Negro Leagues’ Birmingham Black Barons.

 The stadium was site of the final Negro League World Series game in October 1948, in which the Black Barons fell to the Homestead Grays in five games.

The Black Barons featured several future Hall of Famers but none better than Willie Mays. In 1948, Mays made his debut at 17 with his hometown Black Barons before moving on to the New York Giants in 1951. He finished his career with the New York Mets in 1973.Mays would go on to stardom with the Giants, finishing his 23-year MLB career with 660 home runs, 12 Gold Gloves and two MVPs. He announced Monday that he will be unable to attend the game, instead watching from his home in the Bay Area.

“My heart will be with all of you who are honoring the Negro League ballplayers, who should always be remembered, including all my teammates on the Black Barons," the 93-year-old Mays said in a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday. "I wanted to thank Major League Baseball, the Giants, the Cardinals and all the fans who’ll be at Rickwood or watching the game. It’ll be a special day, and I hope the kids will enjoy it and be inspired by it.”

Despite his absence, Mays will be celebrated throughout the week. 

The Giants and Cardinals will also don uniforms celebrating the legacy of Black baseball in their cities. The Giants will wear San Francisco Sea Lions uniforms (featuring a bear cub patch, like the originals, which were repurposed from the then-defunct San Francisco Cubs organization) and the Cardinals will wear St. Louis Stars uniforms.