BIRMINGHAM, Alabama − This is where Willie Mays was born, raised and launched his Hall of Fame baseball career.
It was there that the Birmingham Black Barons played in the Negro Leagues, the only league that allowed Mays to play professionally.
This is where Martin Luther King Jr. preached at the 16th Street Baptist Church.
It was here that four little girls were killed one Sunday morning in a Ku Klux Klan bombing.
This is where the civil rights movement reached its peak in the most segregated city in the country.
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It was here that white supremacist Bull Connor used police dogs and high-powered fire hoses against peaceful protesters.
It’s the home of 114-year-old Rickwood Field, the oldest professional baseball park in the United States, where the Black Barons played and where racism could be forgotten for at least nine innings.
Today, 76 years after Mays helped the Black Barons win the 1948 Negro League World Series at the age of 17, Major League Baseball plays its first game in Rickwood with the San Francisco Giants taking on the Cardinals from St. Louis at 7: 3 p.m. EDT Thursday (Fox).
“It’s such a blessing, I can’t believe it,” said the Rev. Bill Greason, 99, one of only two surviving Negro League players from 1920 to 1948 and recipient of the Medal. Congressional Gold, to USA TODAY Sports. “This is a place where I grew up and so much has happened here. Black people weren’t allowed to play anywhere here. Black people weren’t allowed to do a lot of things here. There was a rich side and a poor side. I was on the side of the poor.
“But here we are, all these years later, together, celebrating history.
“Thank God I was able to live this long to see it.”
Greason will be honored by throwing out the first pitch.
Mays, who spent three years playing at Rickwood, died Tuesday after battling health issues for more than a year. Still, the pageantry will be powerful with Willie Mays’ son Michael, along with his godson, home run champion Barry Bonds, Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter and David Ortiz and future Hall of Fame manager Dusty Baker fame.
The families and ancestors of those who played in the Negro Leagues from 1920 to 1948 will be in attendance – with 10 families representing the Negro Leagues Family Alliance – and a total of 59 former Negro League players will be honored.
“This is a landmark moment in Negro League history, and in many ways it’s larger than life,” said Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. “We will have a collective eye of the baseball world dedicated to saluting the Negro Leagues. And doing it at Rickwood Field, a place with such a rich history, a place where a young Willie Mays got his start with the Black Barons, what Henry Aaron did here, what Ernie Banks did, how they all validated the talent of the Negro. Leagues.
“When these players step onto the field, they will feel the spirits of these legendary stars come to life. That’s what made the Field of Dreams game so special in Iowa. But it was a movie with a game played on a movie set. It was a reel. This is real life.”
There will be tears shed in memory of Mays, tears of painful memories of segregation in this country, and tears of euphoria with the gathering of the Negro Leagues Family Alliance, many of whom will be meeting for the first time.
“I can’t wait to meet and talk to Bill Greason,” said Sean Gibson, the great-grandson of the legendary Josh Gibson, considered the greatest player in Negro Leagues history. “He is one of the few people alive who saw Josh Gibson play. I’m going to have some good stories about Josh. I don’t know any real players who played against Josh, and now I can think about his great-grandfather.
“For me, talking to a real person who saw my grandfather play is my highlight there.”
Gibson, co-founder of the Negro Leagues Family Alliance with the Buck Leonard family, plans to lobby MLB officials at their lunch Wednesday about an annual Negro Leagues Day on May 2, commemorating the start of the Negro Leagues in 1920. Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem and Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Players Association, are expected to speak out and provide a substantial grant to the alliance.
“It’s going to be like a mini family reunion,” Gibson said. “We celebrate this family reunion on June 16 and celebrate the Negro Leagues in Birmingham, among others.
“You can’t get more history than this.”
Oh, there will be a lot of stories spilling over at brunch, from Rickwood’s days in Pittsburgh to Kansas City to Detroit to Patterson, New Jersey.
Greason, who lived across the street from Dr. Martin Luther King in Atlanta, will be remembered during the civil rights movement, winning Game 7 against the Kansas City Monarchs and leading the Black Barons into the 1948 Negro League World Series, becoming the St . Louis. The Cardinals’ first black pitcher and serving two years in the Marines during World War II.
“It was bigger than baseball to be in a place called Iwo Jima and see the atomic bomb drop on Nagasaki,” said Greason, who still preaches every Sunday at Bethel Baptist Church. “Our lives were in danger and I came back without a scratch. I lost two of my best friends. And here I am, still breathing at 99 years old. I am grateful to be able to live this long.
“I had the chance to play with Willie Mays and see Roberto Clemente, two of the greatest players I have ever seen in my life.”
Ron Teasley, 97, grew up in Detroit, played in the Negro Leagues with the New York Cubans, was hired by the Brooklyn Dodgers to play in their farm system and met Jackie Robinson at their training headquarters in spring in Vero Beach. Florida.
“My dad would take me to see these great Negro League players because we weren’t allowed to see the Detroit Tigers,” said Teasley, the first in his family to attend college and earn a degree from Wayne State University. “You would hear about Oscar Charleston and Josh Gibson and how people were bragging about them. I had such great admiration for the Negro Leagues.
“What impressed me the most was the love these guys had for the game. My favorite was Buck Leonard. My dad’s favorite was Turkey Stearnes. My father idolized him. He came to my house one day and my dad was so thrilled that he was late for work, and he was never late for work.
Teasley’s father was worried when Teasley went to play baseball in the Deep South. Teasley had never been to the South, and upon his arrival his teammates warned him to be extremely careful.
“You were scared when you were stopped by the police, so the players told me what to do,” Teasley said. “They told me you were going to be arrested and you better say the right words.” You’d better say the word “Sir.” And they’ll always ask you where you’re from.
“When you got arrested, you told them what you were doing there, and they were still like, ‘Where’s Satchel Paige?’ » Where is Satchel? We’d say, “He’s waiting for us at the ballpark.” Everyone knew Satchel.
Teasley takes great pride in his impact as a teacher in the world of education, while also serving in the Navy during World War II and meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House. His biggest claim to fame as a baseball player, he says, was hitting a triple against Paige in an exhibition game at Dequindre Park in Detroit.
“I was a utility player and I guess I knew my place when I was supposed to start a game for the Cubans in the Negro League,” Teasley said. “Well, when Minnie Minoso came, he didn’t bring his uniform. So guess whose uniform they gave him?”
Teasley, who never played at Rickwood, still wonders how long the Negro Leagues would have thrived if the Dodgers hadn’t integrated baseball in 1947 with Jackie Robinson, and two months later when Cleveland signed the star Newark Larry Doby.
“We were pretty worried when he signed,” Teasley said, “because we knew that pretty much meant the end of the Negro Leagues. Fans stopped coming to our games. It was a happy time, but also sad.
The Negro Leagues have never been the same, but their memories will live on forever, passed down from generation to generation. The Giants-Cardinals game, with players wearing Negro League jerseys, culminates in a tribute to Rickwood and the Negro Leagues. This follows the formal incorporation of Negro Leagues statistics into MLB statistics with retirement benefits paid to all living players. They have hosted Play Ball clinics for local Boys & Girls Clubs and Nike RBI programs; a symposium with financial advice for Black-owned businesses; a minor league baseball game and a celebrity softball game filled with former stars.
Birmingham residents, who spent nearly $6 million renovating Rickwood Field, hope it becomes an annual event. Others hope that MLB will play this annual game at different Negro League stadiums, such as renovated Hinchliffe Stadium in Patterson, New Jersey, where Doby played, or Hamtramck Stadium in the Detroit area.
There is of course the eternal hope that the Rickwood game will generate interest that could lead to an increase in the number of black players in today’s game. It is appalling to think that there are as many former Negro League players from 1920-1948 alive (Greason and Teasley) as there are active black players who will be on the field (Masyn Winn of the Cardinals and Jordan Hicks of the Giants ).
Just 5.7% of all players on the opening day roster and injured list this year are black, the lowest percentage since 1955, according to USA TODAY Sports research.
“It’s a great platform, now we hope there will be a lot of changes after this,” said Gibson, who also advocates for the MVP award named in honor of his great-grandfather. “Great progress has been made.
“Now it’s time to see more.”
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