Once a year this field in Birmingham
Alabama comes alive again as the
Birmingham Barons return home to play
the annual Rickwood Classic. This field seen
baseball legends such as Ty Cobb, Willie
Mays, and Babe Ruth. And it is not only
Alabama's oldest ball park. This is
America's oldest ballpark. So grab you
some peanuts and cracker jacks because
this is the Rickwood Classic.
What's it like playing here Rickwood field?
Well this is actually my second season being back
with the Barons and obviously since it's
the oldest ballpark in the in the
country in America anytime you have
something of that type of size you know
that legacy I guess is
just cool for everybody especially the
state, something to rally around because
it's unique to the state. It's unique to
the city.
It's a fun day for for the staff and the
players and everybody else. We're excited
So I heard talking to the guys out there
about your impression field. You
played here, right? Or no?
Oh yeah. I played here in '67 and '68. I was the
opening day pitcher in 67 here and this is
where i got hit in the face of the line
drive in about the third or fourth inning.
So, I guess not all your memories of the field are good...
No, well that one was... I wish I wasn't here
that day.
How would you sum up the park just overall?
Oh, it looks great! It looks ten
times better than it did when i played here.
You know, the grass is a lot nicer. I think the
field kind of sits a little bit higher
too. I remember it being a lot
flatter. I remember the the distance
between home plate the backstop was a
long way so if you threw a passed ball the catchers
were a little upset because they had to run all the
way back to get them, so...
But it's still the same ballpark.
Did you get any autographs?
Yes, m'am. We got 12.
You been counting them?
Yes, m'am. Is this ya'lls first Rickwood Classic?
Yes, m'am. Are you excited to be here?
Now, who are you cheering for? We're cheering for the Cubs.
Are they playing today? You don't know? I don't think
they're playing today. What about the
Birmingham Barons? You cheering for them?
Are you going to talk a little smack talk?
Maybe?
Tell me a little bit about the Friends of Rickwood and what what their
organization does. We're the nonprofit
agency that's responsible for the
restoration and revitalization of the
ballpark so we handled the management
the day-to-day operations the
fundraising the scheduling the marketing
of the sort of a all-encompassing
organization.
This is the 21st annual and so we're you
know we feel like this that the event is
sort of established itself as a
annual community event that everybody
looks forward to and we certainly do as well.
The crowd is outstanding.
The weather has been
cooperative. So yeah, that's all good.
You know, to come out here on a Wednesday
and you got a decent number of people
here... I don't know how else to say it besides
it's just, you just feel like you've taken a step
back in time, you know?
How long have you been working this? I've been... I've lost track... This is
either my 12th or 13th classic working
the scoreboard. Is your son doing a good
job up here? He is. He's my scout, my boss, my
look out. But no. He's having fun.
That's what it's all about, being up here.
For the numbers, when you're
sliding the score in, I was noticing that
there's some there's some longer numbers
and some shorter numbers.
Which one goes for which? OK, the shorter
numbers are for the visitor slots up top
and and the longer ones are for the home
slot, the Barona slot down below. Do you find
that a lot of people come up here and
try to watch the game with you?
Oh, absolutely! We welcome that.
Rickwood is a living museum and we want
people to experience baseball from all
angles of the game and so we encourage
visitors to come up and spend a little
time up here and take pictures, take
selfies, whatever whatever and just
experience the joy of watching the game
watching the game from a different
perspective.
How long have you been coming to the
Rickwood Classic? This is my third or fourth Rickwood Classic.
And do you always dress up? I always wear the House of David uniform.
House of David? House of David.
They were a barnstorming team...I just love them.
So do you wear this only for the Rickwood Classic?
I wear this every year for the Rickwood Classic
and in Montgomery on Sundays we have
catch on the field and I'll wear it to play
catch on the field. OK, did you bring your glove with
you? Absolutely!
OK. I brought my glove with me so I'm
looking for someone to throw with
so, if you don't mind I might throw with you for just like a little bit.
That would be awesome.
You played in a lot of ballparks. Is it kind
of lost on you when you walk into a park that you pitched in?
Or do you still remember? Oh, I remember.
I remember the park, remember the dugout. I remember
the clubhouse, remember the bleachers in
right field where I used to warm up down in
the right field line.
I remember all those things, cause you know I
spent two years here. So, I remember whole lot of it.
I had some good times here. '67, we had a
championship team here with Reggie
Jackson was here. Dave Duncan, Joe Rudi. Some guys that
I played with. I think Tony LaRussa may have spent a
little bit of time here also. We had
some good players. Obviously Birmingham is a
football town, but is it fair to
say it's a sneaky goo baseball town too?
Yeah, well minor leagues have been here
forever. I mean it's the oldest ballpark
in the country and I was lucky enough to
play here for two years and I enjoyed it.
It was a baseball town when I played here. It was fun.