Rickwood Field: A Century in America's Oldest Ballpark - Hardcover

by Allen Barra (Author)

Allen Barra has journeyed to his native Alabama to capture the glories of a century of baseball lore. In chronicling Rickwood Field's history, he also tells of segregated baseball and the legendary Negro Leagues while summoning the ghosts of the players themselves --Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Ted Willians, and Willie Mays -- who still haunt baseball's oldest Cathedral. But Rickwood Field, a place where the Ku Klux Klan once held rallies, has now become a symbol of hope and triumph, a stadium that reflects the evolution of a city where baseball was, for decades, virtually the sole connecting point between blacks and whites.

While other fabled stadiums have yielded to the wrecker's ball, baseball's Garden of Eden seems increasingly invulnerable to the ravages of time. Indeed, the manually operated scoreboard still uses numbers painted on metal sheets, and on the right field wall, the Burma Shave sign hangs just as it did when the legendary Black Barons called the stadium their own. Not surprisingly, there is no slick or artificial turf here, only grass - and it's been trodden by the cleats of greats from Shoeless Joe Jackson to Reggie Jackson. Drawing on extensive interviews, best-selling author Barra evokes a southern city once rife with racial tension where a tattered ballpark was, and resplendently still is, a rare beacon of hope. Both a relic of America's past and a guidepost for baseball's future, Rickwood Field follows the evolution of a nation and its pastime through our country's oldest active ballpark.

Back Jacket

Rickwood Field's Hall of Fame Lineup:
Babe Ruth, John McGraw, Rogers Hornsby, Lou Gehrig, Lefty Grove, Dizzy Dean, Joe DiMaggio, Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, Carl Yastremski, Ernie Banks, Harmon Killebrew, "Cool Papa" Bell, Josh Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner, and Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Best-selling sports historian Allan Barra takes us on an unforgettable journey to Birmingham, Alabama, where America's oldest ballpark, would look--were it not for the new paint job--almost identical to when the gates first opened almost a century ago. Evoking such classics as Shoeless Joe and The Boys of Summer, Rickwood Field recalls a simpler, bygone era when a weathered ballpark was, and still is, a rare beacon of hope.