Rickwood festivities celebrate Negro League greats Willie Mays

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – As Ajay Stone strolled through historic Rickwood Field and looked at the tributes on display honoring Willie Mays and other Negro Leaguers, he held a cherished memory under his arm.

It was a 2004 photo of Mays holding Stone’s then 10-month-old daughter, Haley, who was wearing San Francisco Giants gear. In Mays’ hand was a piece of chocolate chip cookie that he wanted Haley to eat.

“Willie gave her that cookie,” Stone recalled. “She had no teeth. But we took the cookie and kept it in her stroller for a year and a half. The great Willie Mays gave it to her, so it was special to us.”

Stone and his wife, Christina, traveled from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday for a moment they felt was just as special.

It was hours before Rickwood Field hosted its first Major League Baseball game, between the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. The game, which MLB called “A Tribute to the Negro Leagues,” was intended to honor the legacy of Mays and other black baseball greats who left a lasting mark on the sport.

MLB planned a week of activities around Mays and the Negro Leagues, including an unveiling ceremony Wednesday of a Willie Mays mural in downtown Birmingham. That tribute took on a more meaningful meaning Tuesday afternoon when Mays died at the age of 93. As news of his death spread through Birmingham, celebrations of his life increased.

You could hear the celebration at Rickwood Field Thursday before you arrived: the rapid thump of a drum echoing from the ballpark, excited murmurs of fans skipping to the music and frequent bursts of laughter.

Inside there were reminders of history everywhere.

There were photos and artifacts of baseball Hall of Famers who played at the 114-year-old ballpark, including Jackie Robinson, Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige. The original clubhouse of the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues, where Mays got his professional start in 1948, was open. A memorial to Mays stood out front, with bobbleheads, a signed glove and his Black Barons and San Francisco Giants jerseys on display.

Outside, fans lined up to hold a baseball bat Mays used in 1959. They took photos while sitting in an original 1947 bus typically used during barnstorming tours by Negro Leagues teams. They danced to live music and ate food from concession stands with menu boards designed to reflect the look and feel of the 1940s.

Eddie Torres and his son Junior wore matching Giants jerseys as they took photos at the ballpark. They are lifelong Giants fans who came from California for the game.

“I never even saw Willie Mays play, but as a Giants fan you knew what he meant to baseball,” Torres said. “My son, he’s only 11. Willie Mays had such an influence on the game that even he knew who Willie Mays was.”

Musical artist Jon Batiste strummed a guitar as he danced on a wooden stage near home plate just before the first pitch. Fans stood as former Negro Leaguers were helped onto the field for a pregame ceremony.

Screams of “Willie! Willie!” broke out after a short silence.

For Michael Jackson, sitting in the stands at Rickwood Field reminded him of the past.

Jackson, 71, played baseball in the 1970s and 1980s with the East Thomas Eagles of the Birmingham Industrial League, a semi-professional league made up of iron and steel workers that was an integral form of entertainment in Birmingham. the 20th century.

Jackson’s baseball journey took him to Rickwood Field many times. After all these years he was just glad it was still standing.

“It’s nice to see them redoing this all,” he said, “instead of tearing it down.” We played in the same stadium they named after Willie Mays, in Fairfield, Alabama. baseball field. It’s all very exciting.”