Hoover Metropolitan Stadium (or the Hoover Met, formerly Regions Park) is a multi-purpose stadium located in Hoover.It was the home of the Birmingham Barons of the Southern League from 1988 to 2012.The stadium was designed by Kansas City, Missouri-based HOK Sport. You looked good and the people were out there to see you, and that's what made you want to play. Pennants on the the exterior of the stadium along the third base side commemorate the titles won by the Barons and Negro League Birmingham Black Barons while playing at Rickwood Field. Four of the Birmingham players from those years, Mays, Wilson, Jehosia Heard, and Bill Greason played in the majors following integration. In 1986, the Barons became the Chicago White Sox AA club, an affiliation that continues today. Home games, however, only represented half of the Black Barons' busy schedule. Right center: 392 feet (119 m) In 1921 the outfield fence was damaged in a tornado and quickly rebuilt. In 1949 ownership changed hands again, going to a partnership of Al DeMent, Al Belcher, and Rufus Lackey. Not only heroes on the diamond, these men were also an important part of the community that supported them, as they served as role models of success and professionalism. Built-in 1910, Rickwood Field stands today as the nation's oldest baseball park. In 1987 the Barons moved to a new facility, Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, in the suburb of Hoover. In 1901 they joined the Southern Association. In 1981 Art Clarkson brought minor league baseball back to Rickwood with the Detroit Tigers AA club, which resumed the Barons name. A tile-roofed cupola on the roof behind home plate provided space for the announcer and the press. The gazebo press box atop the roof is the exact replica of the original 1910 structure. The Official Site of the Birmingham Barons. It was built for the Birmingham Barons in 1910 by industrialist and team-owner Rick Woodward and has served as the home park for the Birmingham Barons and the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro leagues. Winning three pennants in 1940, 1945, and 1948, and producing another future star, Willie Mays, the Black Barons enjoyed success in a time when other Negro League franchises were folding. Those involved – the Barons franchise, Friends of Rickwood, and fans – fully believe that this experience in the sacred baseball cathedral is among the most underrated baseball events. They returned to Birmingham in 2013 with the opening of Regions Field, just south of downtown Birmingham. They alternated home stands with the Birmingham Barons in Birmingham's Rickwood Field, usually drawing larger crowds and equal press. The Black Barons were heroes both to their fans and to their profession, and if they represent some of the worst aspects of baseball, they also represent some of the best. He settled on Shibe Park in Philadelphia (which was controlled by Mack's team and later renamed Connie Mack Stadium) and Forbes Field in Pittsburgh as the models for the new park. The 8,500-seat stadium was built in just over a year, in time for opening day in 2013. From 1920 to 1951, the Negro Leagues provided opportunities for black and latino baseball players to play professionally, an opportunity denied them by Major League Baseball's segregationist policies until 1947, the year Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby took the field for the Dodgers and Indians, respectively. Throughout the first half of the 20th century Rickwood Field hosted sellout crowds for both the Barons and the Black Barons, who played on alternate weekends. Those productions contributed to the recreation of the scoreboard and press-box and the addition of 1940s period style advertisements on the outfield fence. They went on to play for several seasons through 1987. RF 332. In 1938, Woodward sold the park to Ed Norton, a local businessman. The first Black Barons team emerged in the years following World War I, and may have been an ACIPCO team that defected to create the professional franchise. The day was celebrated by businesses closing all over town to allow fans to fill the park for the first pitch at 3:30 P.M. Over 10,000 people attended that first game in which the Barons defeated the visiting Montgomery Climbers 3-2. 1948 Birmingham Black Barons 51 - 27 - 1 46 - 21 - 1 in the Negro American League ... • Home Ballpark: Rickwood Field (Birmingham, AL) • 1 member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. ", This page was last edited on 30 March 2021, at 22:19. The new Barons identity reflects the traditional baseball values of Birmingham’s rich history with the sport, including design cues from the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues. It was the first concrete-and-steel stadium in the minors. The Barons also play one regular season game a year at Rickwood Field. At Chicago's Comiskey Park, the annual Negro League East-West All-Star game saw 12 different Black Barons between 1940 and 1950. Ballpark enthusiasts from across North America migrate to Rickwood to attend this AA regulation game, named the "Rickwood Classic", every season. Rickwood Field Entrance The Black Barons played at Birmingham's historic Rickwood Field, the oldest ballpark in use today. The original concrete outfield wall that was erected in 1928 still looms behind the current wooden fence and is 470 feet from home plate. It was home to many teams, including Minor League Baseball, the legendary Negro League Birmingham Black Barons, as well as the powerful industrial leagues that flourished in the 20s, 30s and 40s. U.S. National Register of Historic Places, Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, "Rickwood Field, nation's oldest ballpark, still making memories", https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:125622, Rickwood Field (Friends of Rickwood) website, Rickwood Field at Baseball Pilgrimages.com, Rickwood Field, 1137 Second Avenue West, Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rickwood_Field&oldid=1015154300, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Wainwright, Paige. In 1964 General Manager Glynn West purchased 1000 wooden seats from New York City's Polo Grounds and installed them at the park. City of Birmingham owns Rickwood Field. The turning point came in 1910, when the heir to a pig iron fortune decided to indulge his passion for baseball. When manager Piper Davis penciled in his name on his lineup card as the left fielder and seventh-place batter for the Black Barons, the future superstar was a seventeen-year old high school student. Rickwood Field – Birmingham, Alabama. The 1948 Birmingham Black Barons are considered by many to be the best Black Barons team of all time and one of the greatest Negro League team's in history. They moved there in 1987 from historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham's West End community. In 1901 they joined the Southern Association. The $75,000 structure was designed by Southeastern Engineering Company of Birmingham (a short-lived subsidiary of Pittsburgh's General Fireproofing Company) and completed during the summer of 1910. Sadly for Birmingham, the two would eventually go on to build Hall of Fame careers elsewhere, while the Black Barons ultimately struggled to fill their void. A new concrete outfield wall replaced the original fence. In 1931 in the first game of the Dixie Series championship, Birmingham's 43-year-old Ray Caldwell outpitched 22-year-old Dizzy Dean, who had guaranteed a win. The team, which plays in the Double-A South, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham.

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