BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Major League Baseball returned to Rickwood Field 364 days ago, when the Giants and Cardinals took the field at America’s oldest ballpark. Recent stars of the big leagues were back on Thursday to play in the second East-West Classic of the 21st century.
And if CC Sabathia has his way, it won’t be the last game in this tribute to the Negro Leagues.
“It’s incredible to be able to show up here,” Sabathia said before the game. “Just with all the history that this community has with baseball, to be able to show up and bring some big league players [and continue the tradition].
“Last year was such a great event that we didn’t want it to be a one-off. Definitely don’t want this to be the last time we come. So I think trying to do this on Juneteenth annually down here is something that we can probably pull off.”
The Negro Leagues’ East-West All-Star Game was first played in 1933 at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, which hosted 28 of the 36 contests. The tribute version was launched last year at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y. This year’s festivities were delayed three hours by rain, but when the skies cleared, the enthusiasm -- from both the players and the fans -- was still there.
Prince Fielder won the pregame home run derby with an impressive display, crushing several onto the right-field roof -- or over it. The six contestants (Fielder, Lewis Brinson, Jerry Hairston Jr., Ryan Howard, Andruw Jones and Nick Swisher) each had 10 swings -- not outs -- to hit balls over Rickwood’s wall painted with vintage advertising signs.
Fielder homered on six of his 10 swings and faced Jones, who hit four, in the final. Each slugger bashed three dingers on their 10 swings, so it went to a three-swing overtime. Jones went 0-for-3, and Fielder won it on his first swing.
Asked whether he was aiming for the roof, Fielder explained his approach.
“I was aiming for right field because I don't have no more of that,” he said, pointing toward left-center, the opposite field for his left-handed swing. “That’s gone.”
Comedian Roy Wood Jr., the day’s emcee for the derby and game and a Birmingham native who played at Rickwood in high school, offered some analysis.
“I don’t think anybody’s put that many on the roof here before,” he leaned in to say. “That was incredible.”
When the game started, Sabathia was on the mound for the West, adding one more Hall of Famer to the list of legends who have played on these grounds.
According to the Friends of Rickwood Field, 182 inductees have appeared at the ballpark, when you include managers, umpires and other non-playing personnel. That list includes every member of the first Hall of Fame class of 1936, as well as Negro Leagues stars who eventually reached the AL and NL (Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby) and some who didn’t (Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston, Rube Foster).
After the first inning, Sabathia – who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 27 -- was presented with a seat that had originally been at New York’s Polo Grounds, then relocated to Rickwood. Accepting the gift at home plate, he told the crowd that it didn’t hit him until he was done that he pitched from the same mound as Paige.
The West squad won the game, 3-0, scoring all the runs in the first inning.
B.J. Upton, Fielder and Lewis Brinson singled consecutively, with Upton scoring on Brinson’s knock. Fielder came home on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Jason Kendall, and Brinson trotted home on a bases-loaded walk by Mike Cameron. For starting the rally and making several plays at second base, Upton was named the game’s MVP.
In an on-field interview with Wood after the game, Upton told the crowd what it meant to play at such a historic site and in front of several former Negro Leaguers in the crowd.
“Those guys paved the way for us,” Upton said. “We couldn’t have done the things we did throughout the game without them paving the way for us. … To be able to step on this field with a bunch of legendary players and where they’ve been, it’s been an honor.”
Many of the players who suited up talked about the camaraderie among them and how this game feels like a family reunion. For two of them, it literally is: Brothers Scott Hairston and Jerry Hairston Jr. played against each other, with their father, Jerry Sr., managing Jerry Jr. and the East contingent.
The family history began decades ago. Jerry Sr. was born in Birmingham, and his father, Sam, played in the Negro Leagues.
“It’s amazing,” Scott Hairston said. “My grandfather played here, my uncles played here, my dad, and now me and my brother get to share the day and my dad’s a coach. It’s great that Major League Baseball brings us out here and we celebrate the Negro Leagues, celebrate the history of Birmingham and Barons baseball. It was just a great day. Hopefully, it happens every year.”
It’s events like this that last year’s MLB at Rickwood game was meant to inspire. That game required some upgrades to the now 115-year-old ballpark, including new dugouts and an MLB-quality playing surface that showed no signs of being slick after the three-hour delay to Thursday’s events.
“This is a promise kept by the Commissioner and his staff,” said Gerald Watkins, executive director of the Friends of Rickwood Field. “We’ve been talking about this for a few months, but when they left last year, one of the parting [comments] that he gave me was, ‘We will come back,’ and so I’m very thankful that they liked Birmingham. They were happy with what happened last year, and they came back with this event. And I’m asking them to consider making it an annual thing here at Rickwood Field -- but it won’t rain like this every year.”
“Our tourism numbers have increased 400%, just pure tourists,” Watkins said. “We book the ballpark for travel ball, college ball, special events. I don't have a date available until November, and I'm already booking events in ’26.”
It sure sounds like the players and local organizers are in for a reprise in 2026. What about the fans of baseball in Birmingham?
“To see baseball at a professional level be shown here is important to the city,” Wood said. “This field being here, and the players that played on it today, they represent to all the kids who are here watching of what’s possible if they just focus on it. If you see anything that resembles who you are and what you are on the field, you can achieve it …
“And having it in a field that’s so historic and meaningful to the Negro Leagues, I just think is an outstanding reason to bring it here for Juneteenth. When you consider what Juneteenth means about equality and desegregation and just honoring and celebrating the Black experience and Black stories, I think it's beautiful if this becomes a regular thing here.”