Minor League Baseball is coming back to Rickwood Field this year.
The oldest professional ballpark in the United States is set to host a Southern League matchup between the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Double-A MIA) and the hometown Birmingham Barons (Double-A CWS), the Blue Wahoos announced on Monday.
In a tribute to Rickwood Field's place in Black baseball history, Pensacola will wear the jerseys of the Pensacola Seagulls -- a feeder team to the Negro Southern League during segregation -- against the Barons in a matinee at the historic stadium on Wednesday, May 27.
Opened in 1910 for the Birmingham Barons, Rickwood Field also became the home of the Birmingham Black Barons and in that role hosted Hall of Famers such as Willie Mays, Satchel Paige, Willie Wells and Mule Suttles.
“We couldn’t be more excited to join the Barons at Rickwood Field in 2026,” Blue Wahoos president Jonathan Griffith said in a press release.
“The Blue Wahoos have always celebrated our community’s rich baseball history. From Minor League teams of the past ... to the proud tradition of military baseball, to the enduring legacy of the Pensacola Seagulls, we are indebted to those who have come before us. Connecting this past to the future stars of tomorrow at The Rickwood Game will be an unforgettable experience.”
The modern-day Double-A Barons, whose stadium of Regions Field is about three miles from Rickwood Field, played one game -- the Rickwood Classic -- at Rickwood Field each Minor League season from 1996-2016 and 2018-19. This will be the first Rickwood appearance for the Pensacola franchise.
The ballpark underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation leading to the MLB and MiLB at Rickwood Field games in 2024, and in 2025 the venue hosted a game between the Rocket City Trash Pandas (Double-A LAA) and the Barons, as well as Major League Baseball's East-West Classic.
Rickwood Field is also a familiar sight to many who've never seen a game broadcast from there, as it's vintage baseball atmosphere has been used in the shooting of several major motion pictures, including 42, the 2013 biopic about Jackie Robinson.
But perhaps no player or piece of American culture is more closely associated with Rickwood Field than Mays. "The Say Hey Kid" grew up in the immediate area and made his professional debut at age 17 with the Major League-level Black Barons of the Negro American League in 1948. That year, he helped Birmingham advance to the final Negro Leagues World Series, where the Black Barons were bested by Buck Leonard's Homestead Grays.
Mays continued to play with the Black Barons at Rickwood Field until his contract was purchased by the New York Giants in the summer of 1950.