This book which I knew nothing about until I discovered it at the Hoover B & N is enchanting. All Birmingham people are enchanted with Rickwood Field. The complete story is here. Barra is a long-time sportswriter who grew up in Mountain Brook. He knows the history of Birmingham as well as the history of Rickwood Field.
The idea for Rickwood began with the construction of Shibe Park in Philadelphia in 1909, the first modern concrete and steel baseball park in the country, the inspiration for Rickwood Field, the second concrete and steel baseball field built in 1910. Shibe was the inspiration for Rickwood for the stadium's builder.
Shibe was built by Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy Sr. better known as Connie Mack, owner and manager of the Philadelphia Athletics for decades.
Allen Harvey Woodward, known to his friends as "Rick," had taken the train from Birmingham to Philadelphia to witness the christening of the new marvel, the first concrete-and-steel sports structure in America. Woodward told Mack about his plans to build a similar baseball park in Alsbama. Mack was supportive and the two hit it off. Mack came to BHAM and advised Woodward on the design of Rickwood. He suggested the trajectory of the right field line, the deep fences especially the deep centerfield fence and the deep backstop space. I am not sure about the right field porch
Rick Woodward wanted to be a baseball man like Connie Mack.
In the 1880's mine owners were called "Coal Barons," which might also apply to Steel Barons. This is where the name "Barons" came from
Rickwood Field outlasted Shine Park, which was razed in 1970. It still stands today. All of the great baseball players played at Rickwood mostly coming thru BHAM from spring training head north to start a new MLB season. They list is amazing: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Dizzie Dean, Roberto Clemente, Rogers Hornsby, Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, "Cool Papa" Bell, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson, and Frank Thomas, just to name a few.
Rickwood survived the Great Depression, the decline of the industrial age, segregation, economic ups and downs, Bull Connor, and the decline of segregation.
Atlanta was incorporated in 1847, BHAM in 1871. The two cities were rivals from the beginning. P. 7
Native son journalist Paul Hemphill claimed that Birmingham was not a Southern city by his criteria in that BHAM is not part of the agrarian South like Mobile, Atlanta, and Memphis. Birmingham is Southern only by geography. I do not accept this. In his time MLK, Jr. called BHAM the most segregated city in the country. A city with Bull Connor, police dogs attaching innocent children, an infamous church bombing. If this isn't Southern, then what is?
Historians may argue about the true origin of baseball, but there is no doubt it started in the South with the Civil War. P. 11
In 1870 Mobile had over 49,000 people and Montgomery nearly 43,000, but there were only about 12,000 in all of Jefferson County. Birmingham was like a Wild West mining town like Tombstone, Arizona, or Deadwood in in the Dakota Territory. Local lawmen and Pinkerton Detectives hunted notorious outlaws like Rube Burrow.
Rube Burrow and his brother Jim were the most famous local and bank robbers this period, the Frank and Jesse James of Alabama. Rube and Jim wee pursued by Pinkerton through Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi and even through Birmingham up to Blount County. Rube was finally killed a shootout in Linden, Alabama in 1890. On the way to burial, his body was shipped through Birmingham, where it was phographed in a coffin Old West style with his Winchester and Colt revolvers.
Birmingham was incorporated June 1, 1871. P.14
The city was named after the British city of Birmingham and nicknamed The Magic City.
The Spanish-mission style entrance was added in 1928. P. 72
The Golden Age of Birmingham baseball was the second half of the 1920’s. Steel was king, industry boomed, and unemployment was rare. These were the most prosperous years in Birmingham’s history. But devastation would come that no one could have anticipated. Blacks and whites were separate though not equal.But most whites and blacks were better off than their parents. Baseball was Birmingham’s game, this before college football took off. P. 73
Eugene “Bull” Connor was the Baron baseball announcer. P. 74
The manual drop-in scoreboard may be Rickwood’s most enduring symbol. P. 77
Homewood’s first name was Hollywood. The Spanish architecture which was popular in the 20’a is still in evidence in Homewood today.
Satchel Paige and the Barons. P. 79-88
The author concludes with some remembrances of Rickwood from prominent people. One of them is Don Keith who was a part-time stadium announcer at Rickwood. There is Paul Hemphill, the prominent late Birmingham-born journalist, who is mentioned a number of times in this book.
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