MLB, THE NEGRO LEAGUES & WILLIE MAYS
A game, a screening and more in Birmingham, Alabama this week
On June 20, the Giants and Cardinals will square off for the first regular-season AL/NL game ever played at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, the site where the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues played for nearly four decades and where more than 180 future Hall of Famers showcased their skills. The game will be broadcast nationally on Fox.
In connection with the event, I’ll be screening my documentary, ‘Say Hey, Willie Mays,’ in Birmingham on Monday night. A couple of years ago we shot some wonderful sequences for the documentary at Rickwood, which absolutely one of my favorite days as filmmaker. The keepers of Rickwood did a fantastic job maintaining the historic field and, I’m sure, with major leagues coming in they’ve done some significant upgrades.
Teenager Willie Mays played center field for the Black Barons in 1948, the year his squad lost in the Negro Leagues world series to the Homestead Grays. Subsequently Willie signed with a New York Giants farm club and made his major league debut in 1951. He’s from the Birmingham area, so the events being held in this week are of celebration of the Hall of Famer, the Negro Leagues and Juneteenth. Sixty living Negro League players are confirmed to attend, though the ninety-three years Mays won’t make the cross country trip.
If you want a preview of Rickwood Field before the game this week, here’s a link to ‘Say Hey, Willie Mays’ on Max: https://play.max.com/movie/96487370-fd0f-41eb-b635-fab751973027
Below are photos I took on our shoot day in Birmingham.
THIS IS A LOOK AT RICKWOOD FIELD FROM ABOVE THE GRANDSTAND
SIGNAGE THAT COMMEMORATES THE LEGACY OF THE BLACK BARONS
A POSTER FOR THE 1948 NEGRO LEAGUES WORLD SERIES FEATURING THE TEAM’S MANAGER AND SECOND BASEMAN ‘PIPER’ DAVIS
THIS STATUE OF YOUNG WILLIE MAYS IS IN BIRMINGHAM
THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN FROM THE PITCHERS MOUND IN RICKWOOD