The 2024 Field Of Dreams Game Will Be Played At Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Where The Negro Leagues Legend Of Willie Mays Began

By Fredo Cervantes

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Major League Baseball will honor the Negro Leagues in grand fashion next season.

 

The 2024 Field of Dreams Game will be played at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants, according to a report.

 

In case you didn’t know, Rickwood Field opened in 1910 and is the oldest professional ballpark in America.

This was the home of the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues which was the team that Willie Mays played for between 1948- 50. Mays went on to play for the New York Giants in 1951 as they later moved to San Francisco in 1958.

 

 

The MLBbro Legend That Is Willie Mays Began At Rickwood Field 

 

The past two Field of Dreams games have been played in the famous site of the actual movie in Dyersville, Iowa. MLB will not have an annual game this year as the field is currently under construction. The New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox had the inaugural Field of Dreams Game in 2021.

 

It ended with a walkoff home run by the White Sox star MLBbro Tim Anderson. It was a magical moment.

Since then, these games have been a great event for baseball, as the sport continues to try and engage the younger generation. As great a moment as those games were, the connection between the cornfields and the urban demographic MLB is trying to attract wasn’t a perfect fit. 

 

 

Negro League History Inspires Younger Generation Of Blacks 

 

This new twist by MLB is fitting because Rickwood Field has a great history of its own. It has carried some of the greatest baseball players like Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb and “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks.

 

It’s amazing that Major League Baseball is going back to the Negro Leagues roots by playing a game at Rickwood Field. This is a game that will bring a lot of memories to the fans of baseball.

 

 Mays just turned 92 and it would be a tremendous way for the Giants to honor him by participating in this game next season. The “Say Hey Kid” was only 16 years old junior in high school when he was part of the Black Barons team that won the Negro American League pennant in 1948. 

 

 

There have been multiple baseball movies that have been filmed at Rickwood like Soul of the Game, Cobb and 42, which was based on Jackie Robinson and was filmed in 2013. When you see the movie 42, you can really see how the field has been kept in great condition over the years.

 

The Cardinals are hosting the Giants currently in the middle of a three-game series, which is a reason the story is broke now. This will give goosebumps to lots of the players who may have been part of the game of baseball. 

 

Former MLB Star Harold Reynolds Wanted “Field of Dreams” Game Played At Historic Negro League Stadium

 

Last season, MLBbro.com reported on MLB analyst and former All-Star Harold Reynolds, who is pushing for a “Field of Dreams”-style game at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey. Hinchliffe is one of the last-standing Negro League ballparks. The 10,000-seat stadium is undergoing a $94 million renovation project. That might be a future location for the increasingly popular “Field Of Dreams” festivities.

 

 

The World now awaits for the 2024 Field of Dreams Game next season with the return to baseball’s Negro Leagues roots.