The San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals will meet in what seems tantamount to a temporary replacement for the Field of Dreams Game in 2024. The game will be played at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, MLB announced Tuesday.
Major League Baseball today announced that Rickwood Field, the oldest professional ballpark in the United States and former home of the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues, will be the site of a special Regular Season contest between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants on June 20, 2024. This experience, scheduled around Juneteenth next year, will include a variety of activities as a tribute to the Negro Leagues and its greatest living player – Hall of Famer, Giants Legend, Birmingham native and Birmingham Black Barons player Willie Mays.
MLB has not yet announced what it will call the game. This game will not be called the Field of Dreams Game and the hope is that MLB can return to Dyersville, Iowa for that game in the near future, reports Susan Slusser.
"We are proud to bring Major League Baseball to historic Rickwood Field in 2024," commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "This opportunity to pay tribute to the Negro Leagues as the Giants and Cardinals play a regular season game at this iconic location is a great honor. The legacy of the Negro Leagues and its greatest living player, Willie Mays, is one of excellence and perseverance. We look forward to sharing the stories of the Negro Leagues throughout this event next year."
Rickwood Field opened in 1910 and is the oldest professional ballpark in America. It was home of Mays' team from 1948-50. Mays joined the New York Giants in 1951.
"I can't believe it. I never thought I'd see in my lifetime a Major League Baseball game being played on the very field where I played baseball as a teenager," Mays said in the press release. "It has been 75 years since I played for the Birmingham Black Barons at Rickwood Field, and to learn that my Giants and the Cardinals will play a game there and honor the legacy of the Negro Leagues and all those who came before them is really emotional for me. We can't forget what got us here and that was the Negro Leagues for so many of us."
The Giants and Cardinals will both wear throwback jerseys highlighting the Negro Leagues history of both cities, per the press release.
"I would love (wearing throwbacks), that would be really cool," Giants first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. told the San Francisco Chronicle last week. "It'll definitely give you the full effect of the game. I hope it is us who wears the jerseys for sure. That would be something to remember forever."
The first two Field of Dreams Games were played in Dyersville, Iowa, on the same site the movie was filmed. That site is currently under construction and there is no game scheduled this year. Field of Dreams Games were played in 2021 (Chicago White Sox vs. New York Yankees) and 2022 (Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds).
Rickwood Field is one of the two Negro Leagues parks still standing, along with the recently renovated Hinchliffe Stadium in Patterson, N.J. It is currently home to the Miles College baseball team and has been featured in films like "42" and "Soul of the Game." That ballpark will get a nice makeover heading into the event, which also will feature minor-league teams.
MLB will collaborate with the Friends of Rickwood and City of Birmingham to renovate Rickwood Field for 2024, transforming the National Historic Site in order to host a Major League game. Additionally, Rickwood Field will host a Minor League contest between the Birmingham Barons and the Montgomery Biscuits on June 18, 2024. The Barons called Rickwood Field home during three different time periods (1910-1961, 1964-1965, 1981-1987). Each year, the Barons play one game at Rickwood Field in tribute to the organization's history there. Additional activities surrounding the games at Rickwood Field will be announced at a later date.
