Sox Pop on the Farm Podcast 59 — Birmingham Barons at Rickwood Field!
Brett Ballantini and team president Jonathan Nelson talk about the Black Barons, and celebrating the Negro Leagues and Birmingham baseball
It’s a special edition of Sox Pop on the Farm! This one is devoted to the special Negro Leagues tribute game on Tuesday, with the Birmingham Barons hosting the Montgomery Biscuits at 6 p.m. CT on the MLB Network. The Negro League Birmingham Black Barons will be honored by our Double-A club, and more broadly the game will be played in tribute to Black Barons alum Willie Mays (who will be unable to attend). Barons president and GM Jonathan Nelson sat down with Brett Ballantini for a program devoted to the broad Birmingham baseball heritage and the specific mark the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons have made on baseball history:
- The renovated, gorgeous Rickwood Field, which opened just a month after the Comiskey Park did, in 1910 — and the similarities that Regions Field incorporated from Rickwood
- The Barons have paid tribute to the Negro Leagues and Birmingham’s baseball heritage since 1996, with Turn Back the Clock Days. What does it still mean to Jonathan for his team to play at Rickwood and honor the Negro Leagues?
- The biggest challenge of not just moving to Rickwood for a game, but this time in coordinating with Major League Baseball for a “Rickwood Week” (Barons-Biscuits on June 18, Cardinals-Giants on June 20)
- Did you know: Hall-of-Famers Satchel Paige and Willie Mays both began their organized baseball careers in Birmingham with the Black Barons?
- Other Negro League greats came through Birmingham, including Mule Suttles and Willie Wells — and Country Music Hall-of-Famer Charley Pride, as well
- Does Brett get in trouble for wearing his Chicago American Giants jersey, when that club upset one of the greatest Negro League teams ever, the 1948 Black Barons, in the World Series?
- The underplayed, but extremely rich, baseball heritage of Birmingham
- Worth reminding once more: The Barons play at Rickwood Field ON MLB NETWORK at 6 p.m CT on Tuesday, June 18!
Follow Jonathan Nelson on Twitter @JonathanN_Bham, the Barons @BhamBarons, and find tickets to an upcoming Barons game by clicking this link.
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