‘Say Hey’ Day: MLB ’24 Game Will Honor Willie Mays, Negro Leagues, Juneteenth
Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 07:39PM By Barry Janoff
UPDATED August 3, 2023: MLB, the City of Birmingham, Friends of Rickwood Field and various special guests today unveiled "MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute To The Negro Leagues" as the official event name and logo for the June 20, 2024 regular season game in historic Rickwood Field.
The MLB game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals (Fox) also will honor Juneteenth and also Hall of Famer Willie Mays.
Rickwood Field, regarded as the oldest professional ballpark in the U.S. (1910), is the former home of the Negro Leagues Birmingham Black Barons, for whom Mays played in 1948 before joining the then New York Giants in 1951.
The venue has been part of several movies, including Cobb (1994 with Tommy Lee Jones as Ty Cobb), and two movies about Jackie Robinson: Soul of the Game (1996 with Blair Underwood as Robinson) and 42 (2013 with Chadwick Boseman as Robinson).
MLB said renovations to the ballpark would include larger dugouts, improved outfield walls, updated lighting, and new backstop netting and foul poles, scheduled to begin in October and completed prior to the game.
June 30, 2023: “If somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases and performed a miracle in the field every day, I’d still look you in the eye and say Willie was better.” — Manager Leo Durocher, Baseball Hall of Fame
MLB said today it plans to honor Hall of Famer Willie Mays with a game in 2024 between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants, to be played in iconic Rickwood Field, Birmingham, AL.
The game is scheduled for June 20, 2024, and will air on Fox.
Rickwood Field, regarded as the oldest professional ballpark in the U.S. (1910), is the former home of the Negro Leagues Birmingham Black Barons, for whom Mays played in 1948 before joining the then New York Giants in 1951, moving with the franchise to San Francisco for the 1958 season.
"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, who will be 93 when the game is played, said via MLB.
"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.”
The Giants and Cardinals, which will be the home team, will wear period uniforms that honor San Francisco's and St. Louis' Negro League histories.
According to Mays, “We can’t forget what got us here and that was the Negro Leagues for so many of us."
MLB 
will also honor Juneteenth 2024 at the game.
The year also honors the uniform number Mays — aka ‘The Say Hey Kid” — wore for most of his MLB career: No. 24, which was retired by both the Giants and New York Mets, for which he played his final two MLB seasons (1972-73).
"We are proud to bring Major League Baseball to historic Rickwood Field in 2024," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said via the league. “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, still in use — the Savannah Bananas will play there this Saturday (June 24) — currently seats 10,500. MLB, the Friends of Rickwood and the City of Birmingham will collaborate to renovate the field for 2024.
According to the venue’s Web site, “Fueled by fervent publicity, the entire city of Birmingham was closed for business in honor of the park’s opening day, August 18, 1910.”
By comparison, Fenway Park opened in 1912, Wrigley Field in 1914,
All ticket sales will be handled by MLB and Rickwood Field will not have access to tickets, according to the venue’s Web site.
The Birmingham Black Barons played in Rickwood Field from 1910-61, 1964-65 and 1981-87.
The current MiLB Double-A Barons, an affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, played in Rickwood Field from 1988-2013 before moving to Regions Field. They still play one game at Rickwood Field every year — the Rickwood Classic, which began in 1996 — to pay tribute to their history at the ballpark.
Two days before San Francisco and St. Louis play there, Rickwood Field will host a MiLB game between the Barons and Montgomery Biscuits (June 18, 2024).
"Preserving the legacy of the Negro Leagues is vital to growing baseball’s diversity and popularity," Tony Clark MLB Players Assn. executive director, said via the organization
“Willie Mays, like so many other Negro Leaguers, broke down barriers and paved the way for those of us who dreamt of playing baseball at the highest level. This event helps to link the past, present and future and helps further the cause of attracting a new generation of players to our game."
Among the other baseball stars who have played in Rickwood Field, according to MLB, are Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Cool Papa Bell, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Oscar Charleston, Roberto Clemente, Joe DiMaggio, Larry Doby, Rube Foster, Lou Gehrig, Josh Gibson, Monte Irvin, Reggie Jackson, Buck Leonard, Biz Mackey, Mickey Mantle, Connie Morgan, Musial, Satchel Paige, Frank Robinson, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Duke Snider, Toni Stone, Cristobal Torriente, Honus Wagner and Willie Wells.
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