Rickwood Field

Rickwood Field was built in 1910 by industrialist Rick Woodward, who wanted a first-class park for his Birmingham Barons and modeled it on the best ballparks of the day. That early construction, and the care taken to preserve it, is why Rickwood outlasted nearly every other park of its era to become the oldest professional ballpark still standing in the country.

The Barons played here for generations, and the park saw the passage of the entire modern history of the game. Its steel-and-concrete grandstand, its outfield walls, and its hand-turned scoreboard survive as a rare, tangible link to the way baseball looked and felt more than a century ago.

Rickwood is not only the home of the white Barons. During the long era of segregation, it was also the home field of the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues, one of the great teams of Black baseball. On its diamond played legends of the segregated game, and a teenage Willie Mays got his start here with the Black Barons before going on to a Hall of Fame career.

This dual history gives Rickwood a special place in the American story. In recent years Major League Baseball has honored that legacy, staging a tribute game at the ballpark to celebrate the Negro Leagues and the players, like Mays, who passed through Birmingham. The park stands as a monument to both the achievements and the injustices of that era of the game.

When the Barons finally moved to a modern stadium, Rickwood might have been lost, but a preservation effort kept it standing and restored its period character. The grandstand, dugouts, outfield signage, and scoreboard were maintained and returned to their historic look, so that visitors step into a park that feels frozen in an earlier time.

That authentic vintage feel has made Rickwood a favorite of filmmakers, standing in for old ballparks in movies such as the 1994 Ty Cobb biopic. It now hosts an annual classic game and other events that bring the old field back to life, letting fans experience baseball as it once was played.

For baseball fans, a visit to Rickwood is a pilgrimage, a chance to stand where more than a century of the game unfolded and where its segregated chapters played out. Tours and events let visitors walk the concourse, sit in the old grandstand, and take in the field.

The park's location in Birmingham ties it to the broader history of the city, from its industrial roots to its central role in the civil rights movement. A stop at Rickwood pairs naturally with the city's other landmarks for anyone tracing the intertwined stories of sport, race, and place in Alabama.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.