America’s Baseball History lesson
On June 20, 2024, Major League Baseball broadcast a live baseball game between my St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants to honor the players of the Negro Baseball League.
The venue was in Birmingham, Alabama’s Rickwood Field, the oldest professional baseball stadium in America, standing since 1910, and notably, the former home of the Negro American League’s Birmingham Black Barons.
The recent death of Willie Mays on June 18, 2024, began his career in the Negro League, playing for the Birmingham Black Barons from 1948–1950, and spent the rest of his career in the National League (NL), playing for the New York / San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.
On May 19, 1952, one year into his Major League career, after winning the National League Rookie of the Year in 1951, he joined the US Army, serving from 1952 to 1954.
Willie Mays nicknamed the “Say hey Kid,” is considered one of the greatest baseball players ever to play, known for the “Catch,” his recent death highlighted the game’s significance of the Negro Leagues and its baseball records.
On May 29, 2024, Major League Baseball incorporated the statistics from more than 2,300 Negro League players who played between 1920–1948 to be incorporated into the official Major League statistical records.
