Major League Baseball is coming to America's oldest ballpark — here's why it matters

This week, in Birmingham, Ala., baseball fans will gather for a game like no other. The San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals will play at Rickwood Field, the oldest professional baseball park in the United States.

But that's not all that makes Rickwood special. It is also the historic home of the Birmingham Black Barons, which played in the Negro Leagues between the 1920s and the 1960s — and that included baseball legend Willie Mays.

The game will be a significant moment in baseball history, as it will be the first regular-season Major League Baseball (MLB) game to be played there. The game will honour the Negro Leagues, which were made up of Black players who were excluded from the majors. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke MLB's colour barrier when he debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

It will be held on June 20, a day after Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

"I think it's going to be a monumental occasion on Thursday," said Gerald Watkins, chair and executive director of Friends of Rickwood, a non-profit dedicated to preserving the park.

"This is a way to share a great story, bring attention to MLB that hasn't been brought before, and educate a lot of people in America on the Negro Leagues and their importance."

Here's what you need to know.

It all goes back to the Field of Dreams. On Aug. 13, 2021, the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees played a regular-season game in Dyersville, Iowa, the site of the beloved 1989 movie, Field of Dreams. 

"As a sport that is proud of its history linking generations, Major League Baseball is excited to bring a regular-season game to the site of Field of Dreams," commissioner Rob Manfred said at the time.

"We look forward to celebrating the movie's enduring message of how baseball brings people together at this special cornfield in Iowa." 

The White Sox won 9-8. The event gave Watkins an idea: What if MLB came to Rickwood? 

"I envisioned Willie Mays, standing in the outfield, dreaming about being a big-league ballplayer," Watkins told CBC News. 

"I pitched that to MLB, and they got interested and came down, and we've been working with them nonstop to try to get ready. I'd say we're in the eighth inning now. We're almost there."

The 10,800-seat ballpark, which has been renovated, will be filled with all sorts of nostalgia, like copies of old jerseys to help fans connect with its history.