Two well-stocked rosters of MLB alumni, including all-stars and World Series celebrants, will be back in uniform on June 19 at historic Rickwood Field (capacity 8,300) in Birmingham, Ala.
For a second consecutive year professional baseball is paying tribute to one of the game’s most iconic events of years ago. The East-West Classic, a salute to the Negro American and National Leagues’ All-Star Game that was held from 1933 to 1962, is scheduled in America’s oldest ballpark.
Rickwood Field, which first opened in 1910, served as home to the Birmingham Black Barons for 40 years and other clubs barnstorming through the South. Some of baseball’s greatest draws saw their careers pass through Rickwood Field, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. Scenes from the films “42” (the Jackie Robinson story) and “Cobb” (the Ty Cobb story) were shot there.
The East-West Classic, which first was played in September 1933 at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, was the highlight of the Negro Leagues’ season. Being selected for that game brought great prestige to players.
Many of the East-West Classic participants would one day be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, including Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson, and Satchel Paige.
Former MLB All-Star Chris Young will captain the East squad for this Thursday’s game, and CC Sabathia, who next month will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, will captain the West’s roster.
The planned five-inning game (with a two-hour limit) will follow a home run derby. Adam Jones, who topped Prince Fielder in the final round to win last year’s derby at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, is scheduled to defend his title.
For the East squad, Sabathia’s roster includes Ryan Howard, who homered in last year’s Classic 5–4 East win, Alabaman Jake Peavy, Gary Sheffield, Curtis Granderson, and Edwin Jackson. Notables in the West’s dugout will be Nick Swisher, Mike Cameron, and Prince Fielder.
Birmingham is less than 10 miles from Fairfield, Ala., the town where Willie Mays, considered by many the greatest all-around baseball player, spent his childhood. Mays died on June 18, 2024, at 93.
Mays played for the Negro American League Black Barons in 1948. Only playing home games that season for the Black Barons, Mays helped the club advance to the Negro League World Series against the Pittsburgh-based Homestead Grays. The Black Barons lost the series 4–1.
The tradition of the East-West Classic, with few exceptions, was played in Comiskey Park. On occasion, there were two midseason all-star games scheduled. In its prime, before baseball integrated in 1947 with Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier and joining the Brooklyn Dodgers, the East-West Classic routinely drew crowds of 20,000 to 50,000-plus on Chicago’s South Side.
The 2024 East-West Classic drew a sold-out crowd at Doubleday Field. The 5,740 fans in Cooperstown were treated to a Saturday afternoon game that drew rave reviews from its participants. Ryan Howard was named the Bob Feller Player of the Game as a result of the three-run blast he hit in the fifth inning.
Prior to the May 2024 East-West Classic game, the last of the Negro Leagues’ event in 1962 took place in Kansas City, Mo.
The 30 players expected in uniform on Thursday represent all-star selections, an MVP (Howard) and two Cy Young Award winners (Sabathia and Peavy).
MLB Network will be at Rickwood Field taping the day’s festivities, as was the case with last year’s East-West Classic, to air on June 29.
