Birmingham Barons Baseball

It is both fitting and appropriate today, as of old, that "The Iron Man" or "Vulcan" representing Fire and Iron Making looks out over the City of Birmingham.

Early days of Birmingham in "Alabama The Beautiful, with a crescendo of the red hot molten iron open hearth furnaces spewing out bright red sparks into the night, compare to today's Regions Park each Friday nite with our Friday night Fireworks Spectacular at the ballpark.

The Botanical Gardens and a World Class Zoo are nearby located in beautiful Homewood, Alabama.

Do not forget there is our historic Grand Dame of The Baseball World "Rickwood Field", the oldest standing Baseball Stadium in the Nation in the western sector of downtown Birmingham, Alabama.

Rickwood Field identified by the ESPN sports venue list of September 2008. Birmingham's Rickwood Field was named one of "America's 100 Most Important Sports Venue", according to an ESPN.com column published Friday, September 19. 2008.

Renowned baseball and travel writer Jim Cable compiled the list. The field, located on the western edge of Birmingham, had also been listed by Caple in a prior column as "100 Places Every Sports Fan Must Visit Before They Die".

Legends Revisited... Folks it doesn't get any better than Sunday 26 February 2006 when Willie Mays, and his former teammates salute Rickwood past. The setting for this emotion packed event was our beloved ole ball park Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama home of our own Birmingham Black Barons Baseball of the late 40's and into the decade of the 50's.

Best of ESPN Vintage Baseball---When players from the Birmingham Black Barons and five other Negro League Teams were introduced during pregame ceremonies, the crowd, responded with a standing ovation. Can it be any better?

The "Say Hey Kid" Willie Mays must have had feeling of nostalgia beyond compare. Willie as a fledgling 17 year roamed the center-field turf, of this beautiful storied Ballpark during the 1948 pennant drive, when the Birmingham Black Barons took the pennant from the Kansas City Monarchs.

Rickwood Field

This is the oldest baseball park in America. Rickwood Field was the passionate pursuit of a young Birmingham industrialist, Rick Woodward.

Woodward soon opened Rickwood Field up to another Birmingham team: the Birmingham Black Barons. African-American baseball fans could now go to Rickwood and watch "their" own team play at home, in a prestigious ballpark famous throughout the baseball leagues.

Woodward allowed the Black Barons to play every other week at Rickwood; the white Barons team would play on the alternating week.

Despite the inclusion of the Black Barons, race relations were not rosy at Rickwood. Black fans were allowed to attend white Barons' games, but could not sit with white fans. African-American fans sat in a separate set of stands behind the outer right field wall.

Every other Sunday, though, the roles reversed. When the Black Barons played, the African-American fans flooded the park. Black fans filled the park; they sometimes had to set up extra bleachers on the grass inside the outfield walls just to accompany all of the fans. Any white fans who showed up to watch the great baseball being played by the Black Barons and their opponents found themselves sitting in the separate set of bleachers past right field, just where African-American fans had to sit during Barons' games.

Strike up the Band--Let's Play Ball!

Learn more about dear ol' "Rickwood Field" by visiting via the web simply click here at Rickwood Field

Rickwood Field also lies just a stones throw away and to the west of our Grand Ole Gray Lady, "Legion Field", once proclaimed as the Capitol of Football in The South.

The Alabama Sports Hall Of Fame Museum located downtown at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center Complex is a must go for all true sports fans.

The Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center provides such an array of cultural sporting and trade shows you must check what is scheduled when you visit.

The Birmingham Children's Theater is only a sample of the fare you might enjoy at our Convention Center.

Come only a short drive to lovely Montevallo, Alabama and let the kids enjoy early American History at The American Village in Montevallo. This is also home to one of the oldest Universities, Montevallo University, which for many years has been dedicated to training and educating our future teachers.

The Birmingham Barons Baseball and Hoover,Alabama welcome you to the greater Birmingham Metropolitan Area of Alabama into our Magic City and to enjoy Southern League Baseball.

The average season attendance for baseball is over 1/4 million fans on a consistent annual forecast.

The 2008 season recorded over 300,000 fans when the Barons played at Regions Park!

The Barons enjoyed many out of town guests; however, most are local baseball fans cheering and pulling for their Birmingham Barons.

Historical dateline and significant chronlogy of owners for the Birmingham Barons baseball franchise are as follows:

• 1885--Local baseball players playing in what was essentially semi-pro industrial league of the Birmingham area.

  Players broke away and formed a baseball team called the Coal Barons. Many of the players had formerly played for ACIPCO, a leading Cast Iron Pipe Company of Birmingham.

  The "Coal Barons" played their games in the West End of Birmingham in a field which they called the "Slag Pile."

• 1898--The Coal Barons was franchised and owned by William J. McQueen. The team retained its name as the Barons since this early beginning, with one or two exceptions thru the years.

• 1901-- Mr.William J. McQueen as the owner of the team franchise joined and helped form and become part of the Southern Association of Baseball Teams.

• 1910-- Mr.A. H. "Rick" Woodward bought the Barons from McQueen and brought the team to a newly constructed ballpark, the Grand Dame of Baseball Parks, "Rickwood Field."

  A.H. "Rick" Woodward inherited the Woodward Iron co. land, plants and fortune developed by his forebears in the late 1800"s. The passing of the empire was an earned privelege.

  Mr. Woodward had been working as a waterboy and shop hand since age 10. By the time "Rick" was 16, he was a fully licensed locomotive engineer. Later, he squeezed in a mining engineering degree from MIT.

  Woodward was a baseball bug. He played in college and in summer leagues, and became the proud builder of Rickwood Field and owner of the Birmingham Barons.

  Rickwood Field is a legacy holding Mr. Woodward's name until this day.

• 1938--The economic downfall and depression years dealt a savage blow to many and Mr. Woodward felt the need to forego the pleasure of owning the Birmingham Barons Baseball and sold the franchise to a Mr. Ed Norton.

• 1961-1963 Dark days for much of baseball and the Barons as many other teams went underground and there was no pro team in Birmingham.

• 1964-Barons were reborn in the now newly formed Southern League.

• 1965-1967--The Barons fell on rough times and they were selling apples on the street corner but not playing baseball.

• 1967- Mr.Charles O. Finley, a Birmingham native and owner of the Major League Kansas City "A's" Athletics, purchased the franchise and brought baseball back to Birmingham as the Birmingham A's.

  Mr. Finley and the Birmingham A's stayed until 1975.

  This is one period in the Barons history where the Birmingham Barons Baseball were not the Barons but the Birmingham "A's."

• 1975-1981 Birmingham again was an orphan child with no baseballl team to call their own.

• 1981-Mr Art Clarkson and other investors bought the Montgomery "Rebels" of Montgomery, Alabama and brought them to Birmingham.

  The Birmingham Barons Baseball franchise regained the Barons Heritage once again.

• 1988-A significant event unfolded, as the Birmingham Barons Baseball with its storied legacy of playing in "dear ole" Rickwood Field, was destined to move to brand new digs located in the Mars Hill area of the rapidly growing City of Hoover, Alabama.

  Mr. Art Clarkson, Mayor Skinner for the City of Hoover and Mr. John Harbert, owner of Harbert Construction in a combined effort with others, magically but with blood sweat and much intestinal fortitude put our Birmingham Barons Baseball on cloud nine by moving them to the magnificent Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.

• 1991-The Art Clarkson group of investors sold the Birmingham Barons Baseball franchise to Suntory International, Inc.

• 1996- Mr Dave Elmore and the "Elmore Sports Group Ltd" bought the Barons from Suntory International, Inc.

• 2006-The Don Logan Family, as the "Birmingham Barons,LLC", purchased the Birmingham Barons Baseball from the Elmore Group.

  The present owners, the "Logan Family" moved the Barons home-base to a newly updated (2007) first class ball park and the name was changed to "Regions Park" which previously was known as the Hoover Met....Now...they are back downtown!

Flagship Radio Station: Broadcasting all of the Birmingham Barons Baseball games is FM 101.1 "The Source"

Local Media Print: The Birmingham News--Doug Segrest

The Birmingham Barons Baseball is an affiliate of the Chicago White Sox organization.

Included in the stable of Minor League teams owned by the White Sox are the following teams.

• Charlotte Knights class (AAA)---International League
• Birmingham Barons Baseball class (AA)----Southern League
• Winston-Salem Warthogs class (A)-Carolina League
• Kannapolis Intimidators class (A)-South Atlantic League
• Bristol Sox class (Rookie)----Appalachian League
• Great Falls White Sox class (Rookie)-Pioneer League

The City of Birmingham, Alabama as a relative young city; however, it grew rapidly after its incorporation in 1871.

The population in our greater metropolitan area is nudging just over the (1 million southern citizens) and the beautiful green trees and rolling hills beckon all with their eye catching beauty.

The North and the South with the great struggle between the two or "The War Between The States" over matters of economics, our Civil War clash of the 1860's was finished and behind us by 1871. This is when Birmingham begin to flourish.

A young city with an industrial base spawning rapid growth was the reason and cause to refer to Birmingham as The Magic City.

The Birmingham area here in the South has changed quantumly over the past quarter century. It has been transformed from the South's leading industrial center to a city with a wide and diverse amalgam of a service economy.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, our largest employer, is home to a Medical Center that has consistently ranked among the world's finest and leads as the cutting edge in many health related fields.

Here's hoping your visit will have you singing our praises and telling of your experience of real Southern hospitality in our fair city.

Your visit with the Birmingham Barons will make you feel free from the city's hustle and bustle. Instead of being crammed into a downtown site the stadium is located in a more pleasant open air relaxed and leisure filled atmosphere.

The sky rocketing explosion of growth to the south of Birmingham along the I-65 and Us Hwy 280 corridor into Shelby County signifies to us all a new meaning of the word Magic for the Birmingham area.

The nomadic life of our Barons hopefully concludes its life away from home come the 2013 baseball season.

The Birmingham Barons born and growing up many years in the magic city of Birmingham has now finished its wandering and leaves the City of Hoover returning to the place of its birth beginning in 2013 coming back home to Birmingham, Alabama. Home Sweet Home

The City of Birmingham, Alabama, is a municipal corporation under the laws of the State of Alabama. Birmingham is the largest city in the state with a population currently estimated at 242,820, and a metro population of 1,079,089.

Nestled at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains at the cross-section of two major railroads, the city was once the primary industrial center of the southern United States. At the height of the nation's manufacturing age, the city grew so fast in population, it was called the "Magic City." Today, Birmingham has transformed itself into a medical research, banking and service-based economy, making it one of the nation's most livable cities with a vibrant downtown, a burgeoning loft community, a world-class culinary scene and more green space per capita than any other city in the nation!

Birmingham also boasts 99 historic neighborhoods and is often referred to as the cradle of the American Civil Rights Movement. The average (high) temperature in the city is 65°; the average low is 51°. The city is centrally located in the southeast and easily accessible to major hubs in the region The Southern League, in addition to the Birmingham Barons Baseball, is pleased to provide three more Southern League teams here in the State of Alabama. The Mobile Bay Bears Baseball, Montgomery Biscuits Baseball and the Huntsville Stars Baseball all are part of the Southern League teams located in "Alabama The Beautiful."

Baseball fans across the globe if you have some interesting or more definitive data concerning our City or Team please let us hear about it.

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Batter Up----Lets Play Ball....