A special game was held at Rickwood Field, a baseball stadium in Birmingham, Alabama, the U.S. on Monday (Korea time). The San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals of the U.S. Major League Baseball faced off.
The reason why the two teams flew all the way here, not their home, is because of the story told by Rickwood Field. It is the oldest baseball stadium in the U.S. It was opened in 1910, ahead of the home of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park (1912) and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field (1914). It was a professional baseball stadium, but it was not where MLB players played.
It was the home stadium of the Negro League, which was formed by a group of black people who were unable to play in both Major League and Minor League due to racial discrimination. It was also the place where the last game of the Nigro League World Series took place in October 1948. It is also known as the place where the movie "42," about Jackie Robinson who broke the racial barrier as the first African-American Major League player, was filmed.
The game was held in honor of one of MLB's history, the Nigro League, and in memory of Willie Mays. Willie Mays started his first professional career at Rickwood Field for the Black Barrens.
Mays then transferred to the New York Giants, the predecessor of the San Francisco Giants, in 1951, and spent his MLB career until 1972, receiving a career-high 660 home runs and 1909 RBIs and 12 consecutive Gold Gloves for outfield.
Mace originally planned to attend on the same day, but on the 18th, he said he would not participate due to his health conditions, and died the next day at the Palo Alto nursing home in California. Mace was happy, saying, "I didn't expect to see an MLB game held at the same stadium where I played baseball as a teenager."
Mace was not present, but his son Michael, and MLB players Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. stood together in front of the crowd. They honored Mace in front of the massive number '24' painted in front of the home plate at Rickwood Field before the game began. The number '24' symbolizes Mace and is her permanent number from the Giants. Fans applauded and shouted 'Willie' while one of Mace's Black Barriers William Grien (100) threw the first pitch while being helped. The Cardinals won the game 6-5.
For the first time in MLB history, all five judges were black, which drew attention. Only five of the more than 70 judges were appointed for the same game. They wore patches to commemorate Amit Ashford, the first black umpire. "It shows that there are enough judges to be composed of black judges and have video refereeing. It took a long time, but it makes me happy," said Adrian Johnson, 49, head of the umpires' team. Only 11 black judges have played in regular MLB games so far.
The game, which was broadcast across the U.S. through Fox, briefly inserted a 1954 split screen and an old-fashioned scoreboard on the black-and-white screen in the top of the fifth inning, evoking nostalgia for old fans. The Giants and Cardinals wore modern re-creation of uniforms worn by the San Francisco Seasons and St. Louis Stars in the Nigro League, respectively. The Giants got off in the Black Barrence hat and the Giants uniform worn by Mays when they got off the club bus in honor of Mays.
Giants outfielder Mike Yastremski had a unique experience playing in the stadium where his grandfather Carl Yastremski and father Carl Michael Yastremski Jr. played. His grandfather had an exhibition game with the New York Yankees here in 1971 as a Red Sox player, and his father played in the stadium for Double-A Birmingham in 1986 as a minor league player for the White Sox. "It was like going back in time and playing 70 years ago," Yastremski said. 사설 토토사이트
The MLB Secretariat held the event to honor the past, but it also looks to the future. Recently, the U.S. baseball community has been suffering from the leakage of black players to the NBA or the NFL due to high tuition fees. The proportion of African-Americans (African-Americans) who accounted for more than 18 percent of MLB players in 1981 steadily declined to just 7 percent in 2021. In the game, only two black players were Giants Jordan Hicks and Cardinals Marin Win.