MLB will stage one of its most important regular-season games ever on Thursday when the Giants and Cardinals play at America’s oldest ballpark.
In the last hour of sweltering daylight and the promise of cooler evening air, in a place of gargoyles and ghosts, shame and strife and the story of 20th century America writ in hallowed ground, Major League Baseball will stage one of its most important regular-season games ever on Thursday in Birmingham, Ala. The San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals are playing at Rickwood Field, America’s oldest ballpark, which turns 114 years old next month.
To understand why this game and this ballpark are so important, here is your field guide to Rickwood: everything you need to know about the Mother Church of Baseball, an honorarium that traces to Chris Fullerton, who spearheaded a renovation to save a decaying ballpark in the 1990s. • MLB spent $5 million renovating Rickwood for this game under the direction of its field czar, Murray Cook.
• The field had a two-foot crown to it, or “turtleback” style to accommodate drainage . Workers took away 5,000 tons of material to install a state-of-the-art drainage system and to regrade the field. • The rightfield alley is only 370 feet, which is not to MLB specs. So they built a wall 20 feet high to mitigate the short distance.
• The original outfield fence was constructed of wood. The outfield was enormous. Distances were 470 feet to the left field foul, 478 to center, 448 to the right field alley and 335 to right. During the 1928 renovation a 10-foot concrete wall was built where the wooden one stood. But it was so far that home runs were darn near impossible, so an inner wooden fence was built. The concrete wall remains, with distance markers still visible.
• The Checkers Rule was restored in full just weeks later. Integrated baseball would not return to Rickwood until 1963. “I can’t help it if I’m fat,” the Babe said while in Birmingham. “I’m certainly trying to work it off and I’ll probably get down to playing weight one of these days. If I don’t—well, I’ll hit homers anyway!”• In 1925 Ruth hit three homers in two days, including two in a 4-for-5 day. The next week, Walter Johnson, then 37 and still pitching for the Washington Senators, received an even bigger ovation than Ruth did.
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