MLB at Rickwood Field: What to know about Giants-Cardinals game at historic landmark

Ken Rosenthal and Will Cain preview the Giants-Cardinals game, airing Thursday at 7:15pm ET on FOX.

Rickwood Field, the oldest professional ballpark in the United States, will be the host of an MLB game between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants on Thursday night.

The stadium, which opened in 1910, is located in Birmingham, Alabama, and is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

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Painted flags of the Rickwood Field Championships are seen on Monday, June 10, 2024 in Birmingham, Alabama. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

It was the host for the Negro Leagues’ Birmingham Black Barons, as well as the minor leagues’ Birmingham Barons and Birmingham A’s. The Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates used the ballpark as a spring training site in the early 1900s.

Baseball Hall of Famers Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner were among the legends who came through. However, for many, fans got to see the talent of the Negro Leagues, including Willie Mays, who got his start with the Black Barons at the age of 17.

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A manual scoreboard is seen at Rickwood Field on Monday, June 10, 2024 in Birmingham, Alabama. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Mays, who passed away this week at 93, told the San Francisco Chronicle that playing in the majors was not something he thought he could attain – at least not until Jackie Robinson first broke the color barrier in baseball, and Larry Doby followed him in the American League.

Mays got his start with the New York Giants in 1951 and was the Rookie of the Year.

"The majors? I didn’t dream about the impossible," he told the paper before his death. "I was taught to