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Travel Baseball Teams Near You

After little league, many young athletes may wonder what to do next—especially if their high school doesn’t offer a decent baseball program. This is where travel teams can help. They enable baseball athletes to build their skills to prepare for college baseball and beyond. 

So, if you’re wondering about travel baseball teams near you, we’ve got you covered. Below is a list of the top travel teams by state.  

Find top travel baseball teams near you by state

Travel baseball faqs.

What is the difference between travel and high school baseball?

The main difference between high school and travel baseball is that travel baseball can happen year-round. Plus, what school you go to doesn’t matter to the travel team. As long as you pass tryouts, you’re in.

Is the skill level higher in travel baseball?

Yes, much higher. Players on travel baseball teams compete against top talent, which enables them to improve their skills.

How do you join a travel baseball team?

You join them through tryouts, like any other team. Most travel team websites will have information about when tryouts are.

How to choose a travel baseball team?

The best thing to do is to meet with coaches to get a sense of their style and see if it’s right and to make sure you can commit to the schedule.

What are the benefits of travel baseball?

Some benefits are that they play year-round, and their baseball skills get sharper. Plus, many pro players have played in travel teams.

How much does it cost to play travel baseball?

Travel baseball costs average around $3,700 annually. This amount includes equipment, training, fees, and travel expenses. However, families can spend more depending on things like additional training fees and costs associated with longer out-of-state tournaments.

How many travel baseball games are played in a season?

Players can play between 50-60 games.

Looking to up your or your child’s baseball skills? Check out baseball camps near you for extra fun and practice. Also, check our baseball page for more information on getting recruited to play college baseball, scholarships and more.  

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The Ultimate Guide to Travel Baseball

Here at Ballparks of America , we love travel baseball. And we’re not alone. Over the last 20 years, youth travel baseball has become increasingly popular. Take the All-American Wood Bat Classic as an example. During the first year of the tournament, in 2000, around a dozen teams signed up to play. In 2014, nearly 100 teams attended the tournament . 

Joining a travel baseball team has lots of advantages. Kids can become better ballplayers, make friends, and get to experience travel. However, it’s also a large financial and time commitment. And there’s a lot that goes into joining a team. 

To help you understand the world of travel baseball, our team has put together a guide that covers the following topics. 

What is travel baseball?

How to join a travel baseball team, how to choose a travel baseball team, how to start your own travel baseball team, what are the benefits of travel baseball, what is the downside of travel baseball, how do travel baseball tournaments work, how much does it cost to play travel baseball, how many games are played in a season, what to expect at travel baseball tryouts.

Also referred to as elite, club, select, and premier, travel baseball is an organized form of baseball characterized by competitive play and—you guessed it—travel. It is often seen as an intermediary step between Little League and high school baseball play. Travel baseball has also increasingly become the standard for elite youth players hoping to continue their baseball career in college or on a professional level. The typical age requirements vary by the organization but can range from 6 to 18 years old. 

Unlike Little League, which typically has weekly, local games, travel baseball mostly consists of weekend tournament play. However, there are some leagues that cater specifically to elite baseball teams. 

There is no singular governing organization in travel baseball. Rather, there are several organizations and facilities that host tournaments with varying criteria. Some of the dominating travel baseball organizations include Triple Crown Sports , Perfect Game , Untied States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA), and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). 

As we mentioned above, competitive play is a defining characteristic of travel ball. Travel baseball teams do not have open registration, but instead, players are required to try out for a travel team. Therefore, a team could be made up of players from all over the state, region, and—in some cases—the country. Typically only the most competitive teams have players from all over the country.

So you’ve decided travel baseball is something you want to pursue for yourself or your child. Now what? There are two ways to play travel baseball, join a team or start your own team . 

There are several ways to find a travel baseball team. Start with a simple Google search, “travel baseball teams near me.” Another good option is to check out the large organizations listed above. You can also look on Facebook for travel baseball teams. Don’t forget to search for the alternative names (select baseball, elite baseball, club baseball, premier baseball, etc). Finally, you can check out FieldLevel . FieldLevel is a website that lets you search over 105,000 travel teams by location, age level, and skill level. Once you find a team you’re interested in joining, you’ll need to try out. Coaches typically hold tryouts in March, around the time local schools have spring break. 

Depending on where you live and how far you’re willing to travel, there could be several teams to choose from. When faced with a decision of which team to join, there are several factors to take into consideration.

Cost can vary from team to team, depending on how much and how far the team travels. Be sure that the team you choose fits within your budget.

As coaches will have a large impact on the development of a player, you want to be sure to work with coaches that have the right skills, knowledge, and experience. You also want to make sure the coach won’t play favorites with players. This can especially be a concern if the coach has a child on the team.

Although travel baseball tends to be competitive by nature, there are varying levels of competitiveness within the field. If a player is very serious about their development, they’ll want to be playing with teammates and against teams that are performing at a high level. And the opposite is true as well. If a player is not as serious, they might be frustrated playing on a highly-competitive team.

It doesn’t matter how competitive a team is if a player doesn’t get playing time. Travel ball teams typically have 13 players on them. It’s not advantageous to be the 13th best player on a team, because you won’t get very much (if any) playing time. And playing time is important for development and exposure.

One of the main reasons players sign up for travel ball is to eventually go on to play baseball at college or in the pros. Therefore, you want a team that has a strong development program and practices regularly.

Different teams travel different amounts, and it’s important that the amount fits in with the player’s schedule and the player’s family’s schedule.

If your goal as a player is to play in college or go pro, then it’s important to get adequate exposure. To do this, your team needs to play in the right tournaments where scouts will have the opportunity to see you play.

• Find a mentor
• Recruit players
• Hold tryouts
• Determine a budget
• Find a space to play
• Register your team with the travel baseball organizations

Tougher Competition

Travel baseball allows kids to play with and against the best players in the area, state, or—in some cases—the country. This can drastically improve their game.

Travel Opportunities

Getting to visit locations like Branson, Missouri for a vacation and baseball experience is a one-of-a-kind opportunity. Families can experience a traveling together and enjoying competitive baseball at the same time.

More Exposure

For those hoping to play baseball in college, travel baseball offers more exposure opportunities. Tournaments are a great way to get noticed by a scout or college coach.

Better Player Development

Travel baseball teams often provide better player development than recreational teams. Compared to rec teams, travel coaches tend to be more experienced, better connected, and more serious. Some of the most competitive teams actually employ former professional coaches.

More Playing Opportunities

Select baseball teams play a lot more games a year than an average rec team.

What are the downsides of travel baseball?

Possible injuries.

Some critics have argued that the increase in elbow injuries among major-league players may be caused by youth travel baseball.  

Compared to Little League teams, travel baseball is quite a bit more expensive. 

Lacks Diversity

Due to the cost, travel baseball tends to exclude players in lower socioeconomic brackets. 

Large Time Commitment

When it comes to travel baseball, the time commitment is significant. During the season, be prepared to give up quite a few weekends. 

Highly Competitive

The goals of travel baseball are to develop players and win games. Sometimes the focus on winning can overshadow player development. Typically, the best players will get the majority of the playing time.

How do select baseball tournaments work?

Each team chooses how many and which tournaments they will participate in every year. Tournaments are typically held on weekends and can take place all over the country. There are also week-long tournaments held during the summer. Teams choose which tournaments to play in based on a variety of factors—distance, cost, age level, potential exposure, and skill level. 

Depending on how well they play, a team can expect to play between three and eight games during a tournament. Tournaments usually start with pool-play, where teams are guaranteed to play a certain number of games. If they do well, they then get to play more games which are single elimination. 

According to USA Today , on average travel baseball costs families $3,700 per year. However, some families pay upwards of $8,000 per year. These numbers include fees, equipment , training , and travel. 

Traveling to weekend tournaments versus weeklong tournaments, like what Ballparks of America hosts, can also have an effect on costs as well. Food, hotels , gas and more are additional factors when deciding where to go with your travel baseball team.

How many travel baseball games are played in a season?

It can vary, but during the summer seasons, players typically play between 50-60 games.

Although every tryout will progress differently, tryouts typically adhere to the following structure.

To start, either a coach or a team captain will lead you through a warm-up. It’s important to warm up properly so you don’t injure yourself during the tryout.

Next, you’ll most likely be asked to do a 60-yard dash. One of the things coaches are looking for is to see which prospects are athletic and fast. You might be asked to run it more than once.

Then, you’ll have a chance to warm up your arms by playing catch.

The next set of drills will focus on position-specific skills. For example, if you’re an infielder, you might be asked to go to shortstop to ground balls. If you’re a pitcher, you’ll be throwing in the bullpen.

You’ll take turns hitting. You’ll only get a few chances to show off your batting skills, so you want to make this count.

In some cases, tryouts may end after batting practice. However, some tryouts end with a scrimmage.

Tips for travel baseball tryouts

It’s important to make a good first impression. Showing up on time demonstrates that you’re reliable. You also want to make sure you’ve dressed appropriately and have all the necessary equipment. And, right when you get there, go up and introduce yourself to the coach.

Beyond just looking for talented players, coaches are also looking for athletes who can help lead the team. Stand out as a leader by helping organize drills and cheering on your potential teammates.

Whether you’re huddling up with the coach or heading out to your position, put some pep in your step. Coaches like to see that you are taking tryouts seriously and putting in the effort. Try to make sure you’re one of the first players to get where you’re supposed to be.

You might not realize it, but the coaches are watching prospects the entire practice, so don’t slack off. Even when you’re playing catch, you want to be sure to put your best foot forward.

Arm strength is one of the things coaches will be looking for. So, no matter what position you play, when you’re in the specific skills portion of the tryout, make sure to throw the ball hard and fast. If you can, start a training program a few weeks before tryouts. 

Arm strength is one of the things coaches will be looking for. So, no matter what position you play, when you’re in the specific skills portion of the tryout, make sure to throw the ball hard and fast.

Don’t try to get too fancy with batting practice. Instead, try hit line drives and keep them in the middle of the field.

It can be tempting to try and play the way you think the coaches want you to play. But don’t. If you do, you won’t be at your best and you’ll end up making silly mistakes. Instead, wait for your moment and seize the opportunity.

Yes, coaches are looking for talented players. But they’re also looking for players with potential who can be coached. Show that you’re coachable for listening to advice and implementing it. And it can’t hurt to ask questions that show you’re open to feedback.

Ballparks of America offers premier facilities for travel baseball tournaments

We live and breathe travel ball at Ballparks of America, and we can’t wait for the season to start. Sign up for one of our tournaments today and take advantage of our amazing facilities, dedicated staff, tons of amenities, and fun local things to do. Give us a call or contact us online today. We can’t wait to hear from you! 

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Idaho Club Baseball

Competitive club baseball league & tournaments, welcome to idaho club baseball.

We facilitate Spring & Fall competitive baseball leagues and tournaments for existing “club/travel” teams based in Boise, Idaho to help grow the quality of baseball in Southern Idaho.

Idaho Club Baseball is not affiliated with any team, club or league and we WELCOME ALL TEAMS. We do our best to accommodate special team schedule requests to work around other league/tournament commitments.

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2nd annual “east vs. west” all-star games were held at nnu for each age division with free fan entry for everyone we will post links to the archive games videos below as soon as possible. thank you, completed all-star games, • 10u all-star game: may 7th @ 7pm at nnu – 10u west won 18-5. • 11u all-star game: may 9th @ 7pm at nnu – 11u east won 8-3. • 12u all-star game: may 22nd @ 7pm at nnu – 12u east won 10-2. • 13u all-star game: may 23rd @ 7pm at nnu – 13u east won 9-3..

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Front-line NATO allies are facing an unconventional Russian threat short of war but still quite dangerous

• Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

Baltic countries are facing intensifying Russian hybrid warfare threats.

Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are strong supporters of Ukraine.

Officials in these nations have repeatedly raised concerns about Russian hybrid warfare operations.

The three Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have been at the forefront of the conflict between the West and Russia since the latter's invasion of Ukraine.

Staunch supporters of Ukraine, they – along with Denmark – have given the most aid to Kyiv in relation to their GDP and have been pushing for strict sanctions on Moscow.

Although they are members of NATO and the EU, the Baltics are in a precarious position. Bordering Russia or its ally Belarus, they are small and were part of the Soviet Union until its collapse. Furthermore, over 20% of the population of Estonia and Latvia and 5% of Lithuania are ethnically Russian.

All of this has put them in Moscow's crosshairs. Russia seems to be employing unconventional methods against them that blur the line between war and peace and fall into what is called the "gray zone."

In July 2023, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna expressed his concern about the possibility of such Russian attacks. "There are hybrid threats. But we never know what kind of hybrid situation may happen. We have witnessed them before as well," he said.

NATO has also cautioned against intensifying Russian hybrid warfare in the region and in the rest of Europe that could include "disinformation, sabotage, acts of violence, cyber and electronic interference, and other hybrid operations."

Targeting the Baltics

Indeed, a year later in May 2024, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed the Baltics for severing most of their ties with Russia, adding , "We will also respond to the hostile actions of the Baltic states with asymmetrical measures, primarily in the economic and transit spheres."

Moscow is suspected of following through with its threats.

In May, a leaked Russian proposal outlined plans to redraw Russia's territorial waters with Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Petrov said the proposal wasn't politically motivated but implied it was required to ensure Russia's security amid escalating regional tensions.

Although the proposal was deleted a day after it leaked, the following day several buoys demarcating the territorial waters between Russia and Estonia on the Narva River were removed by the Russian coast guard.

Estonian high officials urged calm, but Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis was more pointed: "Another Russian hybrid operation is underway, this time attempting to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about their intentions in the Baltic Sea," Landsbergis said in response.

Additionally, there has recently been increased jamming of the satellite navigation systems of commercial aircraft in region, which appears to be originating from within Russian territory . Although it is not clear whether the disruption is intentional, Tallinn and Vilnius have accused Moscow.

Russia and Belarus have also been accused by EU officials of pushing migrants towards the border of Lithuania and neighboring Poland and using them as hybrid weapons. Lithuania temporarily closed off some of its border crossings with Belarus in response, and Poland deployed troops to the border. The Baltics and Poland are prepared to close off their borders in the event of a major migrant push from Belarus.

All three Baltic countries have been targeted by influence operations . Estonia has seen a rise in sabotages that included damage to an undersea gas pipeline and telecommunications cables between it and Finland. Espionage, cyber attacks, and election tampering are also a concern, with Estonia having arrested the most Russian agents per capita in the EU.

Destabilization is the point

Hybrid warfare can use various tools – including military, informational, economic, civilian, and others – but it falls short of overt military action.

Its purpose is to destabilize a country's government, institutions, or population while often preventing attribution back to the perpetrator – occasionally, a purposeful and targeted action may even appear to be a random event.

Although hybrid warfare is not a new strategy, nor one employed exclusively by Russia and its allies, it has received increased attention following Russia's 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea as Moscow used a variety of military and non-military tools, which were described as hybrid, to capture the peninsula without meaningful Ukrainian resistance.

The murky nature of hybrid warfare can make it hard to identify and address potential threats. Yet, the Baltic countries are prioritizing hybrid threats and fortifying their institutions in response.

Tellingly, Latvia, in its 2016 National Defense Concept – the country's overarching defense strategy – named hybrid threats and Russia as the main threats to its security for the first time.

And last week, writing alongside his Polish and Czech colleagues, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs expressed "deep concern" over Russian hybrid threats.

"We will act individually and collectively to address these actions, boost our resilience and continue to coordinate closely to ensure that the Alliance and Allies are prepared to deter and defend against hybrid actions or attacks," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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With new pact with North Korea, Russia raises stakes with West over Ukraine

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Behind the smiles, the balloons and the red-carpet pageantry of President Vladimir Putin ’s visit to North Korea last week, a strong signal came through: In the spiraling confrontation with the U.S. and its allies over Ukraine, the Russian leader is willing to challenge Western interests like never before.

The pact that he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un envisions mutual military assistance between Moscow and Pyongyang if either is attacked. Putin also announced for the first time that Russia could provide weapons to the isolated country, a move that could destabilize the Korean Peninsula and reverberate far beyond.

He described the potential arms shipments as a response to NATO allies providing Ukraine with longer-range weapons to attack Russia. He bluntly declared that Moscow has nothing to lose and is prepared to go “to the end” to achieve its goals in Ukraine.

Putin’s moves added to concerns in Washington and Seoul about what they see as an alliance in which North Korea provides Moscow with badly needed munitions for its war in Ukraine in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that would enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

A landmark pact: The new agreement with Pyongyang marked the strongest link between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War.

Kim said it raised bilateral relations to the level of an alliance, while Putin was more cautious, noting the pledge of mutual military assistance mirrored a 1961 treaty between the Soviet Union and North Korea. That agreement was discarded after the Soviet collapse and replaced with a weaker one in 2000 when Putin first visited Pyongyang.

Stephen Sestanovich , senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations noted that when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev signed the deal with Pyongyang in 1961, he also tested the world’s biggest nuclear bomb, built the Berlin Wall and probably started thinking about moves that led to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

“The question for Western policymakers now is whether Putin is becoming comparably reckless,” Sestanovich said in a commentary. “His language in North Korea -- where he denounced the United States as a ‘worldwide neocolonialist dictatorship’ — might make you think so.”

South Korea responded by declaring it would consider sending arms to Ukraine in a major policy change for Seoul, which so far only has sent humanitarian assistance to Kyiv under a longstanding policy of not supplying weapons to countries engaged in conflict.

Putin insisted Seoul has nothing to worry about, since the new pact only envisions military assistance in case of aggression and should act as a deterrent to prevent a conflict. He strongly warned South Korea against providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, saying it would be a “very big mistake.”

“If that happens, then we will also make corresponding decisions that will hardly please the current leadership of South Korea,” he said.

Asked whether North Korean troops could fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine under the pact, Putin said there was no need for that.

Potential weapons for Pyongyang: Last month, Putin warned that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to hit Western targets in response to NATO allies allowing Ukraine to use its allies’ arms to make limited attacks inside Russian territory.

He followed up on that warning Thursday with an explicit threat to provide weapons to North Korea.

“I wouldn’t exclude that in view of our agreements with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Putin said, adding that Moscow could mirror the arguments by NATO allies that it’s up to Ukraine to decide how to use Western weapons.

“We can similarly say that we supply something to somebody but have no control over what happens afterward,” Putin said. “Let them think about it.”

Sue Mi Terry, senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, warned that Moscow could share weapons technologies with Pyongyang to help improve its ballistic missile capabilities, noting there is evidence of this happening already, with Russia possibly providing help to North Korea with its successful satellite launch in November, two months after Kim last met Putin.

“This is deeply concerning because of the substantial overlap between the technologies used for space launches and intercontinental ballistic missiles,” Terry said in a commentary. “Russia can also provide North Korea with critical help in areas where its capabilities are still nascent, such as submarine-launched ballistic missiles.”

While raising the prospect of arms supplies to Pyongyang that would violate U.N. sanctions, Putin also said Russia would take efforts at the world body to ease the restrictions — an apparent signal that Moscow may try to keep arms supplies to Pyongyang under the radar and maintain a degree of deniability to avoid accusations of breaching the sanctions.

Russia and North Korea have rejected assertions by the U.S. and its allies that Pyongyang has given Moscow ballistic missiles and millions of artillery shells for use in Ukraine.

Going ‘to the end’ in a confrontation with the West: By explicitly linking prospective arms shipments to Pyongyang to Western moves on Ukraine, Putin warned Kyiv’s allies to back off as he pushes his goals in the war — or face a new round of confrontation.

“They are escalating the situation, apparently expecting that we will get scared at some point, and at the same time, they say that they want to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield,” Putin said. “For Russia, it will mean an end to its statehood, an end to the millennium-long history of the Russian state. And a question arises: Why should we be afraid? Isn’t it better, then, to go to the end?”

Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, said Putin’s statement reflected an attempt to discourage the U.S. and its allies from ramping up support for Kyiv as Russia pushes new offensives in several sectors of the front line.

“The situation is becoming increasingly dangerous, and Russia believes that it should quickly rap the West over its knuckles to show that its deeper engagement in the war will have a price,” he said in remarks carried by Dozhd, an independent Russian broadcaster.

He noted that Putin’s statement that Moscow wouldn’t know where its arms end up if sent to Pyongyang could have been a hint at North Korea’s role as an arms exporter.

Treading cautiously with China: Putin’s visits to North Korea handed a new challenge to Pyongyang’s top ally, China, potentially allowing Kim to hedge his bets and reduce his excessive reliance on Beijing.

China so far has avoided comment on the new pact, but many experts argue that Beijing won’t like losing sway over its neighbor.

Ever since Putin invaded Ukraine, Russia has come to increasingly depend on China as the main market for its energy exports and the source of high-tech technologies in the face of Western sanctions. While forging a revamped relationship with Pyongyang, the Kremlin will likely tread cautiously to avoid angering Beijing.

“Whether this upgraded Russia–North Korea relationship will be without limits depends upon China,” which will watch events closely, said Edward Howell of Chatham House in a commentary. “Beijing will have taken stern note of Kim Jong Un’s claim that Russia is North Korea’s ‘most honest friend.’ Despite the likely increase in cooperation in advanced military technology between Moscow and Pyongyang, China remains North Korea’s largest economic partner.”

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America's oldest ballpark: MLB game at Rickwood Field honors history of Black baseball

In the 1950s, Birmingham, Alabama, had a city ordinance called Negroes And Whites Not To Play Together. Section 597 made it against the law for “a negro and a white person to play together or in company of each other in any game of cards, dice, dominoes, checkers, baseball, softball, football, basket ball (yes, two words) or similar game.”

Historians often refer to this as “the checkers ordinance.”

A name synonymous with Southern segregation was Eugene “Bull” Connor. He was a powerful political figure in Birmingham at the time, and his zeal in enforcing Section 597 was legendary – and not in a positive way.

The issue came to a head in the fall of 1953 when an all-star baseball team organized by Jackie Robinson was scheduled to play a barnstorming game at Birmingham’s Rickwood Field. Because the roster was integrated, Connor did everything he could to block the game. In turn, Robinson agreed to play only the Black players to avoid having both races on the field.

The following April, Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers (including Black catcher Roy Campanella) scheduled two exhibition games in Birmingham against Hank Aaron’s Milwaukee Braves. With a referendum regarding the checkers ordinance about to be contested in a city election, the games were permitted to proceed.

Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.

In those days, Black fans were allowed to attend “white” baseball games, but they were restricted to “colored only” sections in the right-field corner. For the two exhibitions, those seats were packed, with thousands more Black fans standing all around the outfield. The sections reserved for whites were practically empty.

This game marked the first time both races were represented on the same playing surface at Rickwood Field.

This instance is just part of the rich history – some of it heartwarming and some infuriating – of the facility dubbed America’s Oldest Ballpark that will soon be on display for the country.

“Fans will see a Birmingham they have not seen before,” says Gerald Watkins, chairman of the board for the Friends of Rickwood. “It’s a place with a high quality of living and a community that came together to bring Major League Baseball here.”

And when fans attend Major League Baseball’s regular-season game between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants here June 20, there will be a new slogan about Rickwood on caps and T-shirts: "History Played Here."

It’s an apt phrase for a stadium that opened 114 years ago. It’s also the rare facility that has gone by only one name for its entire life, as it was named for Rick Woodward. He was the son of iron magnate Joseph H. Woodward, who disapproved of his son’s fascination with the fast-growing sport of baseball.

‘The Church of Rickwood’

In 1909, the young Woodward acquired controlling interest in Birmingham’s Minor League team, the Barons – a team nickname still used by the city’s Southern League franchise. His first order of business was replacing the team’s all-wooden ballpark with a structure based on concrete and steel – the first such stadium in the minors and only the fifth such baseball facility overall (Shibe Park, Forbes Field, Comiskey Park and League Park were the first four).

Enlisting the help of Connie Mack, who had overseen the design and construction of Shibe Park for his Philadelphia Athletics, Woodward pushed forward with the construction of Rickwood Field. Even then, cost over-runs were the order of the day, as the outlay to build the facility reached $75,000 when the budget had been $25,000.

Jubilation was the reaction of thecity of Birmingham to its new ballpark. After witnessing the joy of the overflow crowd of about 10,000 at opening day on Aug. 18, 1910, the elder Woodward decided to retire the debt created by his son’s expensive construction project.

With the Barons’ financial stability assured, Rick Woodward remained the team’s owner through 1938. He rented Rickwood to Negro league teams on weekends when the Barons were on the road and would even rent the park to the Ku Klux Klan for cross-burning rallies.

Until the franchise went dormant in 1961 when it refused to integrate its roster, the Barons competed in the minor league known as the Southern Association. The winner of that circuit’s playoffs would then face the champions of the Texas League each year in what was called the Dixie Series.

The Barons captured the Dixie Series six times, but the most talked-about tilt was in 1931. That’s when 20-year-old fireballer Dizzy Dean led his Houston Buffs into Birmingham. The brash right-hander taunted the Barons by threatening to pitch with his left hand against them. “That way they’d have a chance.”

At the time, the throng that showed up at Rickwood was the largest to attend any sporting event in Alabama. The Barons’ 43-year-old Ray Caldwell outpitched Dean in a 1-0 Birmingham victory. The game was “the touchstone of Birmingham’s baseball experience, forever etched into the city’s collective memory,” wrote Timothy Whitt in “Bases Loaded with History,” the book that serves as the definitive account of Rickwood Field.

Whitt told USA TODAY Sports that he feels there’s something about Rickwood Field “that has a religious quality to it, that it is a holy place. For years, they didn’t play baseball on Sundays so fans could go to church. The rest of the week was for the Church of Rickwood.”

The Friends of Rickwood, created in 1991 to oversee the preservation of the park, keeps track of the number of Baseball Hall of Famers who have played at Rickwood. It’s a staggering number: 182. When you consider the opposing teams in the minors, the barnstorming major leaguers (Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and many more), and all the Negro League stars, you can see how it could be this many.

“It is an incredible group of players who walked onto this field,” says Whitt. “I think it’s more than in any other stadium in baseball.”

Preserving the landmarks

But it’s not the history of the Barons or the barnstorming big leaguers that prompted MLB to bring a game to Rickwood. It’s the fact that the Negro leagues fielded teams here from 1920 until the circuits disbanded in 1960. Some years the team was in the Negro American League, some years the Negro National League and others in the minor league Negro Southern League – but the team was always called the Black Barons.

And their home park was always Rickwood Field. Precious few ballparks that hosted Negro League teams are still around. “We should preserve these landmarks,” says Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. “Oftentimes they face the wrecking ball, and, yeah, you can rebuild them, but you can’t rebuild that history.”

Kendrick was part of the planning committee to bring the MLB game to Rickwood. “What impressed me the most is that when they had that game in Dyersville (Iowa), there was tremendous sentiment from fans to do something similar to honor the Negro Leagues,” he says. And baseball listened.

“This is going to be one of those seminal moments in Black baseball history. I don’t think I’m overstating how tremendously impactful this is going to be.”

Willie Mays, who died Tuesday, grew up in the Fairfield neighborhood less than two miles from Rickwood. In 1948 as a 16-year-old high school junior, the phenom joined the Black Barons. By the end of that season, he was the starting center fielder for a club that won the Negro American League pennant.

After another solid season with the Black Barons – while finishing high school no less – the New York Giants came calling, signing the “Say Hey Kid” to a contract in 1950. Mays went on to record one of the most remarkable careers in baseball history, culminating with a first-ballot trip to Cooperstown in 1979.

When Mays’ career ended, he was credited with 3,283 hits. Now, though, the official total is 3,293, as the Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee has just completed three years of work incorporating results from the Negro Leagues into the big leagues’ record books. True, Mays had more than 10 hits with the Black Barons, but the box scores of many of his games couldn’t be found.

Mays was but one of many superlative players on the Black Barons. Some of Satchel Paige’s best years on the mound were in Birmingham, including 1929 when he set a Negro League record for strikeouts. Other Black Barons enshrined in Cooperstown are slugger Mule Suttles and hurler Bill Foster.

Because most years Birmingham played in one of the Negro “major leagues,” all manner of Black superstars played for opposing teams: Josh Gibson, who is thought to have the longest home run in Rickwood history; Oscar Charleston, who played or managed for 43 seasons; Cool Papa Bell, whose lightning speed was described in glowing terms in Birmingham’s newspaper; and a young Jackie Robinson who played for the legendary Kansas City Monarchs.

A field of real dreams

The Cards-Giants game on June 20 is meaningful on many levels, not the least of which is shining a spotlight on the undeniable importance of the Negro Leagues in baseball history.

Watkins, the Friends of Rickwood’s chairman, feels a big-league game in Birmingham is long overdue. “Major League Baseball was very innovative in playing a game up there (in Iowa), but the Field of Dreams was a movie site,” he says. “We have a real field of dreams here, because to use one example, Willie Mays was in the outfield here, looking up and thinking ‘Maybe one day I’ll be in the big leagues.’ So this is a field of real dreams.”

He feels the game will also help raise the funds necessary to preserve the treasure that is Rickwood Field.

“I think Rickwood is a far better venue for a (Major League) game than the Iowa Field of Dreams,” says Whitt, the Rickwood historian. “Shoeless Joe Jackson was a fictional character. The connection with Rickwood Field, though, is so incredibly real. You’re looking at a place where the real Jackson actually played in the minors and as a barnstorming major leaguer.”

Says Watkins: “I can’t think of anyone that’s ever come to Rickwood as a tourist or a ballplayer that’s left without a good feeling in their heart about baseball. That’s what we want.”

Joe Mock covers sports facilities for USA TODAY publications