Rickwood Field : a century in America's oldest ballpark

Sports historian Allan Barra takes us on an unforgettable journey to Birmingham, Alabama, where America's oldest ballpark, would look--were it not for the new paint job--almost identical to when the gates first opened almost a century ago. Evoking such classics as Shoeless Joe and The Boys of Summer, Rickwood Field recalls a simpler bygone era when a weathered ballpark was, and still is, a rare beacon of hope.--From publisher description.;Up from the Slag Pile (1815-1909) -- Birmingham Men Do It Right (1910-1917) -- A Team of Their Own (1918-1925) -- The Golden Age (1926-1929) -- The Greatest Game Ever Played (1931) -- "There Was Just Something about the Baseball in That Park" (1932-1947) -- "Well, I'm Going to the Ballgame" (1948-1949) -- "The Barons Were a Memory" (1950-1960) -- Everything Dies But... (1961-2009). The extraordinary social history of Rickwood Field becomes the story of baseball itself, gloriously evoked for the centennial of America’s oldest ballpark. While America has changed dramatically over the last hundred years, Rickwood Field, the pride of Birmingham, Alabama, has remained fixed in time. Best-selling baseball writer Allen Barra journeyed to his native Alabama to capture the glories of a century of baseball lore. In chronicling the history of Rickwood Field, where the manually operated scoreboard still uses numbers painted on metal sheets, Barra also tells of segregated baseball, the vaunted Negro Leagues, and captures the ghosts of the players themselves, including Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige, and Willie Mays. Evoking such classics as Shoeless Joe and The Boys of Summer, Barra recalls not only a simpler, bygone era but also a city rife with racial tension and abject poverty, where a tattered ballpark was, and still is, a rare beacon of hope. Indeed, Barra skillfully convinces us that the histories of Rickwood Field, baseball, and the American south are inextricably bound together.