1940 – 1949

1940

Birmingham Black Barons (is this right date?) Somewhere need to say lots of Negro League HOFers came through –

1940

Former Birmingham Black Baron Satchel Paige always drew a crowd.

1941

Future Hall of Famer Jimmy Foxx homers at Rickwood.

After a 15 year hiatus, football returned to Rickwood as Birmingham hosted the Vulcan Bowl, the national Negro College Football Championship.

1947

The left field scoreboard is moved in due to the popularity of home runs (i.e., Babe Ruth).

1948

Walt Dropo thrills the Birmingham faithful. Birmingham Barons set the all-time Southern Association attendance record of 445,926. This record is all the more impressive given that only actual attendance was counted (not season ticket holders), and the total population of the Birmingham area was approximately 440,000. (Do the math)

1948

Birmingham’s Lorenzo “Piper” Davis led his Black Barons to league championships. One of his decisions was to start high schooler Willie Mays, who would have the game wining hit in the 1948 league championship game.

1948

Mays was tool young to go on the road with team – hew was still in school, but his Rickwood exploits showed flashes of a career that many feel earned him the repuration as the greatest baseball player in history.