New podcast mini-series from NPR details unique history of iconic Rickwood

The Giants and Cardinals on Thursday played at Rickwood Field, the oldest ballpark in the country, located in Birmingham, Ala., where they also paid tribute to the late, great Willie Mays.

Rickwood once served as home to the Birmingham Black Barons, an iconic Negro League team, with countless Hall of Famers -- both Black and white -- playing there at one time or another.

To commemorate the historic occasion, the NPR stations in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La., teamed up on a four-part podcast series that traced the history of Rickwood Field, where baseball served as a backdrop for the civil rights movement.

The podcast was hosted by comedian Roy Wood Jr., a Birmingham native whose high school baseball team played games at Rickwood.

The four episodes are available below.

Episode 1: The Holy Grail of Baseball

Rickwood Field has seen a lot since it opened in 1910. Babe Ruth played there. As did Jackie Robinson. It was even Satchel Paige’s home park when he pitched for the Black Barons. But the park’s history is about more than just the legends who graced its diamond. Rickwood once hosted a women’s suffrage rally, and eventually the first integrated sports team in Alabama.

Episode 2: Church Pews and Bleachers

The 1940s are the heyday for Black baseball in Alabama, the peak of the Negro Leagues -- starring a high schooler named Willie Mays. On this episode, Wood speaks with surviving players from the Birmingham Black Barons about the soaring highs and painful lows of Negro League baseball in Alabama.

Episode 3: Don’t Fight Back

In this episode we hear how baseball helps desegregate America’s most segregated city. We learn about the business owner who decides to bring baseball back to Birmingham after a two-year hiatus, this time in an integrated environment. And we hear from some of the players on the city’s first integrated team about their experiences on field, in the community and on the buses traveling throughout the Deep South.

Episode 4: Rebuilding Black Baseball

On this episode, host Roy Wood Jr. talks to MLB executives, managers and a player about the importance of promoting baseball within Black communities. Roy also speaks with Birmingham’s local baseball community -- high school athletes, coaches, parents and the current mayor -- to learn how to reignite Black participation in baseball in the city that was once known for carrying the careers of Black baseball legends.