Official: San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals to Play in 2024 at Historic Negro Leagues Field

After recent speculation, it's now official.

The San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals will play a game in 2024 at a historic field in Birmingham, Alabama. The field was home to Negro Leagues Baseball and former Giants star Willie Mays.

Major League Baseball posted the announcement of social media.

Rickwood Field, the oldest professional ballpark in the United States and former home of the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues, will host a regular season game between the @Cardinals and @SFGiants on June 20, 2024.

Rickwood Field, the oldest professional ballpark in the United States and former home of the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues, will host a regular season game between the @Cardinals and @SFGiants on June 20, 2024. pic.twitter.com/f3YmYq7Y2T
— MLB (@MLB) June 20, 2023

Mays played at the stadium during his time with the Black Barons. His professional career started in Birmingham in 1948. The stadium was home to the Black Barons from 1924-1960. It opened back in 1910.

The game will take place around baseball's observation of Juneteenth, which is June 19th. Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in Texas in 1865.

There also will be a Double-A game at the ballpark between the Birmingham Barons and Montgomery Biscuits of the Southern League on June 18, per ESPN.

This is a good move for baseball on multiple fronts as the game continues to showcase itself.

1) We've already seen the sport play games in London and Mexico City, in Williamsport, Penn., and on an Iowa cornfield, so the more chances to get major league baseball played where it's not already played is good for the sport's growth.

2) It's also good to see baseball highlighting representation. While Mays will undoubtedly be a spotlight of this game, highlighting his time in the Negro Leagues will continue to educate people about the Negro Leagues and the inequities in the game's history. That's powerful, beneficial, and needed.

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