Woodfin: World Saw ‘Best Version’ of Birmingham on Display During Salute to the Negro Leagues

By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times Much has been said over the past week about MLB at Rickwood Field Salute to the Negro Leagues in Birmingham and the city’s top elected official is still in awe. “In one week, Birmingham, Alabama was mentioned over 1,000 times on broadcast television in a positive light and that doesn’t account for the millions of impressions [on social media]” Mayor Randall Woodfin told the Birmingham Times. “ … that was the first time in a long time people saw Birmingham past the 1963 [Civil Rights marches], they saw it past black and white and they actually saw it in 4K.” The game played on June 20 between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants was the first National or American League regular-season game played in Alabama and concluded a week of activities that highlighted the significance of the Negro Leagues in baseball’s history. The contest was played in historic Rickwood Field, the oldest baseball park in America and showcased “a celebration of the past while incorporating the Negro Leagues into the present,” Woodfin said. The mayor echoed many, local and national, when he said the city has never hosted a sporting event...