Last Wednesday, the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) announced that their conference tournament will be held at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala. The tournament dates are May 21-25.
Save the date! SWAC baseball tournament pic.twitter.com/YE39qm7q0Y
— John Smith (@TheKGnewsletter) January 25, 2025
SWAC Commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland spoke about the announcement.
“We’re extremely excited to bring the SWAC Baseball Tournament back to the City of Birmingham…Many of the all-time legends of the game of baseball played at historic Rickwood Field including Satchel Paige, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Jackie Robinson and countless others.”
Rickwood Field is the oldest existing ballpark in the United States as it officially opened in 1910. It hosted the Birmingham Barons until 1988, and it also hosted the co-existing negro league team, the Birmingham Black Barons.
The field is most famous for hosting negro league games and is now deemed a “working museum” for baseball.
Despite that, the ballpark underwent $5 million in renovations that included upgrades and improvements to the playing surface, outfield walls, dimensions, etc.
These were done for a recently hosted MLB game in June 2024 as a part of the Juneteenth holiday. The St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants faced off with each other. St. Louis ended up winning the game 6-5.
That's a Rickwood Winner!!#ForTheLou x #MLBatRickwood pic.twitter.com/BKdOMIhmhG
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 21, 2024
Eight of the twelve teams will make the tournament in Birmingham this upcoming season.
Last season, the SWAC had their conference tournament in Atlanta at Georgia Tech’s home ballpark, Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Grambling State Tigers won the tournament. It was their first conference tournament title since 2010.
CLICK HERE for the SWAC’s press release of the Rickwood Field announcement
WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
Photo Credit: Rickwood Field, the oldest professional baseball park in the United States in Birmingham, Alabama on July 7, 2018. (Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
