By Suzanne Corbett, STLSportsPage.com Travel/Food Editor
All-Star break has arrived. A great time like to hit the road or plan a late season vacation to baseball destinations. Besides following the Cards or catching a mirror league game at sites Rob and Sally Rains suggest in their new book, All Roads Lead to St. Louis, also consider destinations with great baseball history. Places with historic ballparks or museums such as Cooperstown (home of Baseball Hall of Fame), Hot Springs (birthplace of spring training), Boston’s Fenway Park (home to the Green Monster) or Birmingham, Alabama, home to historic Rickwood Field.
I discovered Rickwood Field and Birmingham’s rich baseball history a few years back when visiting the city’s vibrate food scene.
Rickwood is the country’s oldest professional baseball park. Recently, it’s been featured as an alternate location for MLB’s Field of Dreams game, held in Iowa while the cornfield ballpark is under construction. Rickwood was a perfect choice since it was built in 1910 as the home of the Birmingham Barrons. According to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Rickwood was billed as America’s “finest minor league ballpark ever.”
Rickwood Field provided a playing field for both black and white players in the segregated south when it also became the home to the Negro League’s Birmingham Black Barrons. A team which had the longest running history in professional black baseball. Counted among the Baseball Hall of Farmers who played with the Black Barrons was Wille Mays and Stachel Paige. Players who are featured in the Negro Southern League Museum.
Located three miles from historic Rockwood Field, the Negro Southern League National Baseball Museum holds an impressive collection of baseball memorabilia. Each piece contributes to interpreting the story of the teams and players through the lens of Brimingham, Alabama.
While not affiliated with the Negro Baseball League Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, the Negro Southern League Museum (NSLM) is a stand along museum and research center that emphasizes the preservation of the history of baseball’s southern baseball leagues. Its collection boasts the largest collection of Negro League Baseball artifacts in the country.
In addition, the exhibits don’t miss the interactive exhibit “The Pitch”. A hologram of Satchel Paige that gives visitors a chance to stand in the batter’s box and experience a face four of Paige’s most devastating pitches. Other Satchel Paige’s artifacts on display include the original game uniform worn when he played for his own barnstorming team, the Satchel Paige All Stars. One of black baseball teams that toured in the late 1940s.
After touring NSLM and Rickwood you may be craving ballpark action. That said, try to catch a game at Regions Field, home of the present-day Brimingham Barrons, the Chicago White Sox Double-A team. Check the home schedule for dates and times along with any special promotions.
Finally, don’t forget to eat up because Brimingham is a baseball foodie paradise. Offering some of the best plates found in the South. Check it out. Brimingham has over 60 James Beard Award winners and nominees, not to mention all the mom-and-pop restaurants along with ballpark concessions.
Whatever you’re hungry for – from fancy plates to grab and go classics. Step up to any of the plates they serve. I don’t think you’ll strike out with any of them, especially my following picks.
The Bright Star Dubbed and American Classic by the James Beard Foundation, Bright Star takes Southern fare with great seafood cooked with a Greek accent. Menu standouts, Greek Tenderloin, Fried Chicken, Fried Snapper Throats, lots of oysters and sweet tea by the gallon.
Miss Myra’s Pit Bar-B-B Slow hickory smoked pit barbecue has been Miss Myrs’s specialty since opening in 1984. Order up you BBQ it with plenty pf white sauce. That’s Alabama’s White BBQ Sauce. A mix of mayo, vinegar, salt and pepper that locals feel is a must on smoked chicken. I like it on anything Miss Myra pulls from the pit.
Gus’s Hot Dogs. The last of Brimingham’s Greek owned hot dog stands, which makes Gus’s a must try for the wiener aficionado. A delightful hole in the wall with a short list of dogs and burgers. The local fav is the “Special” a dog topped with mustard, onions, kraut, and a beef and tangy spicy sauce. Order it like a local – with a Grapico soda and a bag of Golden Flake Sweet Heat Chips.
