MLB says they’ll return to Birmingham ‘at some point’

After the success of the special Negro Leagues game that was played in Birmingham, Alabama, around Juneteenth, Major League Baseball announced this won’t be the last time they will make an appearance at Rickwood Field.

There are plans at some point to make it back to Birmingham; the only question now is when.

“We’re going to be back in Birmingham at some point,” said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. “The timing is still up in the air. We haven’t really made a decision on that.”

The players seem to be all for a return to Birmingham in the future.

“I think there should be a game every year,” said the San Francisco Giants’ right-hander Logan Webb. “There’s a ton of great players that played at Rickwood. Obviously, I’d love to come to Rickwood every single year, but getting other franchises involved, too, would be awesome.”

“Yeah, I would love that,” Heliot Ramos who plays centerfield for the Giants agreed. “It’s a great experience for people who don’t know the history of baseball. This is part of history and part of life. Negro League players did everything for us, Black people, Hispanic people, they opened the doors for us. That would be a great experience for a lot of people if this came every year.”

Scheduling is the only hold-up at this point to making this happen.

“It’s a question of getting 162 games into 186 days. It’s a scheduling thing. But we managed to do it in London, and the player reaction to what’s going on here will make us take a good hard look at that going forward,” Manford said.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woofin would love to see MLB come to Rickwood every year.

“We believe this isn’t a one-off and are hoping this isn’t a one-off,” Woodfin said. “MLB will always have a home here. As for an annual event, we’d love to see it happen. We’d love to work it out.”

If both parties have their way, this will become an annual event.

{San Francisco Chronicle}