The Friends of Rickwood and the baseball community will be celebrating the park’s 100th birthday on Wednesday, August 18. The event will be an open-house of-sorts, including tours and collector exhibits, dignitaries speaking, theatrical baseball presentations, books signings by several Rickwood authors, and a shortened ballgame featuring players from the Great South League, a summer collegiate wood bat league. The activities will begin at 3:00 pm central (opening game time on August 18, 1910), and the game will run 4:30 – 6:00 pm. The event is open to the public, free-of-charge.
Of course, the Birmingham Main Post Office will be there to join in the fun. Cleophus Brown will be present at the Postal booth to sign autographs, answer questions, and help promote the Negro Leagues stamps. Prior to the exhibition game, Mr. Brown will also be on the field to accept a token of appreciation from the Postal Service for all that he has done as a player and as a Postal employee.
A pictorial postmark was created for the special day by Postmarks' Marvin Owens that incorporated the Rickwood Field 100th anniversary logo. Marvin also designed the cachet that will be available for purchase. Here is a sneak peek:
Please plan to join us in recognizing and celebrating this important time, place, and person in Alabama history.
