Post by Nashville Stars Baseball Club

"We can’t forget what got us here, and that was the Negro Leagues for so many of us.” – Willie Mays Less than 48 hours before the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants were set to square off at Rickwood Field in Birmingham for Major League Baseball's first-ever matchup at a Negro Leagues stadium, Willie Mays — the game's featured honoree — passed away at the age of 93. In the midst of the sadness, tomorrow's “MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues” matchup will nonetheless celebrate the careers and legacies of Mays — who started his Hall of Fame career inside the walls of Rickwood Field, when he signed with the Black Barons as a 16-year-old — and his Negro Leagues peers.