As the nation is set to mark Juneteenth on Wednesday, TODAY’s Craig Melvin visits historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, where the MLB will hold the first regular season game played at the oldest ballpark in the country to honor the Negro Leagues. Craig also meets with 99-year old Bill Greason, the first Black pitcher in St.
The historic site of Major League Baseball's special regular-season game on June 20 isn't a mythical cornfield dreamed up by a Hollywood screenwriter. It's an actual field of dreams that has featured flesh-and-blood baseball heroes from Satchel Paige to Willie Mays.
Greason, 99, is a longtime reverend who was a teammate of Mays on the Black Barons before he made history with the Cardinals. 'We hope that young people learn about this history, Birmingham being the center of civil rights, and that there were Negro Leagues players who had dreams to just play this game that they loved and that they were able to do it right here,' Brown told Craig Melvin on TODAY.
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