The jewel game series: A proposal for the 2024 MLB season
By Bill Felber
The Negro League jewel game
At least four ballfields that once hosted Negro League baseball games still remain in playing condition, and could plausibly be the site of a June jewel game celebrating the history of that aspect of the game.
Of the four, Rickwood Field in Birmingham is probably the most obvious candidate. The home field of the Negro League’s legendary Birmingham Black Barons — whose alums included such greats as Willie Mays and Satchel Paige — Rickwood remains in use today on special occasions. Built in 1910, it seats 10,800, not large but bigger than the Dyersville site.
If MLB prefers to rotate the site of a Negro League jewel game, it has options. Hinchcliffe Stadium in Paterson, N.J., hosted the New York Black Yankees and the New York Cubans. Hall of Famers Cool Papa Bell, Monte Irvin, and Larry Doby called Hinchcliffe home for parts of their careers. The site has fallen into disrepair, but a decision by MLB to utilize it would certainly spur renovation efforts that have already begun.
Downs Field in Austin, Texas, hosted the Texas Black Senators of the Texas Colored League. Its alums include Hall of Fame shortstop Willie Wells.
A fourth option is Red Cap Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The field hosted the short-lived Jacksonville Red Caps in the late 1930s and during parts of World War II.
The dream schedule for a Negro Leagues jewel game would put the Dodgers against the Cleveland Guardians, those being the two franchises that integrated the American and National Leagues within a few months of one another in 1947.