The Southwestern Athletic Conference has announced that the upcoming 2025 SWAC Baseball Tournament slated for May 21-25 will be hosted in Birmingham, Alabama at historic Rickwood Field.
“We’re extremely excited to bring the SWAC Baseball Tournament back to the City of Birmingham,” said SWAC Commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland. “Many of the all-time legends of the game of baseball played at historic Rickwood Field including Satchel Paige, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Jackie Robinson and countless others.”
“The City of Birmingham in conjunction with Major League Baseball (MLB) has made significant upgrades and enhancements to the venue creating a unique opportunity for us to provide our fans, supporters and student-athletes with a first class one-of-a-kind experience at this truly historic venue.”
“The Friends of Rickwood are very excited to host the Southwest Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament at Rickwood Field,” said Gerald Watkins, Chairman and Executive Director. “This will be a tremendous opportunity for student-athletes from the SWAC member schools and their fans to enjoy baseball at America’s Oldest Baseball Park.”
In June of 2024, Major League Baseball hosted a regular season game between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants at Rickwood Field as part of a salute to the Negro leagues in observance of Juneteenth.
The ballpark underwent $5 million in renovations prior to the game which included a new playing surface, a new padded wall and shifting the entire field to the left to make the field more symmetrical. Other renovations include new dugouts, a modern batter’s eye in center field, a digital scoreboard, netting along the foul lines, and accessibility upgrades.
In addition to the game between the Giants and Cardinals, Minor League Baseball’s Montgomery Biscuits (Tampa Bay Rays affiliate) and Birmingham Barons (Chicago White Sox affiliate) of Double-A played a game at Rickwood Field in June of 2024.
Rickwood Field, is the oldest existing professional baseball park in the United States. It was built for the Birmingham Barons in 1910 by industrialist and team-owner Rick Woodward and has served as the home park for the Birmingham Barons and the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro leagues.
Additional information regarding tickets for the event will be released at a later date.
