As part of Major League Baseball’s upcoming event at Rickwood Field, AL.com and The Birmingham News will be producing weekly stories that showcase the history of Rickwood Field, and history of baseball in the state of Alabama.
“Rickwood: The legacy of America’s oldest ballpark” takes a deep dive at stories from the Negro Leagues to MLB icons playing at the historic venue, and how things are progressing as “MLB at Rickwood Field” takes place on June 20, 2024 between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.
There’s probably no way to objectively identify the most-talented minor-league baseball team of all time, but any list would likely have to include the 1967 Birmingham A’s.
The Double-A affiliate of the then-Kansas City A’s, Birmingham went 84-55 and won the Southern League championship that season. They then beat the Albuquerque Dodgers of the Texas League in six games in a one-off resumption of the old Dixie Series.
Fifteen members of that Birmingham team went on to play in the major leagues, with two of them — outfielder Reggie Jackson and pitcher Rollie Fingers — making it all the way to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Two others — outfielder Joe Rudi and catcher Dave Duncan — were all-stars at the big-league level (as were Jackson and Fingers, obviously).