Baseball History Builds On Itself

“The history of the game, it's amazing,” former Major League third baseman Steve Buechele told me Thursday at Globe Life Field . “I was made aware that of all the people that have ever put on a big-league uniform, and I don't know the number of them, but it would not fill this stadium up. You would think there would be more, but it's it. The fact of the matter is, it's pretty unique. You're a very blessed person to be able to put on a big-league uniform and play.”

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Though it only opened in the summer of 2020, the Arlington stadium where Buechele and I participated in a panel discussion has gotten off to a decent start in terms of creating some history for itself. It’s already hosted two unique World Series - the only neutral-site Fall Classic and the only one won by the Texas Rangers Baseball Club . This summer, it will stage Major League Baseball (MLB) ’s All-Star Game.

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We staged the panel to cap off a morning of baseball activities in which guests of The Hartford got to play catch and take batting practice on the Rangers’ field, something not many non-big leaguers get to do. We had baseball history on our minds because we discussed another historic ballpark very much in the news this past week. Fellow panelist Shawn Tolleson had played there.

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“When I was coming up through Double-A, I played for the Chattanooga Lookouts , and it was in the Southern League, and so the Birmingham Barons were part of that same league. And every year we played in something called the ‘Rickwood Classic,’” he said. “It was like this experience of getting thrown back in time. And they would bring back a lot of the Negro League players and do a ceremony for them on the field, and we would dress up in the really heavy wool uniforms with the funny-looking hats. It was really hot those games, but it was a really special experience to be able to pitch in in that game.”

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The game Tolleson referenced had taken place at historic Rickwood Field in Alabama, former home of not only the Birmingham Barons, but also the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League. MLB held a nationally-televised game there last week between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. They, too, honored Negro Leaguers, including the recently-deceased Willie Mays, who played for the Black Barons as a 17-year-old.

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Ex-Rangers pitcher Darren Oliver, sitting between Buechele and Tolleson, marveled at the Say Hey Kid’s achievements on the diamond.

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“I knew he was good, but I didn't know he was that good,” he said. “I wish I had a chance to see somebody like that play and just see how good he was, especially if he was playing in today's game.”

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Amazingly, Mays, a Baseball Hall of Famer, 12-time Gold Glove winner, and two-time MVP was only the second-most-famous person to play his home games at Rickwood. Oliver had pitched to the man who occupies the top spot, though the matchup did not take place in Alabama.

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“For some reason, they decided to put me in the game against Michael Jordan during spring training. And I'm like, ‘Oh, of all people I gotta face, I gotta face this guy.’ So I'm already nervous because I'm like, ‘If I hit this guy and something happens, I mean, I'm gonna be that guy for the rest of my life.’ So he gets in the box and, I mean, I can't even look at him. I'm excited as it is. Anyway, you want to just go, ‘Hey, just, would you sign this (autograph) real quick before I throw this pitch?’ So anyway, I pitch to him, give him all fastballs. He hits, like, a little comebacker to me. I lob it over to first base.”

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Oliver retired Jordan in the latter’s first-ever spring training at-bat as a pro baseball player in the White Sox organization during the Basketball Hall of Famer’s short 1994 retirement from his main sport. I then asked Buechele whether Jordan played baseball better than Boo’s college roommate.

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“John Elway was a much better baseball player than Michael Jordan was. Had John chosen to go the baseball route, there's no question in my mind he would have been an All-Star,” Buechele remembered about the Pro Football Hall of Famer with whom he teamed at Stanford. “He played baseball for the first two years (at the university) and he signed with the Yankees after his sophomore year. That was mostly leverage against the NFL, if nothing else, but it was legit. I mean, John was an unbelievable baseball player.”

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We also talked about an offseason event Tolleson, Buechele, and Oliver have attended in the past. Called Swinging For A Cause, it also lets fans go onto the big league field for a playday. The Sandlot Children’s Charity puts it on each year to raise funds for organizations that help people with disabilities participate in sports. It seemed appropriate to bring up SFAC for many reasons, including that Thursday’s sponsor, The Hartford, has also invested significantly into providing athletic opportunities for those with disabilities. Move United, in fact will host next month’s Hartford Nationals in Alabama – less than 20 miles from Rickwood Field.

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Tolleson said of his participation in The Sandlot’s efforts and those with complementary missions throughout his life, “I'm a believer that everyone should get to play the game of baseball, because it's just so great.”

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According to Baseball Reference, a little more than 23,000 players have ever played Major League Baseball (Globe Life Field holds just over 40,000 for baseball). That B-R number recently expanded, not because of an influx of new prospects into the game or a flood of expansion teams. It grew because MLB (and B-R) made the decision to recognize the achievements of Negro League players in official statistical records, a decision consistent with the concept that everyone should have an equal opportunity to play baseball at all levels.

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We had a lot of young people at the event Thursday. One of the reasons I felt it important to talk about Rickwood was to perhaps get them interested in baseball’s fascinating past. I plugged a museum featured on the Rickwood TV broadcast last week, one located in Darren Oliver’s hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. If they do visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum there, they’ll learn about a lot more than just baseball. Because, as Steve Buechele noted Thursday, “History does matter.”

Rush Olson has spent two-plus decades directing creative efforts for sports teams, broadcasters, and related entities. He currently conceives and executes content projects through his companies, Rush Olson Creative & Sports, FourNine Productions and Mint Farm Films. Through MFF, he’s at work on biographical documentaries about Nancy Lieberman, Sidney Moncrief, Pudge Rodríguez, Ed Belfour, and Bob Lilly as well as a show about the The College Gridiron Showcase.

Subscribe to @MintFarmFilms on YouTube to see excerpts from upcoming documentaries.