Ricky Davis 3/7/26 Ricky Davis 3/7/26

Inside Historic Rickwood Field

Historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Photo by Ricky Davis of TRD Photography - Kodak Tri X Film Photography

Several months ago I was driving through Birmingham, Alabama on a Saturday morning and I stopped off at Rickwood Field. It had been one of my most wanted places to visit but sadly that day the field wasn’t open. I took some photos outside of Rickwood but made a note that I was definitely going to be heading back one day when the field was open. That day came in February.

If you didn’t read my first post about Rickwood Field, I’m going to repeat myself on some of it. Rickwood Field is the oldest existing ballpark in America. Every member of the first Hall of Fame class which was Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Christy Matthewson, Walter Johnson, and Honus Wagner played at Rickwood via exhibitions. Rickwood was built for use by the Birmingham Barons as well as the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues. Some of the notable Negro League legends who played at Rickwood include Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and Buck Leonard among many, many others.

Historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Photo by Ricky Davis of TRD Photography - Kodak Tri X Film Photography - Homestead Grays Baseball Team

When I first arrived to Rickwood Field in February I was disappointed because where I assumed you went in, the gates were still closed. I drove around to the other side after waiting a good 15-20 minutes after opening time and discovered a gate open. So definitely don’t give up if you have the same issue when you visit.

On entering the park I started with some of the displayed at the entrance of the stands. MLB hosted a game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood in 2025 and so there are still a lot of really amazing displays up. I loved this cutout of the Homestead Grays team in front of a dugout.

Historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Photo by Ricky Davis of TRD Photography - Kodak Tri X Film Photography - Line Up from MLB at Rickwood Game

Above was the line-up card from the MLB at Rickwood Game between the Giants and the Cardinals. I love the framed photos of some of the legends that have played at Rickwood over the years.

This is inside the tunnel coming from the entrance and up the ramp to where you can find your way into the stadium seating. It was so awesome to see these old flyers and banners of games and series that was held at the stadium.

This was the original souvenir stand at Rickwood Field. It was leading up from the turnstills to the tunnel taking people out to the stadium. It was so cool seeing some of the historical artifacts on hand.

This was one of the photos that I was super excited to take. Here is the beauty of Rickwood Field. The only thing that I wish I had was a wider lens. I was photographing that day with my Mamiya 645 film camera and it just wasn’t wide enough for how I truly envisioned the photo, or to take in the entire beauty of the stadium itself.

Historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Photo by Ricky Davis of TRD Photography - Kodak Tri X Film Photography - Baseball Stadium Seats

There’s something special about old stadium seats. Going to Rickwood Field I knew I wanted to take a lot of photos of the seats. Can you imagine what these seats have seen? The greatness that these seats have beheld. I think about the people that have sat in these seats. The different backgrounds that they came from. How many kids sat in these seats watching their idols to grow up and take this same field? It’s beautiful to think about I think. To sit here and just watch the ghosts playing on the field and milling about you in the stands.

Historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Photo by Ricky Davis of TRD Photography - Kodak Tri X Film Photography - MLB at Rickwood Field - Tribute to the Negro Leagues - Baseball Dugout

Growing up playing baseball, it was always a dream to step into a MLB dugout. Obviously this was different, but this I think was more special. Stepping into the dugout, it was honestly a little bit surreal for me. This was where the players stood, and sat, and prepared to go out onto the field to play. Again, my imagination got away from me here again.

Historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Photo by Ricky Davis of TRD Photography - Kodak Tri X Film Photography - Dugout Steps from Rickwood Field

Historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Photo by Ricky Davis of TRD Photography - Kodak Tri X Film Photography - Historic Baseball Scoreboard

These were some of the views from inside the dugout. This old scoreboard is so classic! I’ve been trying to take photos of different scoreboards at the different stadiums that I’ve been to, but this one was by far my favorite.

If you love baseball, or even just history, I definitely recommend visiting Rickwood Field. If you’re a baseball fan, it needs to be a bucket list item to do. I absolutely plan on visiting again with some extra camera equipment. I love the b&w film but I would like to take some color photos as well next time.

Currently the field is still in use. Miles College uses it for it’s games as well as some of the Birmingham High Schools play some games there as well. The Birmingham Barons are hosting a game at Rickwood Field against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos on Wednesday May 27th of this year. I truly hope that I’ll be able to get away from work for that event, so we shall see.

Ricky Davis 1/22/26 Ricky Davis 1/22/26

A Look outside of Smokies Stadium in Kodak, Tn.

Smokies Stadium in Kodak, TN - Former home of the Tennessee Smokies Baseball Team - Kodak Tri X Film Photography by Ricky Davis of TRD Photography

Recently I was driving to Johnson City, TN and I stopped off to check out the outside of Smokies Stadium in Kodak, TN. I grew up loving baseball and I’ve been working on a project taking photos of different ballparks, so I couldn’t not take the opportunity to photograph Smokies Stadium.

The stadium is currently empty as the Smokies moved back to Knoxville in 2025. From everything I have found, the stadium is still being decided on what will be eventually happening to it, although the last article I read was for a developer that will keep the stadium in tact.

Smokies Stadium isn’t a super old ballpark, it was opened in 2000 and 2024 was it’s final year. I didn’t get to go but to a few games here over the years as it’s a couple hours from my home, but it always had a different feel to me than a lot of the other stadiums. Although I do have some awesome memories from Smokies Stadium.

In 2009 I believe it was, I got to meet one of my childhood heroes, Dale Murphy. He was doing a meet and greet signing at the Smokies/Braves game. Jason Heyward was playing for the Mississippi Braves at the time, but I spent the whole game in the line that wrapped around the stadium to meet Murphy. I was ecstatic!

I went back for another game to see Heyward and Freddie Freeman. I also went to see Kris Bryant when he was playing for the Smokies and tearing up minor league hitting. I’ve always loved the feel of minor league games.

I’m hoping to get to swing by and check out the Smokies new park sometime in the near future. Here’s a few more photos that I took outside of the stadium. Sadly there wasn’t a whole lot outside of the stadium to photograph. I’d love the opportunity to get permission to make photograph the inside of the stadium sometime. I loved the way the outfield was setup for fans to stand at the wall. I’d love to get a photograph of the stadium from that angle.

Ricky Davis 11/20/25 Ricky Davis 11/20/25

Save Historic Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, TN

Historic Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, TN - Photography by Ricky Davis of TRD Photography

Historic Engel Stadium - Chattanooga, TN

As a kid one of my favorite places to go was to a Chattanooga Lookouts game at Engel Stadium. I remember my first game when I was probably around six years old. I’d just started playing little league baseball and I was on the Reds, so my parents took me to a Lookouts game, who were the Double A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. I don’t remember anything about the game other than the banging of the wooden seats to the rhythm of the organ, the sound of the beer man calling out “ice cold beer, get your ice cold beer here!”, the first time hearing Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and grabbing ice cream at Dairy Queen down the street in a mini baseball helmet.

Over the years, and many trips back, I made so many other memories. I met Chipper Jones without realizing it when he signed a baseball for me before a Southern League Championship game when he was with the Greenville Braves. I got Jason Varitek to sign a Mariners helmet for me that I still have to do this day. For those that didn’t know Jason was actually drafted by Seattle before becoming a star for the Red Sox and helping break the Curse of the Bambino. I saw Ozzie Canseco hit an inside the park home run, before leaving the stadium the back way to try to avoid signing autographs for the fans. I have so many more memories of players many may not remember as well. I remember Pokey Reese of the Reds, back when he was Calvin and have multiple autographs with his real name. Some of my favorite players were Scott Pose who got drafted by the Marlins in the Expansion Draft, Brian Koelling who once signed a card for me with a broken finger, and Steve Gibralter.

I have so many memories of visits to Engel with friends. One of my best friends as a kid and I went to see the Memphis Chicks play when prospect Phil Hiatt was with the team and he hit a homer into the street. One of the craziest experiences was when Michael Jordan played for the Birmingham Barons and I got to see him play twice that season. I’d never seen that many people at a Lookouts game before or since.

Engel Stadium is one of the oldest parks still standing in America. It was built in 1930 by Joe Engel, who was a scout for the Washington Senators and had been hired to go and buy a team to become the Senators first minor league affiliate. Engel Stadium opened it’s gates for the first time in 1930 for games and was an active stadium until 1999 when the Lookouts moved to their new stadium in Chattanooga, AT&T Park.

A lot of major league baseball teams, and touring teams made up of major league players and all-stars used to do barnstorming tours in the early half of the 20th century. During a trip that the New York Yankees made to Engel Stadium in 1931, a young female pitcher named Jackie Mitchell struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig during one of these exhibitions.

In both the 1920’s and 1940’s, Engel Stadium was also a part of the Negro Baseball Leagues. The great Satchel Paige actually played here at Andrews Field, which was the Lookouts field before Engel was built, and which was on the same site as Engel Stadium. It was noted that he threw his first professional pitch at Andrews Field before he left and joined the Birmingham Black Barons. In 1940 - 1946, the Chattanooga Choo-Choo’s played their home games at Engel Stadium. The Great Willie Mays played for the Choo-Choo’s while he was still in high school in 1945 and 1946.

Among some of the other baseball greats that have played or coached at Engel Stadium have been Henry Aaron, Harmon Killibrew, Rogers Hornsby, Ferguson Jenkins, and Kiki Cuyler. Many, many more modern stars came up having played at Engel, as well as other Negro League Players visiting the Choo-Choo’s. I remember reading a story in Cool Papa Bell’s biography with a story about an incident after visiting the Choo-Choo’s but haven’t been able to find it online.

Sadly the Stadium was given to the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and they have proposed to demolish the stadium to build other athletic facilities on the property, even though the stadium has been designated as a historic site. I have reached out to the university to try to get access to take some photographs of the inside of the stadium, such as the scoreboard, the historic Coke sign, stadium seats, but I have yet to hear back from them in any capacity. I just want to document the stadium as thoroughly as possible.

I truly believe that landmarks such as these should be preserved. The stadium is currently in desperate need of repairs and I hope that eventually Chattanooga could turn this into a place for baseball and baseball history. Maybe a place for traveling teams to play and as well as a baseball museum of the history of America’s National Past Time in the Scenic City. It certainly has had it’s fair share of memories throughout the years.

Ricky Davis 11/9/25 Ricky Davis 11/9/25

A Glance at Historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham

Historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Photographed by Ricky Davis of TRD Photography

A Glance at Historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama…

I wanted to take a moment and offer a glance at a recent visit that I took to Rickwood Field, which happens to be the oldest standing ballpark in America. It’s located in Birmingham, Alabama and was built in 1910. It has been utilized as a field for the minor leagues, the negro leagues, and last year even Major League Baseball used it for the East-West Classic between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Lous Cardinals. Over 200 baseball Hall of Famers have played games at Rickwood Field.

Now I’m only offering a glance in this blog because the day I went the field was closed for tours. It wasn’t my primary destination but since it was so close, I had to stop by and take a few photos from outside the stadium. I look forward to making a trip down so I can see the historic park inside as well. I cannot wait to take that trip! I love baseball history so much and cannot wait to get to actually be in a park where Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Willie Mays, and so many others have stepped foot on the field.

For now, here are a few photos that I took that day.