Though the Barons moved their home games to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium after the 1988 season,[citation needed] Rickwood Field has been preserved and is undergoing gradual restoration as a "working museum" where baseball's history can be experienced.
[9] The Birmingham Coal Barons baseball team began playing professionally in 1887, with their home games at an informal park called "Slag Pile Field" in West End.
Woodward invited Alabama Governor Braxton Bragg Comer, Birmingham Mayor Culpepper Exum, civic leader, George B.
The day was celebrated by businesses closing all over town to allow fans to fill the park for the first pitch at 3:30 P.M. Over 10,000 people attended that first game in which the Barons defeated the visiting Montgomery Climbers, 3–2.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, "The players were agreeably surprised to find Rickwood field, for such it is named, one of the most complete and commodious minor league parks in the country.
In 1936, four monumental steel-frame light towers designed and fabricated by the Truscon Steel Company of Youngstown, Ohio, were erected, allowing for night games.
They added a small restaurant in the entrance building in 1950 and installed additional box seats, necessitating the relocations of the dugouts farther down the baselines.
In 1964, General Manager Glynn West purchased 1000 wooden seats from New York City's Polo Grounds and installed them at the park.
Among other things, that year is remembered for the day that 14,000 disappointed fans were sent home early when the Atlanta Braves vs. Southern League All-Stars exhibition game was called "on account of tornado."
During this period, following a trend which swept minor league baseball (and which has since been largely reversed), the team took the name of the parent major-league club and was known as the "Birmingham A's".
[14] In 1981, Art Clarkson brought minor league baseball back to Rickwood with the Detroit Tigers Double-A club, which resumed the Barons name.
They also host frequent amateur, police and semi-pro games and open the gates to visitors who can walk in and explore the grandstands or run the bases.
[15] The ballpark was used by several film productions which contributed to the recreation of the scoreboard and press box and the addition of 1940s period-style advertisements on the outfield fence.
[citation needed] As of 2005, the Friends of Rickwood have spent around $2 million refurbishing the grandstands, press-box, locker rooms, roof and main entrance to the park.
[16] Beginning October 2023, these renovations included "upgrading the grass playing surface to modern big league standards, padding and moving the outfield walls, overhauling the dugouts, adding new lights" as well as other items.
Other renovations include new dugouts, a modern batter's eye in center field, a digital scoreboard, netting along the foul lines, and accessibility upgrades.
[20] Amid the game, the public address announcer notified the crowd of the passing of Willie Mays, who grew up near Rickwood Field and started his pro baseball career with the Black Barons in 1948.
[21] Miles College's Division II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball team will play home games at Rickwood beginning with the 2025 season.