MLB East-West Classic at Rickwood Field

Major League Baseball announced on Tuesday – what would’ve been Willie Mays’ 94th birthday – that the tribute to the Negro Leagues’ All-Star Games will be played on Juneteenth at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala. General admission tickets are on sale now at mlb.com/rickwood.

Last year, the East-West Classic was put on by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y., over Memorial Day Weekend as the Hall celebrated the opening of its new exhibit on Black baseball, “Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball.”

This year, many of the same players will make the trip to the oldest professional ballpark in the United States and former home of the Birmingham Black Barons. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. CT on June 19. The game will last five innings or two hours, whichever comes first. MLB Network will be on the scene to film and produce an all-access program of the festivities to air on Sunday, June 29, at 1 p.m. ET.