Fox Sports had all the elements needed for a special broadcast heading into Thursday night’s MLB at Rickwood Field game.
The San Francisco Giants-St. Louis Cardinals game played out on the historic Rickwood Field (opened 1910). Many former MLB stars were in attendance. And baseball had the opportunity to pay tribute to the Negro Leagues, just three weeks after MLB decreed that statistics from that circuit enter the baseball record books.
Fox also had another unexpected angle to cover, following the death of Willie Mays on Tuesday at age 93. He began as a teen phenom in the Negro Leagues at Rickwood before going on to a legendary MLB career.
Fox took all those storylines and wove them together masterfully. The broadcast featured it all: great shots of the historic stadium, the oldest ballpark in the U.S.; touching tributes to Mays; anecdotes and history lessons from the Negro Leagues; and priceless interviews, including Ken Rosenthal’s talk with 99-year-old Bill Greason, the oldest living former player from those leagues.
“We didn’t allow segregation to stop us from playing, from using our talents and gifts for what we were there for. It was a tremendous blessing to have a gift from God to be recognized as such.”
Bill Greason tells @Ken_Rosenthal stories about Willie Mays, Rickwood Field, and… pic.twitter.com/ku0Vli9W8t
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 21, 2024
Fox even pulled off a vintage segment in the game, broadcasting the top of the fifth inning in 1954 mode, with a fixed-camera angle, no scorebug, primitive graphics, etc. Fans loved it.
Fox turns the clock back to 1954 for a half inning of the MLB game at Rickwood Field. ⚾️📺🎙️pic.twitter.com/U4A4LoUzfV
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 21, 2024
Fans also lauded the pregame show, which featured special guests Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. joining regular MLB on Fox analysts Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and David Ortiz, a collection of former MLB stars that left fans raving. Bonds boasted he would have homered against Negro Leagues legend Satchel Paige.
Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. joined Fox’s coverage of MLB’s Rickwood Field game.
Derek Jeter asked Bonds and Griffey how they’d fare vs. Satchel Paige.
Bonds: “Me? Gone. Lost your mind Jeter! Gone! Simple. Gone. Read about it on ESPN!” 😂😂⚾️☄️pic.twitter.com/8tKGp19Is2
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 20, 2024
Overall, the night turned out to be everything Fox, MLB and baseball fans had dreamed. Sports media pros agreed.
The game at Rickwood Field was a massive success.
So amazingly done all around.
The stories that were told. The smile on the old player’s faces. The old school TV look for an inning.
Every detail was well thought out. Truly a powerful game to watch.
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) June 21, 2024
Probably an Emmy-quality broadcast by FOX tonight. Hard to think of an area in which they came up short, from the pregame through the game.
— Sports Media Watch (@paulsen_smw) June 21, 2024
Tonight at Rickwood was beautiful from start to finish. #24
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) June 21, 2024
@MLBONFOX Thank you for this Rickwood Field game broadcast. I have learned more about the history of our beautiful game and the Negro Leagues than I could imagine. I could listen to Mr Bob Kendrick tell stories all night!!!
— Jonathan Papelbon (@TheRealJPap58) June 21, 2024
ABC/ESPN should take notes on how to treat the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Final like an event.
Fox did such a fantastic job with tonight’s game at Rickwood Field. https://t.co/wOLagC0VId
— Kevin Agustin (@_kevinagustin) June 21, 2024
I think Fox has actually done a great job with the Rickwood Field broadcast.
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) June 21, 2024
Fantastic job by Fox on the MLB at Rickwood Field telecast. Didn’t get to see it all, but enjoyed the elements I did see, like the half-inning b&w replication, and especially the innings featuring @nlbmprez. And thanks to Jeff and others, caught this. Raw truth from Reggie. https://t.co/Qo0srDwFvk
— Matt Hicks (@radiohicksie) June 21, 2024
