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The boys of summer: 1964 Birmingham Barons relive their glory days at Rickwood Field

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:43:21 -0400

1964 Barons at Rickwood Field

Johnny “Blue Moon” Odom pitches at Rickwood Field. Several members of the 1964 Birmingham Barons team, the club’s first integrated team, gathered at Rickwood Field, Tuesday, May 14, 2013, in Birmingham, Ala., for a reunion tied in with the release of the book “Southern League,” about that ’64 season

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Autumn is creeping up on the boys of the summer of ‘64.

They’re a little grayer. Walk a little slower.

Some are closing in on 70. A few have already passed it.

But they have aged well.

Baseball, it appears, has been very good to them.

And on a powder-blue May afternoon, one of those days God made for baseball, nearly a dozen guys from that 1964 Birmingham Barons team — the first integrated ball club in the team’s, or this city’s, history — returned to Rickwood Field to stroll the field they once roamed as young men.

Johnny “Blue Moon” Odom, the ace of the ‘64 Barons pitching staff, returned to the mound at Rickwood for the first time in 49 years Tuesday. (Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com)

Johnny “Blue Moon” Odom, one of the aces of that ‘64 staff, got on the mound again, rocked back and sailed a cruise-control fastball past a Rickwood regular who thought he might have a chance to make contact against an old big-leaguer.

Then the next guy stepped into the batter’s box and asked confidently: “Can I take a cut, Blue Moon?”

Odom answered his question with a query of his own: “Oh, you want one, too, huh?”

For Odom and most of the other former Barons who gathered at 102-year-old Rickwood Field Tuesday afternoon — and who were introduced to the home crowd before the current Barons’ game at brand-new Regions Field later that night — it was their first trip back to Birmingham since that 1964 season, the year they made history that, at the time, many of them were unconcerned with.

Their 49-year reunion came about because of “Southern League: A True Story of Baseball, Civil Rights, and The Deep South’s Most Compelling Pennant Race,” the new book about the ‘64 Barons written by Portland, Ore., author Larry Colton, who also played in the Southern League with the old Macon Peaches.

“It was interesting times,” Rich Allen, who came to play for the Barons from his hometown of St. Paul, Minn., recalled Tuesday. “We were aware of the racial situation down in Alabama, but we were kids trying to get in the big leagues.

“So while it was there, it wasn’t necessarily hitting us in the heads, you know?”

Baseball in black-and-white

Before those ‘64 Barons came along, Birmingham had never fielded a black-and-white baseball team, so in that respect, black ballplayers like the hard-throwing Odom and the sweet-swinging Tommie Reynolds were the Jackie Robinsons of Birmingham baseball.

Allen, who is white, remembers walking out to the right-field bleachers where black fans were forced to sit back in the days when Rickwood was still segregated.

By 1964, they were free to sit wherever they wanted, but early in the season, most of them did not feel comfortable outside of right field, Allen said.

Members of the ‘64 Barons posed for a group photo on the field they once roamed as young men. (Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com)

“A couple of us went down there and said, ‘Hey, there’s nobody here. Why don’t you come sit behind the dugout?’” he remembered. “And gradually, they did.”

Reynolds, who grew up in San Diego and was the only black ballplayer on his high school team, said Tuesday that he didn’t want to be in Birmingham that year, but not for the reasons most people might think.

He had already made it The Show, appearing in a few games with the big-league Kansas City A’s at the end of the ‘63 season.

So Birmingham was a step down.

“When I came down here,” he said, “my main thing was to have a good year and get back up in the big leagues.”

Reynolds went on to lead the Barons in home runs and RBIs that season, and he did get called back up to Kansas City.

More importantly, though, he his girlfriend, Penny, got married that summer in the Jefferson County Courthouse. They’ve been together ever since.

The way things were

Odom, who was one of five minority ballplayers on that 1964 Barons team, grew up in Macon, Ga., so he was well aware of the way things worked in the South at the time.

As Colton recounts in the prologue to his book, when Odom arrived in Birmingham that summer driving a new, candy-apple-red Ford Galaxy that he bought with his $75,000 signing bonus, he was pulled over by a white Birmingham policeman who wanted to know what he was doing driving such a fancy car.

Odom, a Georgia native, wears his 2004 Georgia Sports Hall of Fame ring on his right hand and 1972 Oakland A’s World Series ring on his left. (Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com)

On Tuesday, Odom brushed it off as one of those things that happened to a young black man in Birmingham, Ala., in 1964.

“I’m a young guy,” he said. “I’ve got a brand new car. I’m black in Birmingham. I guess the police was probably suspicious or whatever — until they found out who I was. I guess they figured out I could afford what I was driving.”

Odom, too, got called up to the big-league club later that summer, and he never looked back, going on to win three straight World Series with the 1972, ‘73 and ‘74 Oakland A’s, a team stocked with players who came up through Birmingham.

He now lives near Anaheim, Calif., but Odom said it was good to be back after all these years.

“It’s just a big thrill to see guys from 49 years ago,” he said. “And it’s really great to see the ballpark that I pitched in.

“The last time I was on that mound, I was 19 years old,” he went on. “Now I’m almost 68.”

Goodbye, Columbus; hello, Birmingham

Paul Seitz grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and pitched on the Ohio State University baseball team before he came south to play for the Barons. He was the starting pitcher on Opening Day 1964, the first integrated ballgame in the team’s history.

Seitz, however, didn’t make it out of the first inning that night, walking three batters and hurling a wild pitch before manager Haywood Sullivan took him out of the game.

A fan showed Odom a Barons scorecard from the 1964 season. (Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com)

After his playing days were over, though, Seitz returned here to make Birmingham his home, giving him the distinction of being the player who traveled the least to get here for the Class of ‘64 reunion.

Most folks around here, however, know Seitz not as the former Birmingham Barons pitcher, but as the longtime proprietor of Little Professor Book Center in Homewood, which he has run for the past 30 or so years.

After a round of golf, many of Seitz’s former teammates got together for lunch Tuesdayat Crape Myrtle’s Cafe, the little lunch spot tucked inside his bookstore.

Other than former Barons shortstop Weldon “Hoss” Bowlin, who lives in Livingston in west Alabama, Seitz said he hadn’t seen any of the old guys since he put away his glove.

“It’s been very heartwarming to see guys you competed with and lived with and played with,” he said. “And most of them are doing really good.”

Honor thy father

Marc Sullivan was 6 years old when his dad, Haywood Sullivan, managed that ‘64 Barons team. He came to the reunion to represent his father, who died 10 years ago.

Before leaving Rickwood Tuesday afternoon, the younger Sullivan walked over to the coaches’ box at third base, grabbed a handful of dirt and put it in a plastic bag to take home to Fort Myers, Fla.

Marc Sullivan scooped up a handful of dirt from Rickwood Field in honor of his late father, Haywood Sullivan, who managed the ‘64 Barons. (Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com)

“A couple of the guys told me Dad used to coach third base a lot,” he said. “I just thought, ‘You know what, I’m going to get a bag and take some dirt home to the family.’”

His dad, who later managed and owned the Boston Red Sox, couldn’t have been prouder to see how his players turned out, Sullivan added.

“If he was here, this probably would have been the highlight of his life, as far as baseball,” he said. “To come back after that many years and to have the love and respect back and forth with these guys, that’s what it’s all about.”

Email Bob Carlton at bcarlton@al.com

I guess I lean to the right.

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:23:14 -0400

I guess I lean to the right.

Fail.

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:29:27 -0400

It was all going so perfectly well on our drive in this morning; Kate and I exchanging songs on our respective iPods, dancing in our seats and singing merrily. And then, as if almost by accident, I played “Rock Me Amadeus” and attempted in vain to explain 80’s music.

To each our own reality.

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:01:01 -0400

To each our own reality.

Big red barn. (at Monitor Barn)

Sat, 04 May 2013 18:11:29 -0400

Big red barn. (at Monitor Barn)

Top 10 Reasons Why Winter Hiking is Better than Hiking any other...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:53:00 -0400

Top 10 Reasons Why Winter Hiking is Better than Hiking any other Time of Year:

10. Snow conditions are ever changing

9. Open views all around

8. Frozen snot - hey it happens

7. Inner-warmth matters

6. Laziness is not tolerated

5. Glissading aka butt-sliding

4. Smooth trails are easy on the knees

3. No bugs!

2. The beer stays cold

1. Solitude

lightbranch: From Mt. Colden to Mt. Marcy - The High Peaks of...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:39:05 -0400

lightbranch:

From Mt. Colden to Mt. Marcy - The High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains

Pictures cannot contain their beauty.

oldtimefamilybaseball: The start of this baseball season has...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:05:55 -0400

oldtimefamilybaseball:

The start of this baseball season has been pretty spectacular. We’ve already had a two-homer game from Bryce Harper, a shutout and game-winning home run from Clayton Kershaw, a nearly perfect game from Yu Darvish, but my favorite moment of the four day old season happened last night in Atlanta.

Evan Gattis came up to bat in the fourth inning against Roy Halladay, this being the same Evan Gattis who struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and who wandered around the midwest for four years bouncing from janitor jobs to ski lift operators while trying to find himself before eventually returning baseball. And on a 1-1 pitch, Gattis sent the ball flying just over the cusp of the left field wall, all while his Dad was currently being interviewed in the stands.

It was Gattis’ second career at-bat and first career home run. For a guy whose career path was “Ski Lift Operator Manager” just a few years ago, that’s one hell of an ending.

MLB hasn’t allowed the clip for embedding yet, so click through to check it out.

I love this game!

MAN RULES

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:03:14 -0400

WE ALWAYS HEAR ‘THE RULES’ FROM THE FEMALE SIDE, NOW HERE ARE THE RULES FROM THE MALE SIDE.

THESE ARE OUR RULES!

1. MEN ARE NOT MIND READERS.

1. LEARN TO WORK THE TOILET SEAT. YOU’RE A BIG GIRL. IF IT’S UP, PUT IT DOWN. WE NEED IT UP, YOU NEED IT DOWN. YOU DON’T HEAR US COMPLAINING ABOUT YOU LEAVING IT DOWN.

1. CRYING IS BLACKMAIL.

1. ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT. LET US BE CLEAR ON THIS ONE:

SUBTLE HINTS DO NOT WORK!
STRONG HINTS DO NOT WORK!
OBVIOUS HINTS DO NOT WORK!
JUST SAY IT!

1. YES AND NO ARE PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE ANSWERS TO ALMOST EVERY QUESTION.

1. COME TO US WITH A PROBLEM ONLY IF YOU WANT HELP SOLVING IT. THAT’S WHAT WE DO. SYMPATHY IS WHAT YOUR GIRLFRIENDS ARE FOR.

1. ANYTHING WE SAID 6 MONTHS AGO IS INADMISSIBLE IN AN ARGUMENT. IN FACT, ALL COMMENTS BECOME NULL AND VOID AFTER 7 DAYS.

1. IF YOU THINK YOU’RE FAT, YOU PROBABLY ARE. DON’T ASK US.

1. IF SOMETHING WE SAID CAN BE INTERPRETED TWO WAYS AND ONE OF THE WAYS MAKES YOU SAD OR ANGRY, WE MEANT THE OTHER ONE.

1. YOU CAN EITHER ASK US TO DO SOMETHING OR TELL US HOW YOU WANT IT DONE. NOT BOTH.
IF YOU ALREADY KNOW BEST HOW TO DO IT, JUST DO IT YOURSELF.

1. WHENEVER POSSIBLE, PLEASE SAY WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO SAY DURING COMMERCIALS.

1. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS DID NOT NEED DIRECTIONS AND NEITHER DO WE…

1. ALL MEN SEE IN ONLY 16 COLORS, LIKE WINDOWS DEFAULT SETTINGS..PEACH, FOR EXAMPLE, IS A FRUIT, NOT A COLOR. PUMPKIN IS ALSO A FRUIT. WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT MAUVE IS.

1. IF WE ASK WHAT IS WRONG AND YOU SAY ‘NOTHING,’ WE WILL ACT LIKE NOTHING’S WRONG. WE KNOW YOU ARE LYING, BUT IT IS JUST NOT WORTH THE HASSLE.

1. IF YOU ASK A QUESTION YOU DON’T WANT AN ANSWER TO, EXPECT AN ANSWER YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR..

1. WHEN WE HAVE TO GO SOMEWHERE, ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING YOU WEAR IS FINE… REALLY.

1. DON’T ASK US WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO DISCUSS SUCH TOPICS AS FOOTBALL OR MOTOR SPORTS.

1. YOU HAVE ENOUGH CLOTHES.

1 .. YOU HAVE TOO MANY SHOES.

1. I AM IN SHAPE. ROUND IS A SHAPE!

1. THANK YOU FOR READING THIS. YES, I KNOW, I HAVE TO SLEEP ON THE COUCH TONIGHT.. BUT DID YOU KNOW MEN REALLY DON’T MIND THAT? IT’S LIKE CAMPING…

(found on Facebook)

Easter sunrise.

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 08:08:00 -0400

Easter sunrise.

This is what pure joy looks like.

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:55:04 -0400

This is what pure joy looks like.

By my estimation that’s about a 45° incline. (at Seymour...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:12:33 -0500

By my estimation that’s about a 45° incline. (at Seymour Mountain)

To love is to be vulnerable.

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:29:48 -0500

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Five things I wonder about...

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 12:02:40 -0500

winknudgesaynomo:

If you have to pay extra for more stuff on sandwiches, why can’t you get a discount for not getting stuff on it?

Why are public toilets never complete ovals?

Why do pharmacies make sick people walk all the way to the back of the store?

Why does it take a whole box of matches to start a bonfire, but only a tiny spark to start a forest fire?

Shouldn’t there be parachutes in the seats of airplanes instead of flotation devices?

Why are stores that are open 24 hours have locks on their doors?

Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?

If it’s a “penny for your thoughts” but you need to first “put your 2 cents in,” who’s making the profit?

Why do I lose hair where I want it most, but grow more hair where I want it least?

Puzzling sports franchise questions.

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 10:52:42 -0500

When was the last time someone saw a Grizzly in Memphis?
Is there Jazz in Utah?
Are there any Lakes in LA?
If Yankee is a New England sobriquet, then why are they in New York?
Why haven’t any twins actually played for the Twins?
Why is there a team named the Devils, but not the Gods?
Did Vikings really wear purple?
If team names are intended to instill some level of fear in their opponents (Raiders, Sharks, Timberwolves, Diamondbacks) please explain to me the Clippers, the Penguins, the Dolphins and the Angels.
With so many teams named after birds, why no Flamingos?
When will the Cubs ever win a World Series again?

Round Church, Richmond, VT. (at The Round Church)

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:43:21 -0500

Round Church, Richmond, VT. (at The Round Church)

“I would kill for a cookie. Sting...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 09:48:06 -0500

“I would kill for a cookie. Sting ray-double-sided-Scoobie-snack!”

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.” It’s...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:55:00 -0500

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

It’s really that simple.

I’m thankful for my mom. I’m also thankful for my...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:10:59 -0500

I’m thankful for my mom.
I’m also thankful for my dad.
My sister is awesome.
I’m thankful for knowing Molly.
My home is cozy.
I need these things to survive.

From,
Robert

"This must be my stop."

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:31:00 -0500

Stranger on a bus: “So are you a lawyer?”

Me: “No.”

Stranger on a bus: “You must be a Doctor then?”

Me: “No.”

Stranger on a bus: “I just got out of prison.”

Me: “I think this must be my stop. Have a great day.”