This week, a pair of games will be played at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, with Tuesday’s minor league game airing on MLB Network and Thursday’s MLB game airing on Fox (Cardinals-Giants, with Joe Davis and John Smoltz on the call).
Rich Waltz and Chris Young will call Tuesday’s MiLB game between the Birmingham Barons and Montgomery Biscuits, and a surprising personality will serve as the game’s field-level reporter: comedian Roy Wood Jr. of The Daily Show fame.
In a statement to Awful Announcing, MLB Network VP Content Logistics and Field Production Ben Friedfeld praised Wood, saying “the passion that Roy has for this game is unmatched. Since we started talking about it back in December, the storytelling that Roy wants to provide about baseball being played in his hometown is both admirable and commendable. It was just this past Friday that he immediately left the White House to join a production meeting on Tuesday’s game.”
Wood’s connection with Rickwood Field is well-established. Earlier this month, he began hosting a four-part podcast from NPR called Road to Rickwood about the stadium, the Negro Leagues, baseball in Birmingham, and Black baseball today.
He also hosted December’s All-MLB show from Las Vegas, which aired on MLB Network, and interviewed several former Negro Leaguers with Harold Reynolds.
MLB Network will be on-site at Rickwood Field this week for coverage surrounding the games, with MLB Central and MLB Tonight live on-site Thursday leading into Fox’s broadcast of the game. The network is also airing the Barnstorming Birmingham celebrity softball game on Thursday afternoon.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.