Leagues history, American
history, I mean, 660 home runs,
you know, I mean to say, hey kid
, like he's like you said, an
American icon, he's a hero.
And like for me sitting here as
a, as a black baseball player,
like, I'm a direct descendant of
these guys of these, these
players that played here at
Rickwood.
So that's why it was so
important for me to come down
here and put this on and put on
for these people and, and
actually be a part of the
celebration because I wouldn't
have been able to live out my
dream.
Had it not been for these guys
in the forties and fifties.
Can I jump into this because you
have a lot to do with why we're
here right now?
And I commend you.
I am, I, I try to define myself
as an ideas guy.
He'll tell you that this is a
brilliant, I, when did this idea
get planted in your brain right
away?
As soon as I heard we were, me
and Rob and, and uh Noah, and,
and, and Pat Courtney were on a
plane and they told me about
this game at Rick Woodfield and
it was like, oh, it's June 20th
and right away.
I thought about June 10th and
I'm like, first of all, the game
should have been on June 10th
and Then I'm like, ok, I'll do a
game on June 10th and I, and I
do, I did a softball game a lot
of five years in a row at, at
Yankee Stadium and I'm like,
I'll just move that to Rickwood
and that's, this is what we're
here.
And I got called all my friends
and having a softball game.
But I'm telling, we were here at
Rickwood and CC is walking
around scoping it out and they
had this pavilion over here and
it didn't look like it's gonna
look now and he goes, hey, I'd
like to have a barbecue out
there, barbecue and softball
game would be perfect.
Now, this softball game that
people are gonna see has some
unbelievably entertaining rules.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Is there a way to get a run by
winning a dance off?
Yes, it is.
There, it is.
There's it anywhere everybody
has to catch the ball like
Willie, it could be a lot of, we
make this thing entertaining.
So who is in the think tank with
you to come up with all these
different rules?
So it's essentially you have to
win the inning.
Got to win the inning.
I love that.
So many whoever hits at the top
of the inning, they score 15
runs, we can come up in the
bottom of an inning, score 16.
And that's one, that's one point
for the home team.
So that's how we're playing the
game.
You got to win the inning.
So this is you by yourself.
No, no, I can't say this is me.
This is me with uninterrupted
coming up different rules.
I was a big rock and jo kid I
played.
Exactly.
I always went way rock and I
used to be jealous of Prince
Fielder because you got to play
in the rock and this is like my
version of Rock and John, it's
so good to do a lot of those
softball games, Pepsi Challenge
Rock.
And that's what I think is so
cool and bring that back and
you're gonna get a lot more
people wanting to do this type
of stuff.
I mean, that's, I mean, we're
seeing some big names out here.
What's didn't seem like he had
to pull too many arms, like hard
to get him to come.
Right.
I mean, you know, people want to
be a part of something cool and
something special.
And when they heard MLB was
putting this on, I mean, who
doesn't want to come in and be a
part of something, you know, on
June with something, you know,
the first of hopefully many, but
to be the part of the first sele
, you know, I see, I see off the
fence.
I walked out there and I said,
how far is the softball fence?
And Murray, who does our ground?
Screw?
250?
I said, Cece's going y'all.
Oh, yeah, I'm going every time.
And you know what?
I played golf today, I walked 18
so I can't run the bases.
So it's all homeless.
CC Sabathia.
What you're doing for the game
is so great as we're going to
break, we're gonna show scenic
images of Rickwood Field.
So I just want you to be the
last voice of this opening
segment and tell me what you
went through your mind when you
stepped into this stadium for
the first time.
Give me like 2030 seconds of
what went through your mind when
you saw this for the first time
, the very first time.
I, I walked in here, it was just
, it gave me goose bumps, just
thinking about, you know,
Satchel Page or, um, just
thinking about, you know, Hank
aaron seeing Jackie Robinson for
the first time and you know, the
, the way that these guys were
able to dream it was, you know,
made it possible for me to be
able to live out mine.
So, um being here gives me, I
got goose bumps.
It gives me the chills just
being able to be here and, and
be a part of the celebration.
I keep saying that but it means
a lot to me to be able to put
this on because I wouldn't be
here if it wasn't for those
guys.