Willie Mays

Today is Alabama’s first ever annual observance of Juneteenth. That’s the date back in 1865 when enslaved blacks in Texas learned that the Civil War was over and slavery had ended. Baseball fans in Birmingham will also mark the day with an annual negro league legends game. Here’s how both of these subjects come together.

Brendan Donovan hit a two-run homer and a double and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the San Francisco Giants 6-5 in the Negro Leagues tribute game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham.

Major League Baseball is honoring Negro League Baseball in a tribute game at Rickwood Field on June 20 along with a pregame ceremony commemorating a well-known and beloved baseball Hall of Famer. The game, titled “A Tribute to the Negro Leagues,” will also honor Alabama native Willie Mays, who died Tuesday at 93.

A mural honoring baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays has been unveiled in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Mays died Tuesday at the age of 93. The mural depicts a smiling “Say Hey Kid” and his bevy of athletic accomplishments.

Willie Mays, baseball’s exuberant and electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ has died at 93. He died two days before a game between the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals to honor the Negro Leagues at Rickwood Field in Birmingham.

Willie Mays will not be in attendance when the San Francisco Giants face the St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field on Thursday in a game honoring him and the Negro Leagues. Mays, who began his career in Alabama with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues and played for the Giants from 1951-72 will enjoy the game at home.

An updated version of MLB's database will become public before the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants play a tribute game to the Negro Leagues on June 20 at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.