Robert Sanders walked into Rickwood Field, surrounded by history.
“You felt magical,” the 13-year-old outfielder/first baseman said in a phone interview last week. “How many old, successful players have been playing on that field.”
Sanders and his Chicago White Sox Amateur City Elite (ACE) program 13U teammates recently visited Birmingham, Ala.
They won both ends of a doubleheader against the Birmingham Giants at Rickwood Field, which opened in 1910 and where many of the game’s best have played.
“I felt like I was an actual MLB player,” 13-year-old center fielder Al Nevers said in a phone interview.
The games were just a fraction of the weekend experience earlier this month.
The team, with a roster of 14 players, visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. They also had the chance to catch up with ACE alums DJ Gladney and Ed Howard, who are playing Double A baseball for the Birmingham Barons and Knoxville Smokies, respectively.
“When it was offered about taking the ACE boys down, it was a no-brainer,” said Troy Williams, who manages the ACE program, in a phone interview. “The Civil Rights Institute, it doesn’t matter what background you come from, you should visit that place. And then Rickwood Field, there’s just so much baseball history. It’s a must-see for every baseball fan.”
White Sox Amateur City Elite program 13U at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., on April 5, 2025. They won both ends of a doubleheader against the Birmingham Giants. (Darren Georgia / Chicago White Sox)
The team first stopped at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute on April 4.
“I got to know more about civil rights,” Nevers said.
From pre-Jim Crow laws to post-Jim Crow, Williams said there was a lot to take in.
“I had never been to the Civil Rights Institute,” Williams said. “I had been to many museums, but that one took the cake. The biggest thing was seeing the boys locked in. The kids did not know what to expect, but when we left, we were sitting on the bus and we heard them talking about the things they just learned.”
The next day featured the games.
“That’s a once in a lifetime experience for any kid,” Williams said. “To be able to take the field where Willie Mays played, Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson. You just kind of felt the history as you entered that place. I got chills myself. As somebody who grew up playing baseball and being able to walk on the field, you just kind of feel it.
“It’s the oldest professional ballpark in America, it’s super vintage, very nostalgic. You get in and you see this beautiful grass, the nice advertisement signs on the walls, the bleachers. It’s like, ‘Oh, this is the real deal.’ As soon as we walked in, the phones came out and they started recording and trying to capture those memories.”
White Sox ACES player Al Nevers (right) and Robert Sanders at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., on April 5, 2025. The Amateur City Elite program 13U won both ends of a doubleheader against the Birmingham Giants. (Darren Georgia / Chicago White Sox)
Sanders enjoyed trying out one of the vintage fielding gloves housed at the facility. He also appreciated being at the same location of where scenes of the Robinson movie “42” were filmed.
“And then the opportunity to play on the field, me and my teammates were talking about it even while the game was going on that it felt crazy to do,” Sanders said.
Hearing that Mays and Babe Ruth made stops there awed the players.
“I felt like him,” Nevers said, referencing Mays.
In addition to playing, the ACE team had the chance to take in a Double-A game between the Barons and Smokies. And it just happened that the squads featured ACE alums.
“The dates, we did not plan it out like that, all the stars had to be aligned,” Williams said. “For our current players to get the chance to see them, it’s representation.
“The biggest motivator is representation and for them to be able to see kids that look like them that played in this program and were once wearing this uniform now playing professional baseball, that’s inspiring for a kid.”
Gladney’s message to the players resonated with Nevers.
“DJ Gladney said he was in my shoes one time and to just keep working and I’ll get there where he is,” Nevers said. “I’m glad to be a part of that.”
Sanders added, “They actually showed that it can actually happen. That you can actually do something on this program and get noticed with everything that you do.”
Sanders said he’s in his second year with the ACE program. Nevers said this is his third. Both saw the weekend as another experience in the program to remember.
“They give me a lot of opportunities like the one I just had,” Nevers said. “I’m learning a lot — on and off the field.”
