There’s something about the old ballparks that hits differently than the cookie-cutter parks of today. Rickwood Field was no different; as the park welcomed the SWAC Baseball Tournament to its hallowed grounds, a certain magic transcended the action on the field. Just pulling up to the stadium, you could feel the nostalgia of everything that ballpark has stood for and meant to an entire community of baseball fans. You could feel the likeness of Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Piper Davis, and even Willie Mays, as those were just some of the baseball legends etched into the infrastructure of America’s oldest ballpark.

Partially caught up in the moment of enjoying the ballpark while taking in postseason baseball of the SWAC, but there was something pure about watching college baseball at Rickwood Field that helped solve my season mission of finding what makes college baseball so special and different from the other sports. You see, up until recently, college baseball was a niche sport with passion but not a lot of coverage. Yet, that morning spent watching SWAC baseball while at Rickwood Field did something to my inner baseball-loving soul that unlocked the answer I had been searching for all season long.

You see, the new ballparks have all the bells and whistles of modern age baseball, but the Rickwood Fields of the world are a dying breed; they represent a simpler time where baseball was pure, there wasn’t a million travel ball teams, there was a ball, a wooden bat, and the eagerness to play the game of baseball. That same old-fashioned feeling was in full display as the SWAC took over the grounds for a week-long championship event with Bethune-Cookman coming out on top and earning a bid to an NCAA Regional.

On top of the action on the field, and the ambiance of Rickwood Field, was the concession stand hot dog combo seasoned to perfection, capped off with an ice-cold RC Cola, combined with baseball conversation and the building of relationships that center around the growth of the sport of college baseball made for an incredible day at Rickwood Field for the 2025 SWAC Baseball Tournament.

As we enter into this new age of college athletics, it’s important to remember the reasons why we all fell in love with college athletics in the first place. For me, it was the bridge that connected me to the future while remembering the past, and the day spent at the SWAC Tournament at Rickwood Field did that for me. I encourage anyone who loves college baseball to go on our tour for at least a day next May and attend a game or two of the SWAC Baseball Tournament at Rickwood Field. It may leave a lasting impact on you as it did those of us who attended this past May. There was just something pure about it that touched the inner old soul of mine, where a day at the ballpark made the problems of the world disappear, and helped solve the season mission of finding out what makes the sport of college baseball different from the others.