The diamond just blocks away from where a baseball legend lived as a youth in Alabama is in severe disrepair.

Willie Mays Park in Fairfield has nurtured generations of aspiring players yet today it is a sad remnant of its peak seasons and in no condition for safe play.

That could soon change.

Major League Baseball, six months after hosting its Salute to the Negro Leagues at Birmingham’s Rickwood Field, has designated Willie Mays Park as the beneficiary of its annual winter meetings charity auction.

The auction launches today — it’s live here — in conjunction with the start of winter meetings this morning in Dallas. Auction items, donated by MLB and Minor League teams, include meet-and-greets with MLB stars, All-Star Game events tickets, as well as opportunities to participate in radio broadcasts, work with a grounds crew and other experiences during the upcoming season.

“What better way to continue the work we did in Birmingham than to support this project,” said MLB spokesperson Steve Arocho.

Mays died on June 18 of this year, just two days before the St. Louis Cardinals and his San Francisco Giants played a regular-season game at Rickwood. He was 93.

The park is just a few blocks away from Mays’ childhood home. The house is also in dire straits, ravaged by neglect and fires and smothered in overgrowth, such that it can barely be seen from the street.

Michael Mays, son of the late legend, is seeking to purchase the home from the Fairfield Land Bank and transform it into a community youth “clubhouse” and headquarters for a new Willie Mays League. The organization will be a youth baseball developmental program for players transitioning from leagues played on a 60- or 70-foot diamond to a regulation 90-foot diamond.

“I’m thrilled the park will be benefiting from the charity auction and look forward to us achieving our projected goals,” Mays says.

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This will be the MLB auction’s 11th year. It has collectively raised more than $2.3 million. Arocho expects this year’s proceeds to be between $150,000 and $200,000.

Previous beneficiaries include the Jackie Robinson Foundation, Negro League Baseball Museum, as well as lung cancer research, a baseball and softball field, and scholarships — all in memory of MLB personnel. Last year, proceeds supported a new Boys & Girls Club in Uvalde, Texas, where 21 people were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 4, 2022.

The auction ends Thursday, Dec. 12 at 10 p.m. ET.