As part of the continuing leadup to the June 20 “MLB at Rickwood Field” game between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants in Birmingham, actor/comedian Roy Wood Jr. and MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds got the chance to chat with some Negro Leagues veterans.

Former Birmingham Black Barons players Al Holt and Ferdinand Rutledge and former Indianapolis Clowns outfielder Joseph Marbury recently sat down for a chat with Reynolds and Wood at Rickwood. The interview, titled “Rickwood Field: An Enduring Legacy” aired on MLB Network Thursday night and was distributed on social media Friday.

Wood, a Birmingham native, is also hosting the ongoing “Road to Rickwood” podcast. You can listen to Episode 2 below.

Reynolds, who played in the major leagues in the 1980s and 90s, asked the three men — all in their 80s — if they saw Willie Mays play at Rickwood. Mays famously played for the Birmingham Black Barons as a 17-year-old in 1948.

Rutledge, who played for the Black Barons in 1962 and 1963, said he saw Mays play as a young man. And that wasn’t the only baseball legend who appeared at Rickwood in those days.

“I played with Willie Mays’ brother. We were about the same age and played on some of the same teams,” Rutledge. “Satchel Paige came right through that door and we didn’t know him.”

Holt, a pitcher for the Black Barons during the same era Rutledge played, looks back fondly on that time in his life.

“There’s nothing they could do that will wipe my memory,” Holt said. “It was beautiful.”

Marbury played for the Clowns, who mixed baseball and showmanship in a similar fashion to basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters. Holt, who was a Black Barons ball boy as a youth before playing for the team, said Rickwood Field was “jam-packed” when the Clowns came to town.

“We played good baseball and we just played with a lot of fun and comedy,” Marbury said. “Our first baseman was James ‘Nature Boy’ Williams. He played first base in a dress. Sometimes, he would play first base and sit over there in a rocking chair. I didn’t like that because I was playing right field behind him, and he was sitting in fair territory in a rocking chair. We provided comedy and good baseball.”

You can watch the full interview below.