Last summer, when Joe Mauer earned his place in the Baseball Hall of Fame, headlines celebrated St. Paul, Minnesota, for punching above its weight with four homegrown Cooperstown inductees.

But as local TV anchor Peter Albrecht put it, another city still wears the crown.

“They know that Mobile is No. 1 when it comes to baseball Hall of Famers,” Albrecht said Tuesday, as Mobile, Alabama, threw a full-blown celebration of its outsized impact on professional sports with the official opening of its new $11 million Hall of Fame Walk.

Mobiel, the city that’s smaller than St. Paul, Chicago, New York, or L.A., leads the pack in Hall of Famers per capita.

Chicago Cubs great Billy Williams, a Whistler native inducted in 1987, had a simple answer as to how Mobile is at the top of the heap: “I tell them it’s in the water.”

Unmatched legacy

With two of the city’s three living sports Hall of Famers in attendance, Mobile honored its storied athletic legacy with the debut of a park featuring six towering bronze statues — each nine feet tall — immortalizing native Mobilians who rose to the top of their games.

Williams, 87, and Robert Brazile, 72, addressed a cheering crowd at the ribbon-cutting.

Brazile, the city’s lone Pro Football Hall of Famer, stood beside his statue, took pictures with his fans and looked to the future: “We’ll be here for generations and generations,” he said.

Williams, during his speech, encouraged youngsters to not give up on their dreams about being a professional sports ballplayer. He said the statues of each ballplayer can serve as a testament for what can be achieved.

“You see Rookies of the Year, Most Valuable Players, Hall of Famers, Gold Gloves, and an All-Pro in Robert Brazile,” Williams said, adding that the city has also contributed other professional sports superstars like the entire 1969 New York Mets World Series championship outfield – Amos Otis, Tommy Agee and Cleon Jones.

“We have more Hall of Famers down here than any one city,” Williams said, referring to the enshrinements of native residents into Cooperstown, N.Y., on a per capita basis. “Not only Hall of Famers, but players who played in the Major Leagues and made a great contribution to every ballclub. I wish this gets more exposure and that we can let the country know we were good.”

Jones, celebrating his 83rd birthday, was honored by Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson with an exceptional citizen award. Jones then recognized former St. Louis Cardinals legend Ozzie Smith, the lone living Hall of Famer who was not in attendance.

The other Hall of Famers recognized with statues, and who were recognized by family members or friends, included:

• Hank Aaron, the 25-time All-Star who broke Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1973. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1982.
• Satchel Paige, regarded as among the best pitchers to ever live, was the first predominately Negro League player to enter the MLB Hall of Fame in 1971.
• Willie McCovey, once regarded by Bob Gibson as the “scariest hitter of all time,” was a six-time All-Star and former MVP with the Giants organization.

Park features

All six statues were sculpted by artist Brett Grill of Grand Rapids, Mich.

Grill called the project a “dream” and one that connected his work back to his childhood growing up “obsessed with baseball” in the late 80s.

“I had a paper route, collected baseball cards and nearly every dollar I earned went to baseball activities,” Grill said. “Meeting Billye Aaron (Hank Aaron’s widow), Ozzie Smith, and Cleon Jones was meaningful as I heard their firsthand stories.”

Aside from statues, the park includes new landscaping, hardscaping, built-in seating, and a new water feature. Its location is highly visible at the front of the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center along Water Street, and next to a future train stop that will accommodate the revitalized Amtrak route from Mobile to New Orleans.

The ceremony drew some notable names including Brazile’s former Houston Oilers teammates – Vernon Perry and NFL Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell. Also in attendance were Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk, 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy, and former NFL offensive lineman Willie Anderson.

The park was inspired by an idea from Jones, who has long wanted to create a “Field of Dreams” in a prominent location in Mobile celebrating the city’s rich sports heritage that, for years, has often gone unnoticed even among city residents.

Future development

The overall project remains incomplete. Stimpson, during a luncheon ahead of the ribbon cutting ceremony, vowed to Jones that he would like to get his Field of Dreams addition started before his time as mayor ends in early November.

Stimpson also said an empty pedestal will be added within the park, as part of an idea by former Mobile City Councilman John Williams, that will serve as a place where people can stand and take pictures among the statues.

The mayor offered high praise to Jones and his wife, Angela, for the work they do in the city’s historic Africatown community approximately six miles north of downtown. That includes mowing yards, fixing roofs, tending to a food pantry, and repairing homes.

“What an example of someone who could have chosen another pathway in life but returned home and has given back to the City of Mobile,” Stimpson said.

He then vowed to make the Field of Dreams addition to the park a reality.

He said the location could be near the McCovey statue and would feature acknowledgements to other athletic superstars from the city including Jones and the 1969 Mets outfield. Other possible additions could span the generations from Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe of the Negro Leagues to Peavy, the standout pitcher from multiple world championship teams in recent years.

Jones, who seemed to relish Stimpson’s pledge, said the public should expect more additions and hopefully see them completed quicker than the seven years it took to get the park completed.

“It took us seven years to put this together,” he said. “This is seven years of perfection. There is more to come.”