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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Masyn Winn’s stepfather Earl Luckett loves baseball. So it’s no surprise Luckett spent a large chunk of this week leading up to and during the Cardinals visit to Rickwood Field with the wide-eyed enthusiasm and curiosity of a child taking in their first major-league game.

The week also included tears, happy tears, but tears he never saw coming.

“I can’t even explain the feeling,� Luckett said, standing in the shadow of the Rickwood Field grandstand, wearing a Cardinals baseball cap and holding another freshly purchased cap commemorating the event.

Winn, and seemingly ascending star, played a central role in the game at Rickwood Field as the lone Black American player in the starting lineup for either team. He scored two runs and rocketed a double (exit velocity of 102.7 mph) off the wall in left field in the third inning, a blast that triggered immediate audible marveling around the ballpark.

The Cardinals pulled out a one-run win over the San Francisco Giants on a night that also served as a celebration of the life, career and influence of Alabama native, former Negro Leagues player, Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and American sports legend and icon .

Before the game, Winn made it clear he wasn’t shying away from the potential influence he might have in spurring the interest in baseball for young Black children.

“There’s not a lot of brothers in baseball,� Winn said. “So I think it’s important. Me and Jordan Walker have talked about it a lot, just being an inspiration — not only to kids around St. Louis, but all over the world.

“Trying to get some more color in baseball. I think it would be good for the game. I feel like a lot of kids grow up wanting to be football or basketball players, and they don’t know how fun baseball can be and how truly impactful we can be on the field.�

In 2023, the percentage of Black baseball players in MLB dropped to 6.2%, . That marked the lowest percentage since the Racial and Gender Report Card data started being collected in in 1991 when 18% of the MLB players were Black.

The Cardinals opened the season with three Black players on their roster in outfielders Jordan Walker and Victor Scott II as well as Winn. Relief pitcher Keynan Middleton has been on injured list since the start of the season, and he had season-ending surgery.

Passing on a love for baseball, shedding tears

Multiple times in the days and weeks leading up to Thursday’s MLB Tribute to the Negro Leagues game, Winn recounted for reporters and the experiences and lessons he took from Luckett growing up playing travel baseball.

Luckett had one team named The Negro League Legends comprised of all Black players from the Houston area. He gave the team uniforms with the last names of former Negro League players on the back such as Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Paige and others.

Luckett also required each player to learn about the player whose name was on the back of their jersey. Players had to research that player, put together a report and then present that report to the team.

For Luckett, who had a stint in the minor leagues in the Houston Astros organization in the 1980s, the practice arose from his own interest in baseball’s history and the history of Black players. He said it wasn’t something coaches ever told him, but he took it upon himself to find more information on the topic.

“So now, I have the opportunity to coach some young Black kids,� Luckett explained in an interview with The Post-Dispatch. “Let me teach them some history of baseball. If I get them excited about that, they’re going to continue to play the game. One day, you never know.�

By “you never know� Luckett envisioned maybe the players being inspired to play high school baseball, maybe be devoted and talented enough to play in college baseball. Sure, maybe even some advance to the professional ranks.

Mostly, Luckett shared his love for the game with Winn and all the players on his amateur baseball teams in hopes of sparking further interest. The impact of him sharing never before hit Luckett quite like it did on Thursday morning when he read an article that quoted Winn.

“I’m sitting in my hotel room earlier this morning, five in the morning,� Luckett said. “Somebody sent me something, and I’m reading it. TV is off. I’m drinking a cup of coffee and I’m reading it.

“I’m like, ‘Wow, Masyn is talking about all this?’ He took something from that. Without even knowing, I’ve got tears going down my eyes. Even right now, I want to. I’m just happy.�

The next generation hopes to pay it forward

The idea of passing on a love for the game and an appreciation and understanding of the history of Black baseball permeated the event, visually, audibly and with the presence of legends of Black baseball as well as lesser-known figures who paved the way by playing in the Negro Leagues. Those players are in effect Black baseball royalty, and many were honored as part of the ceremonies Thursday.

The Treniers song “Say Hey� might as well have been the unofficial theme song of the event, a nod to Mays.

Reminders of the Black baseball trailblazers even adorned the walls of the hallway in the makeshift clubhouse the Cardinals used for the game. Images of Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Hilton Smith, Martin Dihigo, Rube Foster, Mammy “Peanut� Johnson, Bell, Paige, Mays and Aaron stared back at players and staff members.

The fan zone just outside the ballpark included a version of the bus the Birmingham Black Barons used to travel to games. A stage hosted live music.

A wall erected more than 20 feet high showed facts about the Negro Leagues, the players and how the players and teams fit into history and intertwined with the social climate. It wouldn’t have been out of place in either the in Kansas City or the in Birmingham.

MLB and the Cardinals brought several of the organization’s top young Black minor league players to Birmingham for the event.

Scott, who is currently on the Triple-A Memphis roster, joined the major-league club as the 27th man for Thursday’s game (he was returned to Memphis’ roster following the game).

Walker remained with Memphis, where he homered and threw out a runner at the plate Thursday night. His parents attended the game at Rickwood.

Highly regarded pitcher Tink Hence, last year’s top draft pick Chase Davis and infielders Trey Paige and Tre Richardson attended the game and pregame festivities. Richardson played travel ball for Luckett growing up.

Hence, an Arkansas native, expressed his own desire to pass on the love for baseball, just as it was passed onto him.

“It’s pretty big for me,� Hence said. “I’ve got a little brother, and my dad has a team The NextUp Cardinals. Him already paving the way for me and looking out for me (makes me want) to go on and look out for my brothers and just get that experience of kind of giving back to the younger kids.

“Where I’m from, Pine Bluff, there’s a lot of kids growing up playing baseball more than when I was coming up.�

Hence, who is rated by Baseball America and as one of the top 50 overall prospects in the minors, credited his father for being willing to organize teams and set up baseball camps or clinics for local kids.

Hence now hopes the farther he progresses in the game, the easier he’ll make it for those who follow.

“Opportunity, I feel like, is the biggest thing you could give out for the kids that coming up,� Hence said.

The opportunity Winn received roughly 10 years ago to play with a team full of Black players with uniforms that provided a direct tie to the game’s history and a coach that pushed them to delve into that history proved formative.

So wearing a St. Louis Stars uniform carried extra meaning. He later admitted he almost teared up when he shared a moment with Luckett after the game.

“It really just feels full circle to come back to it,� Winn said of Negro League team jersey on at Rickwood Field.