Scarbo Knows: No better time or place to Say Hey again

Hey. Say it to me.

Hey. Say it with me.

Hey. Feels good to say it and to hear it, doesn't it?

Of all the words that took on new meanings when I moved south all those years ago, none felt more natural than "Hey" as a sweet-tea synonym for "Hi." Who knew that, in addition to surprise, exultation, interrogation and agitation, with the right inflection, it could be an informal expression of greeting?

You knew, that's who. Thank you.

As we kick off this new adventure called a newsletter, let's start there. Let's get together here every Thursday to solve or escape the world's problems, whatever the day requires. Let's Say Hey, and then it's game on.

That's what they should call it, of course, this very special Major League Baseball regular-season meeting between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals. It's happening June 20, 2024, at Birmingham's Rickwood Field. It has to be The Say Hey Game.

That name says so much. That name says it all, and it all starts with Willie Mays.

It says the skinny kid from the tiny community called Westfield in west Jefferson County played here when Birmingham had separate teams and baseball had separate leagues because blacks couldn't play or eat or sit just anywhere. Barons and Black Barons. Major Leagues and Negro Leagues. It was all so gutless and heartless. Give credit to Major League Baseball for revisiting the kind of history, the good, the bad and the ugly, that some would rather ignore. ...

Read the rest of Kevin's tribute to MLB at Rickwood and more in Chapter 1 of his new newsletter. Scarbo Knows is emailed to subscribers every Thursday. You can subscribe here.