Birmingham City Council president William Bell says an
investor group has talked of bringing a new professional baseball team to play
in Rickwood Field if the
Birmingham Barons move to Hoover.
"There is a possibility that there might be an organization that generates new
activities in that area," Bell said. The group might include some of the same
people involved in trying to bring a
Continental Basketball Association team to Birmingham in 1985.
Bell also said the group has been talking about the possibility of organizing both a
baseball and basketball team for the city.
However, Robert A. Jones, Jr., the lawyer who represented the investors in 1985,
said the talks have been nothing more than informal discussions among friends.
Barons owner Art Clarkson said that as long as the
Barons play in the Birmingham metropolitan area, a new team would be
impossible under the rules of the National Association of Professional Baseball.
Clarkson also said that it is not a foregone conclusion that the
Barons will move to Hoover.
Epilogue
The Birmingham Barons eventually moved to Hoover 1988.
