The history of professional baseball in Birmingham began with the establishment of the Barons as one of the charter members of the original Southern League in
1885. In 1910, the Barons moved into
Rickwood Field, and professional baseball in Birmingham was played exclusively at Rickwood through
1987. The final game played at Rickwood with the Barons as the primary tenant occurred on September 9, 1987, when they lost to the
Charlotte O's 5–4 in the second game of the
Southern League championship series. The following season, the Barons moved into the
Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in the
suburb of
Hoover. From 1988 to 2013, the only professional baseball played in Birmingham was the annual
Rickwood Classic, established in 1996. After two decades without baseball in Birmingham, in 2009 Corporate Realty Development brought forward a proposal to build a new stadium for the Barons adjacent to the
Railroad Park. In April 2010, a privately funded, $40,000 feasibility study was commissioned, and in September, its findings were released. The study indicated the construction of a stadium could potentially result in over $500 million in direct and indirect spending in the city. At the time of its approval, the tax was expected to generate $5 million annually. In July 2011, the location for the stadium was unveiled as being along First Avenue South, between 14th and 16th Streets South. The majority of the properties involved were acquired through a land swap with the
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and the remaining were purchased from private landholders. After just over one year of construction, Regions Field opened on April 10, 2013, for a sold-out game against the
Mississippi Braves. As such, UAB scheduled 21 of their 30 home games for the 2014 season at Regions Field. ==Design==