Pitcher Throws Changeup, Hits Homerun With Birmingham’s Oldest Independent Bookstore

By Melissa Johnson Warnke, Alabama Retail Association

Baseball is what first brought Paul Seitz to Alabama. In fact, he owns a special piece of Birmingham’s baseball history.

A native of Ohio, he was a pitcher for Ohio State University before coming down South to play professionally. In the early 1960s, he moved to Birmingham to pitch for the Barons, and Seitz was the starting pitcher on Opening Day 1964 – the first integrated ballgame in the team’s history.

The next year, he was promoted to play AAA in Vancouver with the Mounties. But in 1968, Alabama came calling again, and Seitz returned to Rickwood Field to play for the Birmingham A’s. By 1969, he was ready to retire from the game. He was 28 at the time and began looking for his next changeup.

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