The Reverend Bill Gleason, the oldest living Negro League player and former player for the Birmingham Black Barons and St. Louis Cardinals, will throw the ceremonial first pitch before tonight's MLB game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham.

Born in Atlanta in 1924, Gleason grew up across the street from Martin Luther King Jr. As a teenager he enlisted in the Marines and fought at Iwo Jima, witnessing one of the most famous scenes in American history. Gleason returned to baseball after World War II, spending three years as one of the lead pitchers for the Black Barons and being named a Negro League All-Star in 1949.

While in Birmingham, Gleason helped coach a young Willie Mays.

“Gleason, as I always called him, seemed to understand me well. He always helped me out when he could, without letting me know he was doing it,” Mays wrote in 2015. “He respected me, and in return helped me improve.”

Related: The story of Alabama's Bill Gleason, the oldest living Negro League player

“We could have competed with any team, any major league team,” Gleason said of the Black Barons. “We had guys like Willie Mays, Artie Wilson and Bob Thurman. We could have played in the league, but there was no integration in those days until Jackie (Robinson) came up.”

“I [Robinson’s] “After the season in Montgomery, I made the All-Star team and held him to one hit against him, Larry Doby and (Roy) Campanella. They had those kinds of guys. We were pretty good.”

In 1953, Gleason signed with the Cardinals, becoming the second African-American player and first black pitcher for St. Louis. He played one season with the team and then spent the next five years in the Cardinals' minor league system.

Gleason retired from professional baseball in 1959 and settled in Birmingham, where he attended the 16th Street Baptist Church. The 1963 bombing shook Gleason to his core and inspired him to begin working and preaching as a minister. Gleason became pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Barney Point in 1971.

The pastor, who is three months away from his 100th birthday, recently Honorable on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. He will continue his preaching at Bethel and host a fireside chat with Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) in the lead-up to today's game.

Charles Vaughn is a contributing writer for Yellow Hammer News.