In recent years Major League Baseball has made an effort to bring baseball to places where baseball isn't usually played. The Braves and Marlins played a game at Fort Bragg in 2016, the Yankees and Red Sox played in London in 2019, and last year the Yankees and White Sox played in Iowa, at the site where Field of Dreams was filmed.
According to NJ.com's Brendan Kuty, MLB has looked into Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey, as a potential site for a future regular season game. Hinchliffe Stadium is one of two Negro League ballparks still standing along with Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Here's more from Kuty:
League officials have done homework on Hinchliffe, a person with knowledge of the situation told NJ Advance Media. The person agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly for MLB.
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"We are delighted by the overwhelming fan response to our event in Iowa, and we hope to highlight other special locations with rich baseball traditions in the future, as we have since 2016," MLB said in a statement.
"It would be a nod to our nation's history, specifically when it comes to the civil rights struggle when African Americans were excluded from playing in the majors," Paterson mayor Andre Sayegh told Kuty. "They had a home at Hinchliffe."
Hinchliffe Stadium is currently undergoing a massive $94 million restoration that is expected to be completed in the fall, meaning the earliest MLB would play at the historic site is likely 2023. The stadium sat unused for roughly 25 years and had become dilapidated prior to the restoration project. When completed, it will be a multi-sport facility for local high school athletics.
Opened in 1932, Hinchliffe Stadium was home to the New York Black Yankees and the New York Cubans, among other teams. The ballpark's website says over 20 Hall of Famers played on its field, including Larry Doby, the first Black player in the American League.
This year the Cubs and Reds will play in the Field of Dreams Game on Aug. 11 in Iowa and the Orioles and Red Sox will play the Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 22. MLB has not announced any other alternate site games for 2022.
